The Spanish side absolutely dominated on Friday night and kept up its unbeaten start to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
Centers led Barcelona to historic win over Bayern
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3 Mins read
FC Barcelona kept on rolling in Round 4 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, as it grabbed one of its biggest wins in competition history. Up against FC Bayern Munich at Palau Blaugrana, Barca blitzed Pablo Laso’s side 98-59 in a truly dominant display, which was perhaps best epitomized by the forceful play of centers Jan Vesely, Willy Hernangomez and James Nnaji.
Barca tied its third-biggest winning margin in EuroLeague history in 613 games in the competition, having won by 39 points. The Blaugrana had a 44-point win, 97-53, against Cibona Zagreb on December 1, 2005, and beat Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul by 43 points, 97-55, on November 12, 2020. It is Barca's third 39-point win in the EuroLeague, as it previously beat Fenerbahce 60-99 on February 21, 2013 and PGE Turow Zgorzelec, 65-104, on December 5, 2014.
It was also Bayern's biggest-ever loss in the EuroLeague. Its previous biggest losing margin was 33 points, 93-60, against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on November 1, 2019.
The centers led the way against Bayern
Vesely got Barca going with 6 quick points, fueling an opening 13-2 run that put his team on the right track. The Czech big man took advantage of his mid-range game, hitting several jumpers. Hernangomez soon came off the bench, giving Barca even more of a scoring punch down low. Later, Nnaji offered power and athleticism against Serge Ibaka, one of the most physical and dominant centers in the competition.
Nnaji finished the game with a career-high 10 points on 3-of-4 two-pointers and provided the biggest highlight of the game, getting an inbound pass from Nico Laprovittola before detonating a two-handed alley-oop dunk. He matched his personal-best PIR of 12.
Vesely needed less than 12 minutes to get 14 points on 5-of-7 two-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws, adding 4 rebounds and 3 fouls drawn for a PIR of 18. As for Hernangomez, he had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 fouls drawn and a big block on Ibaka, all in less than 18 minutes.
A big test on the way
Above all, Barca proved that it is really solid at the '5' position right before arguably the biggest test any team in the EuroLeague can face at that spot – a night up against Walter Tavares and Vincent Poirier.
Next week, Barca faces Real Madrid in a direct battle for first place in the standings. Real and Barca are the only undefeated teams in the competition, and what happens under the basket could determine the winner of El Clásico.