Teamwork saw Barcelona scrape past Bayern

FC Barcelona showcased its resilience with a second narrow win of the week, having edged FC Bayern Munich 72-70 on Thursday after Tuesday’s 83-78 win over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, improving to 15-8 while Bayern dropped to 9-14 after suffering two defeats on its Spanish tour (73-82 at Valencia on Tuesday).
Barca thus took full advantage of its home court and can now look forward to the final third of the regular season, having been forced to dig deep by a battling Bayern side that missed a bunch of key players.
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The home team’s effort was highlighted by an impressive total of 21 assists while Bayern only had 9, and Barcelona also dominated the boards as it racked up 36 rebounds to Bayern’s 31. The Spanish side also made more three-pointers (9 of 21, Bayern 6 of 21), having relied on several players to carry the workload. Jan Vesely came off the bench to finish as the man of the match with 10 points and 9 rebounds, with Sertac Sanli who started instead of him, also contributing with 10 points.
Sharpshooter Nikola Mirotic paced Barcelona with 12 points and Cory Higgins netted 9, including the all-important game-winning shot with 22.3 seconds left on the clock.
So, how did Bayern come so close to staging an upset? It forced a barrage of free throws with patient possession and hit 16 of 17 shots from the foul line, while Barcelona was 7 of 10. In the end, fine margins decided the thrilling contest that came down to the wire.