FC Barcelona Lassa v ICL Manresa: Sweet moment continues (84–57)

Barça Lassa will be spending another week at the summit of the Liga Endesa table after a remarkably comfortable dismissal of ICL Manresa in the Catalan derby. Abrines, Satoransky, Vezenkov and Oleson got 13 points each in the ninth consecutive win in domestic play.

That said, the game didn’t exactly get off to an explosive start. Samardo Samuels and Tomas Satoransky took control early on, first the Jamaican centre and then the Czech guard, and it was the latter who finally got Barça into a convincing lead with two slam-dunks to make it 13-5, and the difference was already up to double figures at 20-10 by the end of the first period.

The second half also began stodgily but ended in fine fashion, and the lead was soon up to twenty at 33-15. Manresa managed to get back to within nine, but a storm led by Álex Abrines meant the sides went in for the interval at 38-26.

The second half started with a 10-2 streak, which as good as ensured the home win, and with the 3-pointers finally starting to hit the target, the lead was further extended (60-41), with Brad Oleson contributing 10 points in the third period alone and a wonderful three from Abrines closing the quarter at 69-43.

Things were already settled by this stage, and coach Xavi Pascual opted to rest players like Abrines and Perperoglou. Not that this halted the scoring streak (79-50), with Arroyo, Samuels and Diagne all finding the basket with ease, and the buzzer finally sounding on 84-57, a fair reflection of Barça’s superiority.

The win leaves Barça 26-2 in ACB play and comfortably atop of the table.