Stellar Mirotic's performance leads Barca to a crushing win over ALBA / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Zuma Press – Scanpix Credit Zuma Press – Scanpix

FC Barcelona (1-0) dominated against ALBA Berlin (0-1) 96-64 (28-15, 22-14, 13-17, 33-18) to secure the first victory in the new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign.

Player of the Game EFF 31 Nikola Mirotic Points 22 Accuracy 8-8 Rebounds 5 Assists 1

Barca came out strong from the first minute. The Catalans arranged a 12-2 run and created a tangible advantage. Nick Calathes, Cory Higgins, and Nikola Mirotic contributed to the early spurt.

Both teams kept trading baskets, however, Sarunas Jasikevicius' squad finished the period on a high note. Kyle Kuric hit two threes in a row, and the lead reached 13 points (28-15).

At the start of the second quarter, Barca continued their domination. They started the period with a 7-0 run, thanks to Rokas Jokubaitis and Rolands Smits (35-15).

That was not a finish, as Barca kept pushing the accelerator pedal. The scoreboard was showing 50-29 after the 20 minutes of playing time.

The second half did not bring any surprises, and Barca celebrated a convincing victory.

“I want to congratulate our players and fans,“ Jasikevicius said after the game. “We opened the Turkish Airlines Euroleague in a really good way. It is very important in this difficult stretch, with three games in six days, to find the pace. Everybody played together, I think they enjoyed this game. We go from here.“

For the winners, Nikola Mirotic put on a show with perfect shooting. He posted 22 points (4/4 2PT, 4/4 3PT, 2/2 FT), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 31 PIR.

“He has been amazing tonight. He is in really good shape,“ Jasikevicius said about Mirotic’s performance after the game. “We found him near the rim in the first half, which was our goal. Then he was on fire from the three-point line in the third quarter.“

FC Barcelona / Schedule

FC Barcelona ALBA Berlin96-64 FC Bayern Munich FC BarcelonaThu18:30

ALBA was led by Luke Sikma, who had 16 points (8/12 2PT, 0/2 3PT), 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 23 PIR.

“We are not 100%, we knew this before the game,“ admitted Israel Gonzalez. “We missed a lot of players. We knew that it was going to be difficult. In the beginning, I was surprised at how Barca defended.“

“But we never stopped working. Forcing 15 turnovers to Barcelona is a good signal. We faced the second half with good energy. We won the third quarter, and the team was trying to do things as best as they could. For that, we have to be a little happy about this,“ he added.

Barcelona: Nikola Mirotic 22 (4/4 2PT, 4/4 3PT, 2/2 FT, 5 REB), Rokas Jokubaitis12 (3/3 2PT, 2/2 3PT, 2/2 FT, 3 REB, 6 AST, 21 PIR), Nicolas Laprovittola 9 (0/1 2PT, 3/3 3PT, 7 AST), Brandon Davies 8 (4/8 2PT, 3 REB), Sertac Sanli 8 (4/7 2PT, 2 REB).

ALBA: Luke Sikma 16 (8/12 2PT, 0/2 3PT, 11 REB, 4 AST), Maodo Lo 12 (4/7 2PT, 1/3 3PT), Jaleen Smith 7 (0/2 2PT, 2/4 3PT, 3 REB, 2 AST).

Highlights

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