FC Barcelona Lassa v EA7 Emporio Armani: Convincing victory before Christmas (89-75)

It was an important and clear victory for FC Barcelona Lassa in the Euroleague. 48 hours after the defeat to Baskonia, Georgios Bartzokas' men recovered with a convincing victory against EA7 Emporio Armani of Milan, who never threatened, with a score of 89-75. On their return to the Palau following three away games in succession, the Croatian Ante Tomic, with 19 points, was one of the principal architects and leading scorer in their sixth win in the European league.

In this game, Barça managed a record 30 assists in a Euroleague fixture in a game which didn't look like it would be easy against a team hurting from a run of six consecutive defeats. However, the win was on the cards from the first moments of the game. Barça Lassa began well by scoring freely and moving the ball around confidently and built a solid lead. The 49-35 scoreline at the break reflected this dominance and allowed Barça to play in a more relaxed way in the second half.

The first ten minutes of the match laid the foundations of this win with a 32-19 score. Led by Ante Tomic, who was on fire in the first twenty minutes with 15 points, along with the combative Rice, with seven assists, and Koponen's four three pointers. Barça led by 16 points in the eighteenth minutes just before the break which was just reward for an impressive Barça display.

Pressing home their advantage

Bartzokas' team controlled the tempo of the game and they were able to extend their lead with a high intensity start to the second half giving them a 59-39 lead in the 25th minute. The Catalans were out of sight once they extended this advantage thanks to another Koponen three pointer in the 29th minute, which left the scores at 70-49.

Olimpia Milano reduced the difference somewhat to a more respectable 76-57 but the Italians were too far behind to have any hopes of getting something out of the game. The task became even harder when Barça upped the tempo once again and ended with a final score of 89-75. The victory was well deserved and was the perfect way for the Catalans to celebrate ahead of Christmas and was an important win ahead of the final two fixtures in this Euroleague group phase.