The 29-year-old guard produced one of the best performances of his career to help the visitors sink Crvena Zvezda.
Barcelona thrived in Belgrade as brilliant Dario Brizuela shot the lights out
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Regular Season
Round 25 of 34
Group Regular Season
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FC Barcelona stayed on course for a top-four finish in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, as it improved to 17-8 and tightened its grip on the runner-up spot with a clinical 76-85 win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.
It was an 11th successive win for Barca against Zvezda, which dropped to 10-15 and dented its hopes of making the playoffs after visiting guard Dario Brizuela stole the show with 20 points, shooting a career-best 6-of-7 from downtown to silence a raucous home crowd.
The 29-year-old’s lethal shooting went hand in hand with Barca’s ironclad defense, which stifled out the home team as it forced a barrage of tough shots while the visitors sank 6-of-11 efforts from long range in the first half.
Four of them came from the effervescent Brizuela, who racked up 14 points in the opening two quarters after coming off the bench and drew heaps of praise from his head coach Roger Grimau for a stellar all-round performance.
“Brizuela had a great game, not just offensively which is easier to see, but also on the defensive end,” Grimau told the post-game press conference. “He has the talent to score but he also used his verticality to very good effect all over the court.
“We had an excellent game at both ends, we controlled it from start to finish and I am really happy with the win and the performance. We have nine games left and we’re only thinking of the next one, it’s such a competitive league and a very tough schedule.”
Barcelona impressed on defense in Belgrade
Brizuela echoed Grimau’s views that defense was the key to Barca’s win, keeping the Blaugrana in second place behind traditional Spanish rival and reigning EuroLeague champ Real Madrid (22-3).
“A good win. We did a good job on the defensive end and we know that as long as we do that, things will work out on offense,” he commented. “We have to stay focused and move on to the next one.”
Zvezda racked up 16 offensive rebounds, 6 of which came in the first quarter when the Serbian team was able to stay in touch as Barca only led 17-18 at the end of the opening 10 minutes. However, awful three-point shooting (6-of-27) cost the hosts and their head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos acknowledged his team lacked intensity.
Sfairopoulos chopped and changed throughout the contest in an effort to conjure a fast-flowing unit capable of turning the tide, but he kept hitting a wall as Barca stood its ground throughout the second half after engineering a 32-45 halftime lead.
“We didn’t have fast and aggressive options on offense, we missed some open shots while Barcelona controlled the game throughout and they deserved to win,” the Greek tactician said.
“We weren’t tough enough to break Barcelona’s rhythm. We tried to change the momentum with lots of different lineups but they scored some tough shots, especially in the first half.”