Barcelona wins Euroleague Asia Tour game
Barcelona is a team that likes to disrupt the history books, especially in the Euroleague where their Top 16 exploits have been the stuff of legend over the last few years. The Spanish giant was in history making mood as the team clashed with Chinese franchise Zhejiang Lions in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday. The game was a part of the Euroleague Basketball Asia Tour and Barcelona came away with a hard fought 83-94 victory.
Zhejiang Guangsha Lions vs. Barcelona, 83-94
Zhang Wei got the scoreboard ticking from behind the arc and handed the Chinese hosts the first advantage of the game. Maciej Lampe hooked in to get Barcelona rolling, before Su Ruoyu registered his first for the Lions and continued to bookend a Justin Doellman insider for the Spaniards. The hosts continued to press in the early exchanges and paced to a 9-4 lead, but the visitors responded through Deshaun Thomas. Ruoyu was proving to be the pace setter for Zhejiang (11-8) but Barcelona slowly made their presence felt and took its first lead through Lampe. The Spanish giant kept pushing and holding the lead for the remainder of the first period, and ended a high scoring stanza with Barca leading 26-27.
Elijah Holman stirred the home fans with the first score of the second frame for the Lions that was dunked home one handed. Wang Zheng notched a basket too as the Chinese club made the early moves in Q2 to lead 31-27. Alex Abrines started Barcelona in the frame with a triple, before Tibor Pleiss followed a 50% effort from the charity strip from Zheng (32-32). Through the middle minutes of the second quarter the underdog Chinese club spurred by the home crowd kept pace with Barcelona, trading buckets. However, the Spanish club soon found a rhythm as Marcelinho Huertas, Pleiss, and Juan Carlos Navarro put together a run in the closing minutes of the half. At the long break Barcelona led 46-54.
As the game restarted Lampe sunk a jumper to make it a double digit game, opening a 10 point gap at 46-56. The Chinese team went dry on baskets as Ante Tomic extended the Spanish lead to 46-58 and the gulf in class was beginning to show. When Abrines nailed from downtown, the game looked sealed with Barca sitting on a 13 point lead at 48-61. Sun Henan emerged for the Lions and was making the pace for the home team during the third quarter. However, the visitors managed to maintain the 10 point gap through much of the frame, but Zhejiang cut the deficit to 8 points after 30 minutes on the floor. Heading into the fourth quarter there was still plenty to play for at 64-72.
Holman was putting together a good game and he was the go to guy for the Lions, but Barca’s skill was beginning to make the difference. Doellman dunked and went 100% from the line to open a 15 point advantage at 66-81 with just seven minutes to tick on the clock. Holman was still a danger and putting together plays, including a triple effort, but it seemed like too late for the hosts. Barca’s bench players such as Bostjan Nachbar came onto the hardwood and made it comfortable for the Euroleague club down the stretch.
Doellman led the winning effort with 15 points, while Lampe scored 15 points and Navarro 11 for Barcelona.
Holman was a driving force for the Lions, securing a double-double 22 points and 15 boards. He was followed by Ruoyu with 15 points for the losing team.