FCBARCELONA.CAT

14.01.2009 22:21

Target reached (90-68)

Carles Cascante

If there were any targets left for Pascual’s side, it was to become the side with the best record in the first stage of the Euroleague. And Regal Barça managed just that with a convincing win over their Lithuanian guests.

Roger Grimau (18 points) and Juan Carlos Navarro (16 points) led the scoring as Barça particularly excelled in the second half. The third period was the key (27-10) and saw some excellent basketball from Ersan Ilyasova and even young Mamadou Samb got his chance, scoring 5 points in the almost 11 minutes he got on court.

Balanced first half

The first half was evenly matched, with Zalgiris strong in defence and untroubled by the barren atmosphere in the Palau Blaugrana. As expected, with a big football match in the Camp Nou at 22.00, there were far less fans in the pavilion than usual, and many of those disappeared as the kick-off over the road approached. But returning to the basketball, the Lithuanians looked strong in the first half, led by Maciulis with ten points.

Pascual kept rotating his bench to give a chance to those who don’t get the opportunity so often, and the first period ended 19-21 to Zalgiris. In the second period Barcelona mainly had three pointers from Navarro to thank for the way the game turned around and saw the home side go 44-39 up. Shortly before the end of the half, Xavi Pascual even sent on young Mamadou Samb in place of Jordi Trias.

Amazing third period

The third period decided the game. Regal Barça were firing on all cylinders, and consecutive scores from Fran Vázquez put them ten ahead (49-39). From then on, the Zalgiris defence floundered in chaos and Barça were showing no mercy - the Palau faithful could only sit back and enjoy some delightful hoops from their heroes. Grimau took over from Navarro in the scoring stakes and the third period ended with a convincing 71-49 lead. Barrett was another of the less regular players who was given the chance to go out and impress.

Mamadou centre of attention

In the final period, Barça stretched their lead. Despite a 2+1 for ex CB Girona man Salenga (71-51), the gap widened to as many as 25 points when it went 86-61, following a Roger Grimau three. But just three minutes into the final period, all eyes fell on young Mamadou Samb, who displayed an amazing repertoire of moves during the 11 minutes he got on court. The reserve team product scored five points and caused all kinds of problems for the Baltic defence. It all ended 90-68, a result the team can be proud of.