Barça 95-79 Joventut: Blaugrana derby

There are few better ways to start the league than with a win over your local rivals. Barça beat Joventut by 16 points in the end although until the break it was hard to say which way this one was going to go. But buoyed by a packed Palau, the blaugrana class showed through in the end

The game doubled as a presentation to the fans of the squad for the coming campaign, including new signings Jabari Paker, Willy Hernángomez, Dario Brizuela and Joel Parra, not forgetting new head coach Roger Grimau.

'La Penya' started with what might be considered their strongest fivesome, and it wasn't until the 8th minute that the first meaningful gap of +6 to Barça. Quick scores from Brodziansky and Onuaku put paid to that.

We had something similar in the second when the home side reached a double figure lead on +10, but the green-and-blacks were back within four by the interval.

After the break, Barça swung back to +10, and this time no matter how strong the reaction from Badalona, it wasn't going to be enough to cut a sizeable enough hole into that advantage, and another Barça surge as good as ended things at 68-57

With Willy Hernángomez, Abrines, Laprovittola and Jabari Parker all looking sharper than ever in the final period, it was plain sailing to the end and it ended 95-79.

MATCH STATS

Barça, 95
Joventut, 79

Barça: Da Silva (8), Satoransky (10), Hernangomez (10), Laprovittola (9), Parra (5), Vesely (8), Kalinic (11), Parker (13), Brizuela (10) , Abrinas (7), Nnaji (-), Jokubaitis (4)

Joventut: Thomas (8), Busquets (3), Andrews (15), Feliz (11), Tomic (6), Brodziansky (14), Vives (7), Kraag (3), Ribas (-), Onuaku (12)

Periods: 22-20, 44-20 // 24-17, 27-22

Referees: Juan Carlos García González, Luis Miguel Castillo, Alberto Baena