Barça 86-81 Crvena Zvezda: Made to work hard for the win

Barça pulled off a nail-biting win over Crvena Zvezda 86-81 at the Palau in a game that see-sawed one way then another over its four quarters. The victory also saw Laprovittola and Jokubaitis back after injury to take part in the team's sixth win in seven matches in the Euroleague. 

First quarter tight

The home side started the better of the two teams and Vesely dominating the boards, the blaugraned surged into 15-6 lead after five minutes. However, the Serbian visitors fought back with Teodosic leading the way to come within three points at the end of the quarter at 21-18. 

In the second period Hernangómez took over from Vesely in the paint and Barça sprinted into a 39-23 lead, their biggest of the contest. Once more, Crvena Zvezda got themselves back into the game with Nedovic's three pointer at the end of the half reducing the deficit to just four points at 47-43. 

Same story 

The second half saw the script remain the same with Barça getting ahead at 55-46 thanks to scores from Parker, Satoransky and Laprovittola from the three point line. The Serbians never let the advantage dishearten them and going into the final quarter they were just three points behind at 65-62. 

The game remained tight all the way through the fourth quarter. Barça had the lead at 72-67 but Crvena Zvezda came back to level it up at 78-78. In the final minutes Vesely's presence and a basket from Jabari Parker finally broke the visitors' resistance and Roger Grimau's team took an important win in the Palau. 

MATCH STATS

Barça, 86
Crvena Zvezda, 81

Barça: Satoransky (10), Abrines (1), Kalinic (7), Da Silva (2), Vesely (14) -starting five- Laprovittola (4), Parker (20), Jokubaitis (8), Hernangómez (18), Brizuela (0)

Crvena Zvezda: Napier (2), Davidovac (12), Mitrovic (22), Bolomboy (4), Neodovic (11) -starting five- Teodosic (13), Giedraitis (9), Tobey (6), Dos Santos (0), Kuzmic (3), Ilic (2), Yago (0)