Nicolas Laprovittola and Alex Abrines scored 18 points apiece in Barcelona's road win over Baskonia that allowed the Catalans to finish first in the ACB regular season.
FC Barcelona secured first place in the ACB League and the home-court advantage in the playoffs, after beating Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in the duel for the primacy. Sarunas Jasikevicius 's team left the Fernando Buesa Arena victorious 91-84.
The Catalan team played without Jan Vesely, who felt back pain in the previous game, and Nikola Kalinic, also injured. But the close appointment in Kaunas against Real Madrid did not prevent Barca from putting all their efforts into winning the game.
The duel was very even until the break. So much so that at halftime the score was tied (45-45). However, the visitors proved to be superior in the second half and, thanks to the pairing formed by Nicolas Laprovittola (18 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists) and Alex Abrines (6 triples, 18 points), authors of 9 points each in the third quarter, they broke the contest open.
Abrines became the player with the fourth-most 3-point shots made in FC Barcelona history.
With Baskonia leading 59-58, came a partial score of 3-15 for the Catalan side.
Vanja Marinkovic (20 points, 8/9 FG) and Darius Thompson (15 points and 8 assists) tried to lead Joan Penarroya's team, which came within two possessions (84-88) after a dunk from Marinkovic, but Daulton Hommes (14 points) missed his three-pointer and failed to bring the hosts even closer.
With Markus Howard playing subpar (9 points, 0/4 3-point shooting, 0/2 free throws in the last quarter), the Blaugrana ensured victory and first place. On the other hand, Baskonia will now have to win their last game to prevent Real Madrid from getting the second place.
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