EuroLeague: Barcelona downs Red Star for 4-0 start

FC Barcelona Lassa has been one of the hottest teams in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague to start the 2019-20 season. After defeating Crvena Zvezda “Red Star” Beograd 65-73 last night, Barca pushed their early-season winning streak to four games. Red Star falls to 1-3 and are now currently sitting in a troublesome 16th place in the league standings.

The win did not come without its fair share of challenges as Barcelona was missing some key personnel due to injuries. In the end, their grit and talent shined through in the third quarter as they erased a 13-point lead to take control of the game.

Nikola Mirotic continued with his MVP-caliber season and dropped a game-high 21 points to lead Barcelona to victory. Kyle Kuric accounted for three of the team’s seven made 3-point shots in the game, en route to his 15-point performance.

Crvena Zvezda were uncharacteristically poor in taking care of the ball, committing 21 turnovers on the night. They also struggled to find consistent progress on the offensive end of the floor. Only James Gist cracked the double-digit scoring mark with 10 points.

After a rocky 2018-19 season, it appears that Barcelona is primed to bounce back in a big way in 2019-20. Clearly, the addition of Nikola Mirotic has changed the dynamic of the team. His versatility and scoring prowess have allowed the Spanish club to flourish thus far.

It was not all roses and rainbows for the Spanish teams in the EuroLeague on Thursday night. Real Madrid suffered their second loss of the season (2-2) at the hands of Anadolu Efes Istanbul (3-1), 76-60.

Efes’ duo of Bryant Dunston and Krunoslav Simon gave Real Madrid headaches in the paint as both big men produced 17 points each for the Turkish team.

Veteran Sergio Llull led the whites with 14 points, but even his experienced savvy was not enough to carry them to victory. Facu Campazzo was noticeably quiet, being limited to five points in over 26 minutes of action.

Real Madrid has on many occasions, counted on their fast pace and 3-point shooting. However, Efes exposed their weaknesses in the low post. Dunston pretty much scored at will and opponents with talented big men such as him will be problematic for Real Madrid to deal with, if they don’t make any adjustments.