Barcelona overpower Montepaschi Siena 92-75; Retain the number 1 spot in group D - Euroleague Recap
When FC Barcelona Regal and Montepaschi Siena came face to face in Palau Blaugrana on Thursday night, an exciting encounter was anticipated between the two unbeaten team in Group D.
However it turned out to be more of a one-sided affair as Barcelona easily chalked out a win to and continued the winning streak.
Barcelona dominated the game from the very start.
An 11 point run midway through the first half put the Spaniards in a commanding position and Siena never managed to recover after that.
Chuck Edison led the winning team with game high 22 points on a near perfect shooting. He knocked down 5 for 8 from glass and 3 for 3 from the downtown along with 6 rebounds. Erazem Lorbek put up a good show as well and finished
17 points on 5 for 7 from the glass while Boniface Ndong chipped in with his 15 along with 7 rebounds.
Bo McCalebb was the most outstanding player from Siena and ended with 20 points including 6 for 7 from the paint while Ksistof Lavrinovic added 13 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. David Anderson (12) and Igor Rakocevic (11) were
the other two prominent players from the side.
Eidson Chuck found himself in the perfect position for a downtown shot in the first minute and he made full use to put Barcelona on the score sheet. It was answered by a Rimantas Kaukenas jumper in the preceding minute however
another three by Lorbek followed by a layup from Juan Carlos Navarro put Barcelona 8-2 ahead in the first 3 minutes.
Things got even worse for Siena as Barcelona carried an 11 point run courtesy of Ndong. Although Siena replied with an 8 point run to cut the deficit to 19-12 in the 9th minute, a three and a driving layup by Chuck in
the final moments of quarter again put Barcelona 12 points ahead of Siena 24-12.
Igor’s layup and McCalebb’s three-pointer at the start of second quarter did bring the deficit to single figure but only for a short time as the Barcelona carried on with the offense and scored from every opportunity they got to
maintain a double figure lead throughout the quarter. After 6 minutes, Barcelona’s score was almost double to Siena 36-19 and although Siena again reeled off a 5 point run but could never get close to Barcelona. By the end of half, they were trailing 40-28.
In a high scoring third quarter, Siena too scored at a good pace but failed to hold Barcelona from scoring. Whenever they would strike, it was countered by even better shot from Barcelona and by the end of quarter, Barcelona was
again ahead by 63-50. Ksistof tried hard to bring Siena close to Barcelona in the final quarter scoring in quick succession.
Rimantas also chipped in with two free throws to reduce the deficit to 73-66 in the 6th minute but one after the other strikes from Navarro and Ndong again pushed Siena way back. Fate of game had been decided midway
through the quarter and when the buzzer rang soon after the wild dunk by Chuck, Barcelona were ahead 92-75.
Tags: