FCBARCELONA.CAT

22.11.2009 14:20

Dominance (83-54)

Sònia de Alba

Eighth win in the ACB for Regal Barça, who outplayed one of the surprise packages of the season, Lagun Aro, with an excellent defensive approach.

The side from Sant Sebastian have started the season in surprisingly strong style, but this game against Lagun Aro turned out to be far easier than most had expected.

Tight defending

Pascual’s side had to keep it tight from the outset, and forced the Basques into several errors early on to build up a slight lead. Regal Barça mainly had an outstanding Ricky to thank, the guard hammering home two three pointers, causing a desperate Pablo Laso to call timeout, just after Rubio make it eight in his account with a spectacular dunk.

Barça annulled all of Lagun Aro’s creativity, limiting them to just 9 points in the first period, well short of the tallies they have come to expect this year.

The second period was a more even affair (24-19) but Barça always looked in command. Navarro pushed his side well ahead with five points in a row (42-28), the biggest lead so far. Xavi Rabaseda was then sent on to try to up the ante even more, but matters remained much the same when the teams went in at the break.

Few talking points

The second half rarely produced much to enthuse the crowd. Barça never looked like losing and went into the final period with an unassailable lead of 32 punts points following a basket from Fran Vázquez (72-40).

The home side eventually won by 29 points, 83-54. Juan Carlos Navarro and Ricky Rubio, with 17 and 15 points, led the scoring, while it was nice to see that every member of the Barça team not only got time on court, but also scored at least one point.