The forward scored 11 fourth-quarter points as his team turned around a 15-point deficit
Joel Parra powered Barcelona’s crucial comeback in Istanbul
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Regular Season
Round 33 of 34
Group Regular Season
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FC Barcelona headed into Wednesday’s penultimate regular-season meeting with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul locked in a five-way tie for sixth place, and it ensured it will stay in that position heading into the final week by grabbing a vital 75-83 road victory.
For a long time, that didn’t look likely. Fenerbahce took control of the game in the second quarter and stretched the advantage to 15 points, 69-54, midway through the third.
Defeat would have left Barcelona with very slim hopes of securing a top-six finish, instead probably condemning the Blaugrana to the perils of the play-in, so there was no lack of motivation for Joan Penarroya’s men to summon a major comeback.
And that’s exactly what transpired thanks to a 9-21 fourth quarter, sparked by a 0-11 run which kept Fenerbahce scoreless for nearly 5 minutes and allowed the visiting team to take control for good.
The unexpected hero during that key phase of the game was Joel Parra. The former Joventut Badalona forward’s playing time has significantly increased following injuries to Jan Vesely and Chimezie Metu, and he made the very most of his opportunity by netting 11 points in the final period, finishing with his first-ever EuroLeague double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, also taking a career-high 3 steals to compile a personal-best PIR of 26.
Parra, who turns 25 on Friday, stayed modest after the game as he insisted that collective effort and a defense that allowed only 25 second half points, rather than his heroics, were the keys to the victory.
“I only play for the team, thinking of the win that the team needs,” he said. “I bring my energy on defense, take the rebounds, that’s it. It’s a great win, we needed this win, I’m so happy for the team, but the work is not finished.
“I think the key is to play like in the second half. In the first half we didn’t play with energy, we let Fenerbahce play easily. In the second half we brought a lot of energy on defense. We have a good team, offensively we have 90 points per game, but when we don’t have defense it’s more difficult. When we are focused on the game and thinking of the defense, the offense is easy.”
Barcelona knows that not all its direct rivals can win this week, with matchups between Real Madrid-Paris Basketball and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade-Anadolu Efes Istanbul ensuring that two of them will lose.
That does, of course, also mean that two of them will win so, however those results fall, Barcelona will still hold a share of sixth place when the final round rolls around – on paper, a very winnable home game against lowly Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
And that’s not all: with AS Monaco and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, currently third and fourth, facing each other on Thursday night, there’s still a chance that Barcelona could finish fourth and take home-court advantage for the playoffs, because it holds the head-to-head advantage over both those teams – although that also requires FC Bayern Munich, which has head to head over Barcelona, to lose twice.
So there are plenty of permutations and it’s impossible to state with any confidence exactly where Barcelona will finish the regular season. What can be said, however, is that the Spanish team’s chances of avoiding the play-in and advancing directly into the playoffs have been significantly boosted by Wednesday’s win.
And with more of the will to win shown especially by Parra in the fourth quarter at Fenerbahce, there’s no limit to how the season might end.