The Spanish team enjoyed a much-needed win at Monaco on Thursday thanks to a great game from its shooting guard
Dario Brizuela’s career night boosted under-pressure Barcelona
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FC Barcelona headed into Thursday night’s tough trip to co-leader AS Monaco under severe pressure.
Earlier in the week, the Blaugrana suffered consecutive domestic league defeats against local rivals Joventut Badalona and Basquet Girona, leaving Joan Penarroya’s men in serious danger of failing to qualify for the Spanish Cup for the first time ever.
With the team also placed precariously in the middle of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, it was time for a hero to step forward... And on its trip to the principality, Barca found an unlikely source of inspiration through one of its lesser-heralded talents: Dario Brizuela.
The man known as the ‘Basque Mamba’ turned himself into Super Dario, downing Monaco with an impressive array of shot-making as he scored with relentless consistency to spearhead an 84-98 triumph, getting his team back in touch with the all-important top four.
Brizuela came into the game off the bench midway through the first quarter, and his first act was as a distributor to provide an assist for Jabari Parker, whose three-point strike gave Barca a commanding early 6-15 lead. But the 30-year-old guard is primarily known as a scorer, and he soon settled into his shooting rhythm by netting a three-pointer, which was followed early in the second quarter by a layup to establish the game’s first double-digit margin, a free throw and another triple.
Barca needed to keep on scoring to prevent determined Monaco from taking control of the game and, with usual marksman Kevin Punter suffering a quiet evening until the final quarter, Brizuela’s constancy was the main motor for the visiting team throughout the game.
His third three-pointer, still only midway through the second quarter, saw Brizuela become the game’s first player to reach double digits. When Monaco’s third-quarter comeback threatened to turn the game around, he returned off the bench and immediately got back into the scoring groove – which continued in the final quarter. Brizuela started off that final frame by scoring 5 points in 21 seconds and later added another pair of triples to ensure the home team could not set up a close finale.
When it was all over, Brizuela had racked up a career-best 27 points, with excellent efficiency as he made 4-of-6 two-point attempts and 6 of 8 from long range, also adding a couple of assists, 2 rebounds and a steal. Also, significantly, he spent nearly 29 minutes on the floor – more than any other Barca player and way above his previous season-high of 19:41.
The game’s hero admitted it was an important win to lift his team’s spirits after their tough start to the week, saying: “We are in a hard moment right now because we’ve been losing a lot of games in the last minute with bad luck, so this win is huge for us.”
With nine teams separated by just one win between 4th and 12th places at the start of Round 20, it doesn’t take much of a run to make a major move up the EuroLeague standings. Barca is now just one win short of fourth place, and Brizuela acknowledged his team is targeting a strong end to the regular season.
“Now we are fighting for a good spot, so to get a win like this against the leader in EuroLeague is huge for us,” he said. “We’ve got to build from this and keep growing as a team.”
There is still a long way to go, but Brizuela’s scoring exploits on Thursday night gave Barca a big boost at the perfect time.