Only 37 hours after saying goodbye to the Euroleague, Barcelona stood up to maintain its chances of achieving home-court advantage in the Endesa League, the only option it has left to avoid its third consecutive blank year. The Blaugranas won from Buesa Arena a valuable victory in the qualifiers (92-95), as they hunt down Kosner Baskonia and overtake them on average, but almost more psychologically: it seems that the European match had no side effects.
A magnificent Shengelia, shining in front of his former fans, acted as Barça’s leader. He scored 20 points punishing with his back-to-the-rim game. He added six rebounds and a lot of intensity. A surprising activity for someone who had emptied himself in Monaco two days before. He may play well or badly, but his commitment is always there. Three triples from Barça and seven points from the Georgian built a 2-16 partial that almost ended the match (78-88 with three minutes left).
But the culés made life complicated for themselves. Diakite (19 points, seven rebounds and five blocks) and Simmons (23), Baskonia’s best players, gave their team hope. At 91-94, Marcos, the starter and with a lot of responsibility due to the loss of Satoransky, ate a throw-in. Luwawu-Cabarrot made the first free throw and missed the second. A little early for that. Eight seconds left.
In the other hoop, Clyburn, who was 8/8 from personal, missed a shot. In the last attack, Forrest sought extra time for the locals with a long three-pointer that fell very short. Barça recovered from the blow and did not lose ground in the fight for the home court factor in the quarterfinals.