The least usual defeat Zaragoza

In modern basketball, for the teams that play Euroleague, the weeks are often hectic. Match, trip, match, change of competition, of rival… A tight schedule that forces us to think beyond the next game and that is what Barça did against Zaragoza. In the first place because he came out sleepy, without ideas and with certain difficulties, but above all because of the distribution of minutes that Jasikevicius made. The second unit played more than usual, had a lot of prominence and, in the end, defeated a Zaragoza team that was a more than worthy rival. Jokubaitis and Da Silva exceeded 25 minutes, Nnaji touched 20 and Kuric, Abrines and Paulí exceeded 15. The great figures, with the exception of Laprovittola, stayed longer than usual on the bench.

The start of Barça was disastrous. Not only because it took them four minutes to score the first basket, but because they didn’t find the way or the resources to hurt Zaragoza. With a well-planted area, Barça’s positional attack was ineffective. And the blaugranas were still lucky that the partial was only 0-7, because Casademont Zaragoza enjoyed several shots, some released, to do more damage. The visitor’s lack of skill, with some terrible shot that did not touch a hoop, gave Barça a breather.

AIn the absence of collective solutions, individual talent appeared and, in a flash, they tied the match (9-9). Three triples (Mirotic, Laprovittola and Satoransky) placed the team, halfway through the first quarter, in a calm situation. However, Barça’s problems continued. The men on the bench did not score and the bad percentages of two kept them behind in the electronics (14-17).

It was in the second quarter when the Barca machine began to carburete. And he did it with the second unit on the track, with Jokubaitis, Vesely and Kuric as protagonists. They improved circulation, minimized losses, and improved accuracy. Enough to get ahead and force Casademont Zaragoza to stop the game. It was of no use to them, Baça dominated at will (27-19). Saint-Ross mitigated the visitor’s disadvantage and, after some bad Barça possessions, they got fully into the game (34-30). Jasikevicius’s anger was evident. Jessup continued to cause problems for Barça, which, however, arrived with a slight advantage at halftime (38-36). The sensations were not the best.

Zaragoza came out better after the break. It was reflected in the score (43-43) and was felt at the Palau. More subdued than usual, the fans had a hard time getting into the game. Barça did not give him many arguments either, while Zaragoza continued to do their thing. Competing well, controlling the rebound and getting balls to Jessup, his top scorer. The Catalans forgave too many free shots, but Zaragoza also missed a lot. Little by little, without great sets, the Catalans opened up a gap in the face of the visitors’ difficulties in scoring. After 25 very good minutes, Zaragoza began to capsize (58-46). However, they did not lose face to the party.

The visitors managed to substantially reduce the difference in five minutes (62-57) with a nice duel between Mara and Nnaji. Jasikevicius gave many minutes to the second unit, aware that on Friday they are playing against Red Star, and aware that the Jokubaitis, Abrines or Kuric have plenty of quality to decide a match. And they did, though not without effort.. There was never a risk of losing the game, but neither were they able to break it before the final honk.