The duo set the tone early en route to an impressive win, the team's second in succession
Inside dominance of Petrusev, Kabengele gives Dubai famous win over Barcelona
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3 Минутное чтение
Regular Season
Round 5 of 38
Regular Season
Dubai BasketballDUB
8378
FC BarcelonaBAR
Overview
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Dubai Basketball seemed to have a clear game plan for its Round 5 tussle with co-leader FC Barcelona on Thursday evening: pound the ball inside, establish dominance of the paint, and then set up the long-range shooters later on.
And it worked. Jurica Golemac’s team did not even attempt a three-point shot until more than six minutes had been played, with its opening seven field-goal attempts all coming inside the arc. Big men Filip Petrusev and Mfiondu Kabengele shined during those early stages, helping the team race into a double-digit lead by combining for 13 of its first 18 points.
Dubai’s first triple of the night finally arrived when McKinley Wright IV drained a deep strike in the last minute of the first half, by which time the host had already made 12 two-point conversions.
It was a similar story in the third quarter, with Petrusev continuing to excel as he netted 12 points in the period and Dwayne Bacon’s aggressive drives to the basket adding another dimension to the home team’s inside game.
Dubai’s outside threat had been minimal, but that suddenly changed when Davis Bertans belatedly became a force by netting two triples in just 70 seconds, having previously missed all four of his long-range attempts, and Klemen Prepelic also stepped up to string his first points of the night with another deep strike.
Those scores were enough to take Dubai close to victory, but it was highly fitting that the deal was sealed much closer to the rim with a series of big buckets in the last few possessions: first Bacon again forced his way to the basket to add another layup, then Petrusev added a smooth jumper, before Bacon finally took the game out of Barcelona’s reach with a breakaway score.
The success of Golemac’s men inside the paint was not limited to offense, because Dubai also dominated at the other end of the court as Barcelona struggled all night for inside penetration. The visitors finished with just 16 two-point shots converted on 43 attempts (37.2% 2FG), while Dubai also comfortably won the rebounding battle 46-39 and made no less than 5 blocked shots – including a stunner by Justin Anderson on his former teammate Kevin Punter in the last 90 seconds.
The numbers at the end of the game told their own story: Petrusev led all scorers with 23 points on 5-of-9 two-point shooting plus all 7 of his free-throw attempts; Bacon followed close behind with 20 points on 8-of-10 two-point shooting, and Kabengele contributed big time with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
That physical effort was even more impressive considering the team’s exertions in Istanbul just two days previously, followed by the long journey home. And that point was not lost on victorious Coach Golemac, who told EuroLeague TV: “After this road trip, with this schedule that is really tight, we managed to find this energy.
“It’s our job. Tomorrow we’re going to recover, the day after we’ve got practice, and in three days we’ve got a game [in the ABA League]. We’ll try to recover as much as we can and not to think about that.”
There's no denying Dubai’s focus was crystal clear on Thursday night, and perhaps the post-game recovery can even include a short amount of time for celebrations after a famous week.
