He earned 2019 Final Four MVP honors in his lucky basketball building
Barcelona's Will Clyburn wins at Buesa Arena... again
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 27 of 38
Regular Season
Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-GasteizKBA
9197
FC BarcelonaBAR
Overview
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Some players feel comfortable in certain arenas, and that is definitely the case for FC Barcelona forward Will Clyburn when it comes to Buesa Arena. Clyburn led Barca to a 91-97 road victory over Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, sparking his team’s turnaround in the third quarter.
Clyburn led CSKA Moscow to the 2019 EuroLeague title at Buesa Arena, earning Final Four MVP honors. He finished the Championship Game with 20 points and 5 rebounds in a 93-91 win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul. He was also solid in the semifinal against Real Madrid, scoring 18 points, grabbing 5 rebounds and providing one of the biggest highlights in Final Four history with a huge poster dunk over Los Blancos' center Walter Tavares.
Last season, Clyburn lifted Virtus Bologna past Baskonia at Buesa Arena with a game-winning four-point play. After Nikos Rogkavopoulos gave Baskonia an 81-78 lead, Clyburn buried a three-pointer off the glass, drew a foul and hit the and-one free throw to seal the win.
This time, Clyburn had a quiet first half, reaching halftime with just two points and a PIR of 1. Everything changed in the third quarter, when he knocked down a couple of his trademark step-back three-pointers, added a dunk and scored a big basket in the low post. Barca hit 5-of-6 three-pointers in the quarter, dished out seven assists with just two turnovers, and turned a 51-48 deficit into a 76-68 lead behind Clyburn’s leadership. Kevin Punter was injured midway through the fourth quarter, but that didn’t prevent Barca from controlling the game.
“I think in the third quarter, step by step, we started to dominate the game. We changed the way we played from the second quarter, but in the third quarter we started to dominate,” Barca coach Xavi Pascual said. “At the end of the game, we had some foul trouble and Punter got injured. It looks like we cannot be happy even one day, because with this injury we cannot really enjoy the victory too much. But on the other hand, it was a very important win for us.”
Clyburn finished with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a PIR of 17. After an early loss in Vitoria-Gasteiz with Darussafaka Istanbul, he is 9-1 in his last 10 games at Buesa Arena, winning with four different teams: CSKA, Efes, Virtus and now Barca. His only loss in that stretch came with Efes, a 114-111 overtime defeat.
Joel Parra and Toko Shengelia led the way with 16 points apiece. Nico Laprovittola added 15, while Dario Brizuela scored 14, the same total as Clyburn. It marked the first time in EuroLeague history that five Barca players scored at least 14 points. It didn’t even happen in the teams’ previous EuroLeague showdown, when Barca beat Baskonia 134-124 in triple overtime.
With the win, Barca improved to 17-10 and sits fourth overall with just 11 games remaining in the regular season.
“We knew we had a big chance to move forward. We have to keep focusing on what we have to do and the best way to play,” Laprovittola said after the game. “We know we have to fight, play good basketball and control the game, but it’s not going to be easy. Today, we fought a lot and I think we improved. We have to get everybody on the same page.”
