FC Barcelona (8-2) managed to come back in a great fourth quarter to get the win against CSKA Moscow (5-5).
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
27
|
| Nikola Mirotic | |
| Points | 21 |
| Accuracy | 7-11 |
| Rebounds | 8 |
| Assists | 1 |
The Blaugranas now lead the Turkish Airlines Euroleague with the same record as AX Armani Exchange Milan and Real Madrid.
Sarunas Jasikevicius could not hide his happiness after a tough game against the Russian powerhouse.
"Congratulations to our players and fans. It was a very interesting game. We understood that we needed to suffer. Not a solid first half, we had trouble in the 3Q, and it was an amazing performance in the last one", began the Lithuanian coach.
"We showed character. A lot of credit for the guys. It is very human to have some bad situations, but it shows character to pull out the game", he added.
More than 5000 people attended the Palau Blaugrana in which there was a great basketball atmosphere. However, Jasikevicius asked for even more.
"We need to be more Greek, Serbian, and Lithuanian. This is a good acoustic arena. Fans are connected with this team, they appreciate us. But we want even more", confessed the 45-year-old-mastermind.
Asked about Nikola Mirotic's performance, who finished the game with 21 points, 12 of them in the last period, Barcelona's coach praised his capacity to rise up.
"I always talked to Niko. For you, it is really easy to score 20 points. If we want to win big games, everyone needs to do little things. He is so good. He had some bad minutes, but he was able to rise and help us," Saras said.
Barcelona suffered a 13-33 run in the third quarter, something Saras did not like at all.
"We made a lot of mistakes, and they scored a lot of threes. You need to be very solid in this competition. A good team does not give any presents to its rival," the Lithuanian concluded.
CSKA Moscow / Schedule
CSKA Moscow
Maccabi Tel Aviv
FC Barcelona
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-GasteizOn the other hand, Dimitris Itoudis analyzed the game and some of the clues.
"First of all, I would like to congratulate Barcelona on the victory. Obviously, we could say a lot of things. We opened the game so tight. We lost a bit of our composure in the second quarter.
At halftime, we talked about how we are supposed to play basketball. We came stronger in the 3Q, with better ideas on the court. Barcelona put a lot of pressure on us, and we could not handle this situation", said the Greek coach.
Itoudis also focused on the technical foul that Jasikevicius received in the third quarter.
"I think it was also an important moment. He broke the rhythm with all due respect for my colleague. It is not the same to receive a technical because you deserved it rather than to stop a fast break. We need to find some answer to this," Itoudis commented.
Finally, the two-time EuroLeague champion reminded CSKA is getting players back to the roster.
"We need to keep growing as a team. Some players are coming back after an injury process, so it is not easy to come here and compete like we did today", he concluded.
Like what we are doing? Support us by becoming BN+ member.
