FCBARCELONA.CAT

12.05.2007 23:34

Barça and Akasvayu in the quarter final (90-69)

Sònia de Alba

FC Winterthur Barcelona will play in the quarter finals of the ACB Liga this Friday against Akasvayu Girona. The first leg will be played in Palau.

Winterthur Barça ended the regular season in fourth place following victory over Grupo Capital Valladolid (90-69). Their victory had not been enough for third spot as this went to DKV Joventut floowing their mwin over Real Madrid (81-70). Despite this though, Barça were able to play well and produce a great performance for the fans.

Navarro and Vasquez set new records

Two records came out of Barça’s win. First, Juan Carlos Navarro, with 29 points,,, not only finished the season with the greatest points total, but also beat Spanish National Alfredo Perez’s 1973 record for most points scored. Navarro knew he was close going into the game “I threw more throws than normal.” Both Navarro and his team mates were pleased in achieving the new record. However, Juan Carlos was not the only person making history. Fran Vasquez achieved the highest number of blocks in the ACB Liga. No blaugrana player had ever achieved this accolade.

Serious Game

Winterthur Barça at no time appeared out of control in the game against Valladolid. The blaugrana were looking likely winners from the start.

Despite the team on the road’s initial lead (2-3), Barça controlled the whole match up. At the end of the first period, Barça led by three, however, by the half way stage, they led by 11 (42-31). In the second period, Ivanovic began to rotate his team. All players, less Albert Moncasi, played their part. Mario Kasun played just over 10 minutes; scoring 6 points and getting one rebound. The Croatian centre needs to get back into his rhythm for the play offs. Despite this, Kasun and the rest of the team appeared very positive and confident throughout.

After the restart, barça began to stretch their lead making it very difficut for the team on the road to get a foot hold in the match up. Kakiouzis opened up the biggest lead in the third (61-45) and Navarro increased the advantage even further in the 4th period (73-50), with seven minutes still remaining. Fran Vasquez and Jaka Lakovic completed the rout, taking the points total to 90 at the end.

One positive Vallodolid got out of the game was the 21 rebounds captured.

Friday, Winterthur – Akasvayu

Friday 18 May in Palau Blaugrana sees the first of the best five quarter final match ups between Barça and Girona. Barça have the home court advantage, therefore the first, third and possibly fifth game, played at home. The quarter finals between TAU Ceramica – Unicaja and DKV Joventut – Gran Canaria, will also be played on Friday. Real Madrid – Pamesa Valencia will start off the proceedings on Thursday.