Barcelona one step away from Final Four in Mirotic's playoffs career-night / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Begum Unal Credit Begum Unal

FC BarcelonadefeatedFC Bayern Munichin Germany75-66 (26-17,23-14,10-18,16-17).going up2-1inEuroLeagueplayoffsseries and gettingthehome-court advantage back.

Player of the Game EFF 31 Nikola Mirotic Points 25 Accuracy 8-11 Rebounds 6 Assists 3

The winner of this series will face Real Madrid in the semifinal.

Nikola Mirotic led the route for Barca, posting 25 points (6/7 2PT, 2/4 3PT, 7/7 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 31 PIR.

Augustine Rubit was the most efficient player for Bayern, finishing with 14 points (1/2 2PT, 1/2 3PT, 9/12 FT), 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 27 PIR.

Nikola Mirotic scored 11 points in a row for Barcelona to start the last quarter and Barcelona retook the commanding advantage (72-56) with 6:33 to go.

Spanish's side controlled the game for the rest of the quarter while Bayern never came closer than 9 points. That was enough to finish the game comfortably, grabbing a well-deserved victory.

Nicolas Laprovittola started the game with back-to-back 3-pointers (6-0), which initiated a strong visitors' push from the beginning. Sertac Sanli added the difficult last-second triple, Laprovittola drained his third shot from behind the arc and Barcelona build an early double-digit lead (18-5).

Vladimir Lucic and Ognjen Jaramaz‘s two-pointers slightly corrected the situation after the first quarter (17-26).

The start of the second period did not predict good trends for Bayern as well. Sarunas Jasikevicius‘s squad opened the quarter with an 11-0 push and their lead grew up to 19 points (41-22). The situation didn't change that much all quarter long, which let the visitors lead by 18 at the half (49-31).

After the break, Barcelona struggled a bit offensively, while Bayern started to climb back a little to make the game more interesting. With some precious baskets made by Lucic and Nick Weiler-Babb, the German side finished the third period down by 10 (49-59).

Barca played without Cory Higgins and Pierre Oriola tonight. Bayern were forced to play without Darrun Hilliard, Corey Walden, and Paul Zipser.

Barcelona:Nikola Mirotic 25 (6 REB, 3 AST), Rolands Smits 12 (5 REB), Nicolas Laprovittola 9, Nick Calathes 8 (8 AST, 7 REB).

Bayern: Vladimir Lucic 17 (6 REB, 21 PIR), Augustine Rubit 14 (8 REB), Ognjen Jaramaz 13, Nick Weiler-Babb 9 (4 AST), Othello Hunter 7 (7 REB).

Highlights

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