The Barça basketball team missed out on a 23rd Euroleague win of the season when they went down to a 84-76 defeat in Italy against Emporio Armani Milan. Saras Jasikevicius' team slip down from second place in the table due to the reverse in what was Álex Abrines' 500th game in a blaugrana shirt.
Tight beginning
The game was a close affair early on with neither side able to build an important advantage on the scoreboard. At one stage, Kuric's three pointers have Barça a seven point lead but the home side fought back to bring the deficit down to three at 21-18 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second Milan stepped on the accelerator and moved into the lead for the first time since the opening minutes. The blaugranes fought hard to stay in the game and a three pointer from Laprovittola brought them back to within three at 39-36 at half time.
The win slips away
In the second half the Italians again put the pressure and moved into an eight point lead and at the end of the third quarter that advantage had been stretched to 10 at 58-48.
The final quarter saw Milan manage their lead well and with Jasikevicius giving some of his bench playing time, the Italians closed out a 84-76 win.
MATCH STATS
Emporio Armani Milan, 84
Barça, 76
Emporio Armani Milan: Melli (11), Baron (12), Napier (18), Shields (5) and Voigtmann (5) – starting five – Hines (10), Ricci (10), Datome (2), Hall (0) and Pangos (3).
Barça: Satoransky (2), Laprovittola (12), Kuric (17), Mirotic (11) and Sanli (0) – starting five – Vesely (9), Higgins (6), Tobey (12), Jokubaitis (2), Abrines (3) and Da Silva (2).
