After almost throwing away a comfortable lead, the Spanish side got the win over the line
Barcelona played with poise when it mattered most to down Partizan
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 9 of 34
Group Regular Season
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FC Barcelona is heading into Friday’s Round 10 home meeting with Paris Basketball as co-leader of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague… but only just.
With two minutes remaining in Wednesday’s Rivalry Series showdown with Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, Barcelona was in trouble. A 40-63 lead had been shaved down to a 1-point margin, 79-80, the home team had all the momentum, and the passionate crowd was in full voice. The pressure was on.
But Joan Penarroya’s men reacted with remarkable calmness, executing the perfect play as a patient series of passes resulted in Tomas Satoransky driving into the paint and finding an extra pass to the corner where Alex Abrines, with a second remaining on the shot clock, sank a nerveless three-pointer to suck the air out of Belgrade Arena.
Another score was still required to make sure Partizan could not come back, and that came on the next possession when top scorer Kevin Punter, operating in an arena he knew very well against his former club, matched the smooth shooting stroke shown by Abrines to net a jumper, ensuring his team could come away with a 79-87 victory that became far more hard-fought than might have been the case.
Coach Joan Penarroya was understandably delighted with the composure shown by his players in those decisive final possessions, saying: “I am proud because when they were only one point down, we played with calm.”
Jabari Parker, Barcelona's second-highest scorer on the night with 17 points, echoed the same sentiment as he added: “We just played with poise at the end. That was important.”
Club captain Abrines, however, was more concerned that his teammates had got themselves into that precarious position in the first place, hoping that lessons are learned to lock up leads more securely in the future.
“We’ve got to keep control of the game in those situations, and we didn’t,” he said. “Then you have to suffer, it’s like heads or tails, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
“I was mad at us, because we don’t learn from our mistakes in the past. You’ve got to keep it under control. When you get into a dynamic of turnovers and missing shots, they get back and it’s hard. Usually those games, you lose them, because it’s hard when a team comes from 20 points down to stop them. But we did, and I’m glad we did.”