A 58-point second half paved the way to Barca's 14th win
Kevin Punter leads Barcelona past Maccabi, 100-71

FC Barcelona returned to winning ways by thrashing Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 100-71 at Palau Blaugrana in Round 25 on Wednesday. Barca improved to 14-11 in the standings while Maccabi dropped to 6-19 with its sixth road loss in a row.
Kevin Punter led the winners with a season-high 28 points. Jabari Parker and Willy Hernangomez each added 14, while Dario Brizuela and Chimezie Metu scored 11 apiece for Barca. Jasiel Rivero paced Maccabi with 16 points, Rokas Jokubaitis added 14 and Roman Sorkin 12.
Game Videos
Sorkin got Maccabi going with a mid-range jumper, which Youssoupha Fall bettered with a three-point play. Levi Randolph sank a mid-range shot and Jokubaitis erased Tomas Satoransky's dunk with a jumper. After Parker struck from downtown, Rivero answered with a jumper. Punter's layup made it 10-8. Jokubaitis scored again and Sorkin added a put-back layup for a 10-12 Maccabi edge. Parker sank back-to-back triples and Punter added a driving layup. Sorkin took over with an alley-oop slam and matched Punter's jumper with a layup. Hernangomez and Jokubaitis traded layups before John DiBartolomeo's three-pointer put Maccabi in charge, 22-23. Hernangomez followed a dunk with a jumper and Trevion Williams answered from downtown before Brizuela's layup made it 28-26 after 10 minutes.
Brizuela dunked early in the second quarter and matched DiBartolomeo's three-pointer with his own shot from beyond the arc for a 33-29 Barca edge. Brizuela kept pacing the hosts before Rivero rescued the visitors with a three-point play. Punter beat the shot clock with a bomb from downtown at the other end and Parker took over with a coast-to-coast layup and a jump hook that made it 41-32. Rivero stepped up with a reverse layup and Randolph added a jumper to bring Maccabi closer, 42-36, at halftime.
Blatt struck from beyond the arc right after the break. Fall stepped up with a put-back layup and Punter bettered Rokas Jokubaitis's driving basket with a bomb from downtown that gave Barca a 47-41 edge. Punter took over with 7 quick points, boosting his team's lead to 54-44. After Sorkin scored around the basket, Alex Abrines dunked off a steal. Rivero's layup gave Maccabi hope at 56-49. Satoransky made a jumper and Abrines struck from downtown for a 61-51 Barca lead. Jokubaitis beat Fall's defense with a reverse layup, but Hernangomez scored down low and Brizuela's triple kept the hosts out of trouble, 66-53. DiBartolomeo splashed his third three-pointer and Rivero scored twice around the basket. Metu and Justin Anderson gave the hosts a 74-60 lead after 30 minutes.
Metu and Juan Nunez each struck from beyond the arc to make it a 20-point game (80-60) early in the fourth quarter. Metu improved on Rivero's close basket with his third three-pointer and Hernangomez's dunk broke the game open at 85-62 with over 7 minutes left. Williams buried a mid-range jumper but by the time Punter buried back-to-back three-pointers, everything was said and done. Both teams sat out their most important players for Friday's Round 26 game and the Barca fans had plenty of time to celebrate their team's no-doubt-about-it victory.