FC Barcelona Regal rout Union Olimpija 86-64 – Euroleague Basketball Recap
FC Barcelona Regal started their Turkish Airlines Euroleague in style as they overpowered Union Olimpija 86-64 on Thursday night.
Olimpija competed well in the first half of the game courtesy of rookie Danny Green, who put up a solid performance of 17 points and 4 rebounds in the 37 minutes he played, but in the second half, a scoring avalanche keyed by Marcelinho
Huertas ensured the Spanish supremacy.
FC Barcelona were scintillating on the free throws, ending with an outstanding average of 88.8 percent in contrast to Union’s mere 55.5 percent.
Marcelinho was the star from Barcelona, finishing with 17 points with Pete Mickeal and Fran Vazquez ended with scores of 15 and 10 points respectively.
From Union’s side, Ratko Varda was the second highest scorer ending with 16 points but except for him and Danny Green’s 17, there wasn’t much to write home about.
FC Barcelona’s coach, Xavier Pascual was satisfied with his team’s performance on the night.
"I am satisfied with this win. The first game is always hard but this time we controlled the score from the first to the last minute. We played well in defense but the outcome could have changed had Olimpija hit some open shots."
His counterpart, Saso Filipovski praised Barcelona’s performance and blamed his team’s flimsy defense for the loss.
"Barcelona showed again that it has a great team and it can aspire to the highest goals in the Euroleague. I think that tonight there were no doubts about who the winner was since we played too soft in defense. Against such a team
you cannot play this way."
Barcelona’s Erazem Lorbek started the proceedings by scoring a two pointer in the first minute of the game however it was countered by Union’s Ratko Varda’s layup shot in the preceding minute. Scores were level at 14-14 in first
seven minutes but then a three pointer from Regal’s Juan Carlos got his the team the lead that just kept on growing and the quarter ended with Barcelona leading 24-19
The second quarter commenced well for Union as Robert Rothbart’s layup up shot in the first minute slashed the team’s deficit to three 21-24; however Barcelona never slowed down and extended their lead to 10 on a Mickeal layup
late in the frame. Union had no answers to the Barcelona’s offense and the half finally ended with Barcelona leading 41-30.
The third quarter started with Huerta’s three-pointer and it set the tone for rest of the game. Barcelona through their vicious offense, managed to skyrocket their lead to 15 points at one time in the quarter. Union tried to make
a comeback with a three pointer and two layup shots but it wasn’t enough as the quarter ended with Barcelona still leading at 61-51
By the final quarter, players from Union had already given up and it showed in their defence. Barcelona slammed 25 point in the next ten minutes and romped to 86-64 win.
Tags: