December of 2023 was arguably the worst of months for Barcelona but the new year has been just the opposite.
How Barcelona pivoted to start 2024 perfect
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7 Minute de lecture
As the seconds ticked down to usher in the new year a couple of weeks ago, FC Barcelona was teetering on the brink of a full-blown crisis.
The Spanish side had lost its last game of 2023 in a rather humiliating fashion, going down at AS Monaco without much of a fight, 91-71, after allowing at least 20 points in all four quarters.
That dismal defeat meant that Barca had lost three of its last four games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, another of which was a shock setback against lowly ALBA Berlin while the other had ended the team's 100% home record with an unexpected loss to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.
Domestically, things were little better, with consecutive surprise defeats against Baxi Manresa and Unicaja Malaga further denting any prospects of festive cheer around Palau Blaugrana.
Club legend Juan Carlos Navarro called for a changed dynamic
So, no, it was not a particularly happy new year for Barca, especially after club legend and team manager Juan Carlos Navarro reacted to the heavy loss in Monaco with strong words of criticism.
"There have been attitudes on and off the court that we have not liked and which are not worthy of this club or this shirt," blasted Navarro. "It's not so much the defeats, but the manner of them. All of the players have to take a step forward to change the dynamic."
Although Navarro also expressed his ongoing support for head coach Roger Grimau, who had been handed the tough task of stepping into the iconic shoes of Sarunas Jasikevicius during the summer, it was obvious that the pressure on Grimau was growing, and that a prolongation of the recent bad results would force the club's hierarchy into making some tough decisions.
In that context, a glimpse at the upcoming game schedule was enough to make even the most optimistic of Blaugrana fans wince: first up in 2024, a visit from reigning Spanish and European champion Real Madrid, which also happened to be the runaway EuroLeague leader and had already beaten Barca in three different competitions over the past three months. Two days later, dangerous Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, led by long-range shooting specialist Markus Howard and rebound-eaters Tadas Sedekerskis and Chima Moneke. Would things then get any easier? Nope. The double double-round weeks continued with a visit from last season's runner-up, Olympiacos Piraeus. And although the quickfire quartet of games to start the year then concluded with a theoretically more manageable meeting with Zalgiris Kaunas, the prospects of Barca heading into that game in a very dark place were all too real.
Meeting the moment in El Clásico
Ahead of the make-or-break meeting with Real, the mood around the team was perhaps unwittingly encapsulated by Grimau during his pregame EuroLeague TV interview, which concluded with the coach stating that he hoped his players would "try to enjoy basketball again" – an indirect but clear admission that the sport had become anything but fun over the previous few weeks.
By the end of the third quarter against Real, it appeared the latest edition of El Clásico would again leave Barca with little to enjoy.
Despite competing well, especially during an intense third quarter, Grimau's men found themselves trailing, 60-62, following a 0-7 Los Blancos run featuring consecutive baskets from veteran playmaker Sergio Rodriguez.
Considering the backdrop to the game it was a pivotal moment not only in the season, but also in Grimau's fledgling coaching career. A fourth-quarter collapse to start 2024 with a home defeat to the bitterest of rivals? The potential consequences did not need to be spelled out.
Jan Vesely took matters into his own hands
Barca needed a response, and the catalyst came right at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a physical altercation between Nicolas Laprovittola and Sergio "Chacho" Rodriguez, resulting in unsportsmanlike fouls for both. That incident enraged the home fans, turning Palau Blaugrana into a cauldron of noise and a powerful source of energy that immediately led Grimau's players into finding another couple of gears of intensity.
Jan Vesely, in particular, was propelled into a furious frenzy of action. Showing all the qualities – athleticism, ball handling, shooting accuracy and fierce competitiveness - that have made him one of the EuroLeague's greatest players of the modern era – the Czech center unleashed a personal 7-0 run in 77 seconds including a brutal dunk and one in the face of Vincent Poirier that got the fans on their feet and turned all the momentum Barca's way.
The job that Vesely started was completed by outstanding team defense, restricting Real to just 16 fourth-quarter points, while Nikola Kalinic and Laprovittola struck triples at the other end to secure a pressure-relieving 83-78 victory and start the new year in the best possible way.
Two days later, Barca further consolidated their recovery with a very similar victory over Baskonia.
Again, the Blaugrana trailed against a familiar and dangerous opponent heading into the fourth quarter; again, Vesely decided to take matters into his own hands with a scoring blitz; again, he had support from beyond the arc as Jabari Parker and Joel Parra downed key triples; again, the team's defense stepped up when it was most needed by holding Baskonia to just one basket in the last three minutes; again, Palau Blaugrana played its part by providing a wall of sound to urge on the home players; again, the outcome was a tight and valuable home win, 89-85.
Confidence restored for another double-round at home
The following week saw Barca return to its arena in a very different – much more confident – mood for the visit from Olympiacos. This time around the team's other experienced big man, Willy Hernangomez, was a key factor as he netted 10 points in the third quarter to establish a double-digit lead which the Reds could not overturn. Once more, others played their part as Parker continued his strong form with 21 points, while two more veterans also contributed as Tomas Satoransky and Kalinic both netted a trio of three-pointers.
By the time Friday's visit from Zalgiris rolled around, Barca's mood had been transformed and Grimau's team came flying out of the gate and raced into 13-0 lead after just three and a half minutes.
Two of those early baskets were netted by Dario Brizuela, who continued to meet the standards set by Vesely nine days earlier by producing easily his best performance of the season so far: 24 points on 10-for-14 field goal shooting, comfortably compensating for the absence of the injured Laprovittola.
That comfortable triumph over Zalgiris allowed Barca to become the competition's only team to win all four games in first-time, back-to-back double-round weeks, also giving the team sole ownership of second place.
A crisis had been averted, and the ingredients were many: experienced leaders stepping up when they were needed (Vesely, Laprovittola, Kalinic, Parker, Satoransky, Hernangomez); relatively untested newcomers gaining the confidence to produce their best (Parra, Brizuela); the Palau Blaugrana fans raising the roof; an implacable Grimau never once betraying signs of the pressure he was under...and even some inadvertent help from old foe Chacho Rodriguez.