


FC Barcelona ended up coasting to a 91-69 win against Zalgiris Kaunas on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs, and one of the keys to the victory was the hosts' shooting from the free-throw line. In fact, Barca ended up breaking an 18-year EuroLeague playoff record with a perfect night from the charity stripe.
Of its 91 points, 21 of those came via free throws – from 21 trips to the line. Alex Abrines went 4-for-4, Sertac Sanli was 3-for-3, and seven other players – Jan Vesely, Tomas Satoransky, Nicolas Laprovittola, Mike Tobey, Kyle Kuric, Rokas Jokubaitis and Nikola Mirotic – ended up going 2-for-2 each.
Before Wednesday night, the previous best was the 16-for-16 made by Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2005 playoffs, meaning that Barca beat that mark by 5. Curiously, Barca also has the third-best record for 100% of free throws made in a playoff game after going 13-for-13 in the 2012 playoffs. Now, the 21-for-21 set by head coach Saras Jasikevicius's team against Zalgiris will surely take some time to beat.
