Dario Brizuela scored a team-high 25 points in his first start of the season
Barcelona bounces back to beat Dubai behind Brizuela
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 23 of 38
Regular Season
FC BarcelonaBAR
9189
Dubai BasketballDUB
Overview
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FC Barcelona shook off its bruising loss to Real Madrid in the best way possible — by handing the keys to an unexpected hero. Dario Brizuela, given a rare place in the starting lineup, seized the moment and electrified Palau Blaugrana.
Brizuela rewarded Xavi Pascual’s trust with a season‑high explosion: 25 points, capped by a cold‑blooded floater with 2.3 seconds left to seal a 91–89 thriller over Dubai Basketball.
“Today was a must-win for us after the loss on Friday to Madrid, so I had to help the team. Everybody played great today. It was good for us today,” said Brizuela, who was only two points off his career high in scoring.
Brizuela had only started 7 games in his 88-game EuroLeague career - the last one coming in Round 34 of the 2023-24 season. He scored Barcelona’s first 7 points of the game and then played a major role in building a double-digit lead in the third quarter with 14 points in the period. He also helped out with 2 rebounds and 4 assists.
“The truth is that it went well for us. We wanted to change something because in the last few games we hadn't started well at all on an offensive level,” Pascual said of the change in the starting five.
“We knew we would lose a bit of height and maybe suffer a bit with some rebounding, but we wanted to control a bit more with three creative players who could always attack the weakest part of the opposing team and we did quite well what we were looking for. Every game is different. Today we sacrificed some things we had been doing to go a different way, to change things, and in the end it worked out quite well because we ended up winning.”
Brizuela was there when it counted most, hitting a jumper with 42 seconds left to make it 89-88, and then in Barcelona’s final possession, he drove to the lane and rose for a floater which went in for the final scoreline 91-89.
Brizuela partnered well with Kevin Punter, who poured in 20 points of his own.
“I played last season a little bit with him, too. We like playing with each other. We are kind of both the same way. He’s a better scorer than me but we both put a lot of pressure on the defense. When we are on the court together they have to focus on both of us. That is how we tried to play today and it worked out,” Brizuela said.
“It was a gritty win. They fought back when we were up 12. We were able to finish it out. Dario made some big-time plays,” added Punter.
After Dubai finished the first quarter ahead 18-22, Punter keyed a big 14-2 run in the second quarter to lead 41-30 and the score was 49-41 at the break.
Brizuela knocked down 3 three-pointers in the third quarter as Barcelona pulled away and was up 79-67 after 30 minutes.
Dubai worked its way back into the game with 3 triples and knotted the score 83-83. Dwayne Bacon added another three-pointer and it was 87-88 before Brizuela’s heroics.
Dubai has struggled all season to win away from home. With this loss, it fell to 10-13 overall and 2-10 on the road. McKinley Wright scored a career-high 29 points to go with 5 assists while Mfiondu Kabengele had 13 points.
“We had our chances. The last two possessions we didn’t defend very well and they made their baskets and won the game. We gave up too many second-chance points,” said Dubai head coach Jurica Golemac, who did see the return of Dzanan Musa for the first time since Round 3 and he had 5 points in 14 minutes.
“Most of the game we played good - aggressive, physical and finding the people where we wanted them. But in the end, unfortunately we didn’t win it.”
