It might be a new era at FC Barcelona, but Thursday night revealed that not all things changed at Palau Blaugrana.
Barcelona bigs, newcomers left good first impression
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4 Mins read
No Turkish Airlines EuroLeague team has more regular-season wins over the past five seasons than FC Barcelona, and the new-look team that underwent significant changes over the summer got off to a stellar start on the opening night of the 2023-24 season.
New Barcelona head coach Roger Grimau opened his EuroLeague coaching tally with a win, a 91-74 decision over Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
"When you win it is like a fresh air to keep working, practicing and building a team," Grimau said after the game in which his team pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Efes head coach Erdem Can, also in his first EuroLeague game in that role, stated in post-game press conference that "the final result is not a reflection of the game," and he might have been right.
One-way fourth quarter
The teams traded blows for 30 minutes and Efes was within a single point late in a slugfest of a third quarter in which Efes outscored Barcelona 29-30. The way things went up until that point, it seemed as the game would be going down to the wire. However, it did not. Barcelona stepped up defensively, slowed the game down, and cruised to victory.
"Especially in the last quarter, we defended very good," Grimau said. "Allowing 10 points [in the fourth quarter] is a very good thing for us."
What Barcelona also did was dominate inside. The hosts made 8-of-11 two-point shots and had a 14-9 rebounding advantage in the final 10 minutes. Those numbers were just the continuation of Barcelona's night-long dominance around the rims.
Barca shot 32-for-42 on two-pointers in this game, good for 72.6%. That's was Barcelona's fifth-best two-point percentage this century and the best in almost eight years. Also, 32 two-point shots made were just 2 shy of a club record, and the most since the 2013-14 season. Barca also outrebounded Efes 35-25 for the night.
Newcomers came to play
Such good numbers came behind the performance of the big trio of Willy Hernangomez, Jan Vesely and Jabari Parker.
Hernangomez starred with 18 points on 7-for-8 two-point shooting in just 16 minutes on the floor and exited the game with 2 minutes to go in the fourth quarter to a standing ovation.
Vesely, a former EuroLeague MVP, collected 16 points and 7 rebounds, while first-year veteran Jabari Parker scored all of his 10 points in the fourth quarter, fueling a Barcelona run to pull away. The trio was a remarkable 19-of-24 on two-pointers (79.2%) as Efes had no answer for them.
In addition to Parker and Hernangomez, another Barcelona summer signing had a significant contribution. Dario Brizuela used his first 14 EuroLeague minutes for 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Those three combined to collect 33 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, with Parker playing 18 minutes, the most out of the three.
Add an all-around performance from Nicolas Laprovittola (13 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds) and it is clear that the mixture of the old and the new worked perfectly on the opening night.
"We have a completely new team, but our expectations are really high," said Hernangomez.
Indeed. Barcelona is always looked at as a perennial EuroLeague contender, and the first impression tells that, despite all the changes, not much will be different in this season that has just started.