After a sub-par first half, the Blaugrana showed their quality after the break
Jabari Parker lit the fuse for Barcelona's second-half turnaround against Panathinaikos
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3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 21 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Things were not looking good for FC Barcelona in its Round 21 showdown against defending champions Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens. At halftime, all the numbers pointed towards a bad result: Barca had missed all 9 of its 9 three-point shots, was outrebounded by Panathinaikos 18-23 and allowed the Greens to grab 8 offensive boards. Joan Penarroya's men went into the break trailing 30-38 on the scoreboard.
Barca needed a go-to guy and Jabari Parker immediately stepped up, making sure his team would collect a third consecutive victory. He was the first player to score in the second half, draining a three-pointer, and soon added a fast-break dunk that gave Barca plenty of hope at 38-41.
Parker was far from done, hitting three more shots from downtown and finding Dario Brizuela for another one. All that allowed Barca to get a 59-50 lead at the end of the third quarter. Parker outscored the entire Panathinaikos team in the third quarter, 15-12, and had a higher PIR, 16-5.
The 29-year-old forward kept pacing Barca in the fourth quarter, getting help from Brizuela and Alex Abrines. Parker scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, while Brizuela had 11 of his 15 points in the final 12 minutes and Abrines scored his team's last 5 points to help Barca put the 82-73 victory on ice.
Afterward, Parker highlighted the fact that he played with one of his opponents for four years in the now distant past.
"First and foremost, it's a blessing to share the court with a former teammate of mine [Kendrick Nunn, Chicago Simeon High School]. It's only two others that's playing right now from my high-school class, so I don't take that for granted. They had a good team and played well and we gave the fans what they wanted, " Parker said. "All that hard work should make it easier being back in our climate [Palau Blaugrana] where we are used to."
Barca did a better job at both ends and once the three-pointers started to fall, that was the ballgame. The hosts buried 9-of-13 three-pointers (69.2% 3FG) after the break and forced Panathinaikos to pick up 12 turnovers in the second half, having had just 2 in the first half. Nunn amassed a PIR of -7 after the interval, missing 9 of his 10 field-goal attempts and picking up 5 turnovers.
Nunn finished the night with 7 points and a PIR of 1. He had scored 25 points or better in each of the last five games, averaging 28.8 points and a PIR of 28.8.
"We are having a good run and we wanted to make a statement today because they are the defending champs," Brizuela said. "And I think we did it, we played an amazing second half and this is the way for us to keep playing in both leagues, both the EuroLeague and ACB. We are happy about it, but we've got to keep going and keep growing."