Barça crushes Monaco with a stellar Kevin Punter

• JOSÉ LUIS MARTINEZ

Updated 10/16/2024 – 22:36CEST

Visited the Palau Blaugrana AS Monaco, one of the great candidates to be, at least, in the Final Four of the Euroleague, a match to measure the real state of Barcelona, ​​and The blaugranas passed the complicated test with flying colors, overwhelming their rival (86-71) wielding a great defense and a fluid and effective attack, led this time by an inspired Punter (21 points with 3/7 t2 and 2/2 tl), supported by Laprovittola (13) and Parker (16).

The Monegasques missed the injured Calathes and Korkmaz, two of their big signings, and accused the poor performance of their star Mike Jamesdwarfed by the culé defense. He finished with 11 points, but with only two baskets in play (1/6 t2 and 1/3 t3). Even so, his team recovered time and again from the culés attacks (26-16 and 55-44). Until midway through the third quarter, Barça suffocated their rival in defense, they were able to run and With 5 points from Parker and 7 from the astute Laprovittola, he sealed the match with a run of 12-0 (71-54, min 31).

First Barça arón

AS Monaco came out at full speed with Mike James plugged in (2-7), but the blaugranas reacted by increasing their defensive intensity and They took command after a streak led by Punter with eight points (14-9, min 5). The Monegasques made the rubber with Okobo (14-14), but Parker, Willy and Laprovittola joined the Punter bandwagon to put distance on the scoreboard with a partial score of 9-0 and very good feelings (26-16, min 10).

But it is not so easy to lose the wake of an AS Monaco with many resources and insurmountable morals who overcame those bad minutes with a partial 1-11 led by Strazel, Diallo and Motiejunas to get back into the game (27-27, min 13).

Mike James, very lackluster

Barça tried again with Brizuela, Vesely and a Punter plugged in that already had 13 points at half-time (40-35, min 18). But again Obradovic’s men held on to the game thanks to Diallo and Lloyd (41-37) before the last culé push (47-39, min 20). Monaco missed their star, Mike James, who tiptoed through the first half with 6 points (1/3 t2, 1/2 t3 and 1/4 tl).

At the restart, Monaco once again showed off its status as a tough team and got into the game with attacks by Mike James and Jaiteh (47-44). But the azulgranas scored again with two stings from Punterthe most in tune player in the game (55-44, min 24).

The definitive blow for Barça

James and Motiejunas They tried to connect their team again, but when it seemed that they had succeeded (55-48, min 25) Barça’s final blow arrived, propelled by Parker’s wrist, with five consecutive points, and seven from Laprovittolathe smartest in the class. Between them they signed a 12-0 run to derail Monaco (67-48, min 29).

Or so it seemed, because For the umpteenth time, Monaco got into the game with a 2-11 run led by 8 points from Okobo (76-65, min 36). Maybe that is the only but that can be given to Barcelona, those small disconnections during matches that can pay dearly against teams of the stature of Monaco. Although this time the victory was not in danger (86-71).

Technical sheet

86. Barça (26+21+24+15): Punter (21), Satoransky (1), Parker (16), Vesely (10), Hernangómez (7) -starting team-, Núñez (2), Anderson (-), Metu (7), Laprovittola (13), Brizuela (9) and Abrines (-).
71. Monaco (18+21+15+17): James (11), Loyd (4), Blossomgame (7), Motiejunas (8), Jaiteh (10) -starting team-, Strazel (2), Okobo (13), Diallo (12), Papagiannis (4) and Brown (-).
Referees: Tomislav Hordov (CRO), Anne Panther (ALE) and Marcin Kowalski (POL). No eliminations. They penalized the visitor Diallo with a technical foul (min.23) and the local Parker with an unsportsmanlike foul (min.40).
Incidents: match of the third day of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 5,368 spectators.