FC Barcelona dominated the second half to see off FC Bayern Munich 81-72 in Game 5 of their best-of-five EuroLeague Playoff series on Tuesday night at Palau Blaugrana.
Barca bounces Bayern, 81-72, to get back to Final Four

Nicolas Laprovittola scored 13 of his career-high 26 points in the third quarter as Barcelona took control for good to clinch a ticket to the Final Four. Nikola Mirotic added 20 points and Nick Calathes paired 10 points with 5 assists as Barcelona survived a stiff challenge. Bayern led 31-37 at halftime before Barcelona, the team with the best record in the regular season, regrouped and pulled away. Othello Hunter paced Bayern with 18 points before leaving late with an injury. Ognjen Jaramaz added 17 points and Nick Weiler-Babb scored 10 in defeat. It marked the second season in a row in which Bayern took a higher-seeded team the distance and fell in Game 5.
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Brandon Davies scored in traffic to open the scoring and Weiler-Babb’s pull-up jumper got Bayern on the scoreboard. The hosts moved ahead on a Laprovittola triple and a Mirotic layup. Another jumper by Weiler-Babb was all the offense Bayern had in the first 4 minutes as Davies’s fastbreak layup made it 9-4. Jaramaz took charge with 5 quick points to tie it and Hunter’s tip-in gave Bayern its first lead. Hunter dunked twice more to complete a 0-11 Bayern run for a 9-15 lead. Rolands Smits snapped Barcelona’s drought. Dante Exum’s layup made it 18-19 after 10 minutes.
Mirotic tied it with a triple early in the second quarter and Laprovittola’s three gave the hosts the lead, 24-23, after which Bayern called timeout. Bayern soon regained the lead with fastbreak baskets by Weiler-Babb and Vladimir Lucic. Alex Abrines made an impact with a pair of rebounds and a three to even things at 27-27. Zan Mark Sisko twice put Bayern ahead and Mirotic and Rokas Jokubaitis matched him both times. Threes by Weiler-Babb and Jaramaz put the visitors ahead 31-37 at the break.
Calathes buried a three from the elbow and found Mirotic inside before the latter went coast to coast for a layup that but Barcelona up 38-37. After a Bayern timeout, Jaramaz buried a jumper and then traded threes with Abrines. Mirotic and Laprovittola pushed Barcelona ahead only to see Andreas Obst tie it at 45-45 with a three-pointer. Laprovittola bettered him with a 4-point play. A layup by Calathes and free throws by Laprovittola put Barcelona up by 8. DeShaun Thomas tried to rescue Bayern with a three-pointer but the red-hot Laprovittola answered and free throws by Davies gave the hosts the game’s first double-digit lead, 58-48. Hunter drew a foul on the offensive glass and sank free throws and against Laprovittola matched Bayern with foul shots at the other end. Jaramaz made it 60-52 at the end of the quarter.
Neither team scored in the first 2 minutes of the fourth quarter. When Mirotic broke the ice with a three from the corner, the crowd was on its feet. After a timeout, Hunter scored inside and a technical foul on Coach Jasikevicius allowed Weiler-Babb to add a point. Calathes from deep and Laprovittola from close kept the hosts rolling, 68-55. Hunter continued to lead the Bayern resistance with a blocked shot and a pair of three-pointers to make it 72-65. However, Hunter soon limped off with an apparent knee injury and Abrines restored a double-digit lead with less than 3 minutes remaining and the Barcelona fans singing. A three-pointer by Laprovittola in the final minute gave him a career-high in scoring and wrapped up the game and series.