The victory against Baskonia on Wednesday was balsamic for Barcelona. In the first place because they had just lost in Kaunas, against the last in the Euroleague, in a bad game. Secondly because it raised them to the leadership of the Endesa League and lastly because it confirmed the excellent moment that two of their players are experiencing: Calathes and Laprovittola. Each one in their role, 13 assists the first and 8 triples the second, turned Barça into an unstoppable team. Today, against another rival, on another stage and in another competition, they will try to do the same. Red Star will try to prevent it.
The good feelings from the match in Vitoria actually go beyond Calathes and Laprovittola, as both Davies and Smits added great minutes under the rim. All of Barça in general was at a good level, something that they will have to maintain today against the Serbs. A victory at the Palau would be the confirmation of Barça’s improvement and would underpin the lead in Europe a little more. Higgins and Oriola, as in the last games, are still out.
But Red Star is not going to put any facility, evidently, to those of Jasikevicius. Still outside the Top-8 but virtually inside (unless the Russian teams are definitively excluded from the competition), They have won their last four games. With Kalinic and Wolters for banners, the first was in Barça’s orbit this past summer, they are the team with the worst percentage of three in the competition and one of the least scored per game. Two added problems to play against Barça, which is precisely one of the best defenses in the championship.