Barça 76-79 Valencia Basket: Agonising defeat

Barça were looking to complete a perfect week at the Palau Blaugrana, but a thrilling game on Sunday was shaded by Valencia Basket (76-79). Three down in the final seconds, Laprovittola had the chance to send the game into overtime, but his attempt failed and instead that's the seventh loss of the regular season for a team that stays third in the Liga Endesa.

Oscar Da Silva and Willy Hernangómez were especially plugged in as Barça looked to be commanding the first period, but a Valencia reaction meant it ended 19-19 Into the second, and the standout performances were Hernangómez and Jabari Parker in defence, and with the points going in at the other end, Barça made their break. At 40-31, it was all starting to look very sweet indeed.

But no. The story repeated. A 7-0 streak lunged the visitors right back into contention, and by the break, we had a 2-point game on our hands.

Second half, and off went Barça again. A Willy Hernangómez 2+1 and a Darío Brizuela three helped get things to 56-44, and surely Valencia weren't going to do it again? But they did. Barça started firing blanks and an extraordinary 16-0 streak for the guests swivelled the whole game full circle.

Anything could have happened in the final period. Tomas Satoransky and Jabari Parker both provoked delirium with their slam-dunks, but Valencia clung onto their lead. And so to the finale. It all came down to Laprovittola's triple attempt right at the end, but the ball didn't go in, and a third win in a week was not to be.

MATCH STATS

Barça, 76
Valencia Basket, 79

Barça: Satoransky (10), Laprovittola (5), Kalinic (5), Da Silva (7), Vesely (7), Hernangómez (16), Parker (12), Parra (2), Brizuela (9), Jokubaitis (3), Nnaji (0)

Valencia Basket: Jones (9), Puerto (3), Anderson (8), Inglis (2), Reuvers (2), Pradilla (15), López-Arostegui (2), Ojeleye (17), Jovic (11), Robertson (8), Claver (0), Pangos (2)

Peiords: 19-19, 21-19 // 18-22, 18-19

Referees: Miguel Ángel Pérez Pérez, Rafael Serrano, Alberto Sánchez Sixto