Efes 88-97 Barça: Another magnificent victory

A very prestigious win for the Barça basketball team against Anadolu Efes in this EuroLeague gameweek six fixture, and the blaugranes stay at the top of the table. Joan Peñarroya's side played a very solid, effective attacking game to make it five wins in six games. Metu (21 points) and Punter (20 points) top scored, as thoughts now turn to a trip to Greece to play Olympiacos.

From the three point line

Barça set themselves on the way to victory with a tremendous offensive performance in the first half. In fact, both Efes and Barça put on an attacking show, each scoring at least 25 points per quarter (26-29 and 25-26), with superb plays and accuracy from the three point line. The latter was particularly the case for Barça, with 11 from 17, six of which were scored by Metu and Punter (3 each).

Joan Peñarroya's side did a lot of damage from the 6.75m line, helping them end the first half in front (51-55, min 20). The game actually began with three points by Abrines and two by Parker (2-9, min 2), before each side kept trading blows, with Efes actually going ahead for the first time in the game (19-17, min 7). Barça were still proving effective though, and despite both sides attacking well, the lead was mostly maintained up to half-time (36-43, min 15).

Both Punter and Metu gave the Turkish side's defence a real headache, scoring 14 and 13 points respectively in the first 20 minutes. Elijah Bryant (10 points) and Darius Thompson (9 points) kept the home side in the hunt, but it was still 51-55 at the break.

Blaugranes come through to win

The restart saw Barça put themselves on the road to victory. A concentrated start to the third quarter and scoring 7 without reply saw the lead grow quickly (51-62, min 22). The pace was frenetic and the lead grew ever further, up to a maximum of +13 (58-71, min 27) during a very solid third quarter for Barça (66-76, min 30).

Same again in the final quarter, the visitors scoring more to ensure the home side remained at bay despite their best efforts. As such, the score opened up to 82-97 with less than two minutes remaining. Efes tried to come back, but ran out of time, final score 88-97.

A hard-earned win involving some great team play and Peñarroya's side continue to look good in this season's EuroLeague. That's four wins in a row now, and the fifth in six gameweeks. Next up, a trip to Athens in the quest for the next win.

GAME STATS

ANADOLU EFES 88
BARÇA 97

Efes: Nwora, Bryant, Darius Thompson, Poirier, Osmani - starting five - Beaubois, Rolands Smits, Johnson, Ozdemiroglu, Oturu.

Barça: Punter, Willy Hernangomez, Juan Nuñez, Abrines, Parker - starting five - Anderson, Vesely, Brizuela, Metu, Satoransky, Fall.

Quarters: 26-29, 25-26 (51-55), 15-21 (66-76), 22-21 (88-97).

Referees: Saša Pukl, Uros Nikolic, Steve Bittner.