After a three-week absence, FC Barcelona had a pleasant return to the competition by beating AS Monaco 88-83 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday.
Calathes makes history in Barcelona's win

Barcelona won its fifth game in a row to raise its league-best record to 21-5. Monaco dropped to 14-14. Dante Exum led the winners with 22 points. Nikola Mirotic and Brandon Davies each added 11 and Nick Calathes had 10 points and 6 assists for Barcelona. Calathes became the EuroLeague's all-time assist leader; he moved past Vassilis Spanoulis and finished the game with 1,612. Mike James led Monaco with 19 points, Dwayne Bacon netted 16, Donatas Motiejunas 14 and Alpha Diallo 10.
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Motiejunas got Monaco going with a layup but Sertac Sanli and Calathes soon put Barcelona in charge, 4-2. Motejiunas hit a jump hook and James bettered Sanli's layup with a three-pointer for a 6-9 Monaco lead. Sanli answered from downtown and Calathes added a reverse layup that tied it at 11-11. Diallo joined the three-point shootout and Donta Hall matched Exum's jump hook with a layup. Mirotic buried a triple, which Jokubaitis followed with a jumper to make it 18-16. Hall and Jokubaitis traded baskets and Brock Motum added a reverse layup for a 20-20 tie after 10 minutes.
Nigel Hayes-Davis scored around the basket early in the second quarter and matched Bacon's three-pointer with his own shot from beyond the arc. Leo Westermann nailed an off-balance jumper and Motiejunas made a jump hook, but a red-hot Hayes-Davis matched with consecutive baskets for a 29-27 score. Motiejunas scored again and James banked in a mid-range shot. Exum struck from downtown and added a driving layup for a 34-32 Barcelona lead. Jokubaitis buried a three-pointer and Laprovittola bettered Bacon's stop-and-pop floater with a three-pointer that boosted the hosts' lead to 8. Will Thomas's put-back basket fixed the halftime score at 42-36.
Exum hit a floater soon after the break and Mirotic bettered Paris Lee's turnaround jumper with a bomb from downtown for a 47-38 Barcelona lead. Calathes found Sanli for a backdoor layup, becoming the EuroLeague's all-time assists leader at 1,608. After James scored in penetrarion, Calathes put on a passing clinic, finding Exum for a corner triple and behind-the-back for a layup. He connected with Mirotic for a bomb from beyond the arc that made it 57-41. Thomas followed a dunk with a turnaround jumper and then Hall hit a floater for a 59-47 Monaco deficit. Davies stepped up with 6 quick points but Bacon and Motiejunas kept the visitors within striking distance. Bacon sank back-to-back triples and got Monaco even closer, 66-62, after 30 minutes.
Diallo stepped up with a second-chance layup early in the fourth quarter and Motiejunas scored down low for a 66-66 tie. Calathes rescued Barcelona with consecutive layups. Motiejunas scored around the basket and James completed Monaco's comeback, 70-71, with less than 6 minutes left. James took over with a wild driving layup, but Laprovittola and Calathes restored a 74-73 Barcelona edge. Bacon buried a one-handed floater in the lane, which Exum matched with a driving layup. Davies dunked, Motiejunas split free throws and Diallo made 2 to tie it at 78-78. Exum made free throws and Davies scored off a spin move to make it 82-78 with 1:09 remaining. Westermann made a jumper but Davies and Exum boosted the hosts' lead to 85-80 with 33.3 seconds left to seal the outcome.