De Colo bitter the return of Mirotic to the Palau

De Colo bitter the return of Mirotic to the Palau

Barça, sentenced by the Frenchman, falls against ASVEL Villeurbanne

MADRID, 9 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Barça suffered an unexpected defeat (74-75) this Friday in matchday 12 of the Euroleague held at the Palau Blaugrana, a bitter season opener at home for Nikola Mirotic, an exceptional witness to Nando de Colo's winning basket.

Sarunas Jasikevicius's men started badly and, although they found the hit in the second quarter, they had a one-on-one clash against an opponent from the bottom of the table. De Colo (19 points) pulled the visitors in the last quarter and won the game almost on the buzzer against the defense of a Mirotic (17) who is looking for the best version of him at the start of his season after injury.

The Catalan team entered the game thick, without knowing how to get their hands on the rival defense and overshadowed by the dominance inside of a Fall who signed 10 rebounds in less than eight minutes. Matthews was the other support for an Asvel who went ahead in the second quarter (15-21), although with plenty of time to suffer the local reaction.

Barça did not make her wait and got the batteries without further ado. Kuric made four triples in the second quarter and both Mirotic and Laprovittola also left their business card. 'Saras'' team signed 31 points in those 10 minutes and went to the locker room leading the score (46-40).

The French game was left with three assists in 20 minutes and only De Colo worked in the local torrent of points. The French star ended up being decisive against a Barça team that lost its artillery at a key moment. With 12 points in the last quarter, 'Saras'' men suffered in an even finish that the visitors did not renege on to lift their losing streak of five straight losses.

The Barça restart had not been the best, without finding their point guards or those points from Kuric, and they had to play it face to face. The defense did not know how to stop one of the worst attacks in the Euroleague and, despite finding something for Mirotic --in his third game in six months-- in the third quarter, he had a give and take as the outcome with Asvel very involved

Jackson Parker gave his team the intensity that Barça did not have and, although Laprovittola and Sanli found success, De Colo always had one more response. The Frenchman assumed the last one, in the face of Mirotic, and left 1.3 seconds for Barça to look for a miracle that did not come. Those of 'Saras' remain 8-4, two behind the leader Fenerbahce, while the Frenchmen leave the lower zone.

--RESULTADO: BARÇA, 74 - ASVEL VILLEURBANNE, 75. (46-40, al descanso).

BARÇA: Laprovittola (14), Satoransky (6), Mirotic (17), Sanli (5) and Tobey (4) --quinteto inicial--; Kalinic (5), Kuric (13), Jokubaitis (4), Nnaji (-), Vesely (6), Paulí (-).

ASVEL VILLEURBANNE: Obasohan (6), De Colo (19), Matthews (8), Noua (5) and Fall (14) --starting five-- Jackson Parker (10), Diot (-), Kahudi (7), Lighty (4), Tyus (2).

--REFEREES: Pukl, Kardum and Rossi. No deleted.

--PAVILION: Palau Blaugrana.