Barcelona defeat Bayern in crucial Game 5 and punch their ticket to EuroLeague Final Four / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images) Credit Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images)

In the do-or-die EuroLeague quarterfinals' final game, FC Barcelona avoided the biggest upset in EuroLeague‘s history and defeated FC Bayern Munich in Spain 81-72 (18-19, 13-18, 29-15, 21-20). Barca won the series 3-2.

Player of the Game EFF 30 Nicolas Laprovittola Points 26 Accuracy 7-12 Rebounds 2 Assists 3

A trip to the Final Four in Belgrade awaits Barcelona where they will face Real Madrid in the semifinal.

Barcelona opened the fourth quarter with a good offensive flow, extending their lead to 13 points (70-57) with 5:52 left.

Though, Bayern did not raise the white flag. Zan Sisko answered with a duo, Othello Hunter made back-to-back 3-pointers and cut the deficit to 7 points (65-72) with 3:36 remaining.

Barca didn't let opponents score a single point for more than one minute, while Alex Abrines made a pair of free throws, Laprovittola poured a duo (78-67) with 1:23 left and notched a difficult victory against the Bayern.

Nicolas Laprovittola led the route for Barca, posting 26 points (2/5 2PT, 5/7 3PT, 7/7 FT), 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 30 PIR.

"Congrats to coach Trinchieri," Jasikevicius said after the game. "It's good that I have a good relationship with him. For sure, he knows more about wines than me. Possibly, he knows more about basketball than me. I’m just happy with this competition. I think it made me a better coach."

“We shortened the rotation [in the second half]. We will talk about all the situations we had in the last 48 hours with our team. It was not looking very good for us. We shortened the rotation a lot. It was very good that we managed our foul trouble and it was good that at the end of the first half we were pretty close.

Everybody who's played in the EuroLeague knows how difficult it is to get to the Final Four. We made it. But now it’s time a little bit to relax and worry about our stuff in the ACB, worry about improving our game obviously and hopefully, we will come to Belgrade in top shape," Jasikevicius concluded.

FC Bayern Munich / Schedule

FC Bayern Munich FC Barcelona66-75 FC Bayern Munich FC Barcelona59-52 FC Barcelona FC Bayern Munich81-72

Othello Hunter was the leading scorer for Bayern, finishing with 18 points (4/6 2PT, 2/3 3PT, 4/6 FT), 4 rebounds, and 20 PIR.

"I have two thoughts. First, I want to congratulate Saras and Barca. They put together a great second half," the Italian noted. "They deserved to win this game, they were better. The second thought goes to my players who, in my opinion, played an unbelievable series. I am very proud of them."

"We can talk for hours about this mistake or that, but tonight we put together three unbelievable quarters playing above our limit and playing as hard as we can. The third quarter cost us the game. We tried to attack the rim, but we never went to the line.

The other factor was Laprovittola, who put together an unbelievable performance tonight. That’s it. I don’t feel depressed. I don’t feel overwhelmed by the situation. I have never been more proud of players and my team. There is also another team on the court, and in the third quarter, Barca was a championship team, and this is the reason they won the game," concluded Trinchieri.

Bayern started the game with an 11-0 scoring run and after amazing Othello Hunter's dunk built an early lead (15-9). The hosts managed to finish off the period better cutting the deficit to 1 point (18-19).

The game went back and forth in the second period until Bayern nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to give the visitors a six-point lead going into halftime (37-31).

It was a different story in the third quarter though. Barcelona went on a huge 13-3 run and got the first double-digit lead of the game (58-48).

Barca's trio of Nicolas Laprovittola, Nikola Mirotic, and Brandon Davies combined for 40 points and 53 PIR after the 3 quarters.

Barcelona: Nicolas Laprovittola 26 (3 AST), Nikola Mirotic 20 (5 REB), Nick Calathes 10 (5 AST).

Bayern: Othello Hunter 18 (4 REB), Ognjen Jaramaz 17, Nick Weiler-Babb 10 (3 REB, 4 AST).

Highlights

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