Regal Barça came from behind to beat Lottomatica in an awkward match. Thanks to a brilliant last ten minutes they not only won the game but are also mathematically through to the last eight.
MATCH STATS
LOTTOMATICA, 65
REGAL FC BARCELONA, 74
Lottomatica (14+13+24+14): Washington (6), Crosariol (7), Datome (15), Djedovic
(5), Dasic (10) – starting five – Gigli (4), Smith (6), Gordic (12)
Regal FC Barcelona (14+11+21+28): Rubio (9), Navarro (19), Perovic (5), Lorbek
(6), Anderson (15) – starting five – Sada (2), Lakovic (7), Vázquez (2), Ingles (-),
Ndong (9), Morris (-), Grimau (-)
Referees: Ziemblicki (POL), Muhvic (CRO), Koromilas (GRE)
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The post-cup hangover seemed to have dragged on too long. Regal Barça took 30 minutes to get into
their stride, but when they did they were awesome. With great teamwork and some top individual play
from Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro, they won in the Italian capital.
Beating Lottomatica along with Maccabi winning in Ljubljana was enough
to ensure Barça have a place in the play-off. The Israeli outfit joins FCB in the quarters, and the
leadership of the group will be decided in the final match in Tel Aviv.
Caught napping
Early scores from Anderson, Perovic and Navarro suggested things were going to be
fine, but the next 28 minutes were inexplicably shoddy from Barcelona. They were poor in defence,
looked disjointed as a team, and their shooting was all over the place. This was anything but the
team we know.
Lottomatica soon picked up on this and particularly boosted by
back-to-back threes from Luigi Datome, started realising they could win it. Alarm bells were
ringing among Regal Barça.
And yet Barça went on to lose 14 balls and were just 1/10 in three pointers. Xavi Pascual
called a timeout at 43-30 half way through the third period. This was all going wrong.
But nothing he could do could get his team back into shape. Playing a zone defence proved a
mistake, for the Italians seemed to find it even easier to score against that formation.
Ricky and Navarro react
The last ten minutes saw Barça make a desperate bid to get back into
the game. With the two star players on court, things suddenly looked a lot brighter. The defence
finally got its act together, and a Lorbek three to make it 51-46 at the end of the third period
suddenly had Barcelona back in the hunt.
Navarro then scored another three, and as the gap narrowed, Rome coach Saso Filipovski could
clearly sense that this game was slipping out of his hands.
Regal Barça were suddenly back to their good old selves. Ricky Rubio stole three balls, and
his eight rebounds and nine points were much to thank for the turnaround. Navarro led the scoring
with 19 points.
It was an extraordinary comeback. With a minute to go, Barça were leading by ten in a game
they had looked to have lost. Ricky’s free throw made it 65-74 at the end, and if ever a team
has risen from the ashes, then that was Barcelona tonight.