Justin Robinson is made of a different stuff and he is the best. It was not his night, he and Barcelona were subdued by a Panathinaikos team that dusted off the good defense manual, seasoned by the electric points of Nunn and Francisco. But the Barça point guard, all character and firm wrists, combusts in the final quarters. And that's how he explained it again in Athens, 16 points (24 in total) to autograph a comeback that makes the team and the team grow, that makes them grow and believe. A victory (74-76), too, that leads Barça to eight consecutive victories and that triggers the Barça enthusiasm, finally competitive after years of anonymity.
Barça initially focused on Parra, who this year is another, one who shines and asks for passage, interior balls to the forward to try to tickle a defense as persistent as it is physical, with unparalleled muscle. And although he opened the scoring, the opponent's hand and pressure played tricks on him, three missed shots in a row. The same did not happen in the opposite ring, where Bonga entered the kitchen, baskets seasoned with the triples of the electric Francisco, in addition to Grant. A setback that did not discourage the Barça team, which dedicated itself to what it knows, running more than anyone else, many transitions and shots, the road runners with Nebo and Umude drivers, guerrillas who performed an exercise in resistance that ended the appetizer in a draw (17-17).
Nunn then put on the captain's armband, construction manager, foreman by nature because when he sets his mind to it there is no hip that can resist his footwork or starving basket. His basketball wastes carats in the same way that it erodes rivals, a cyclone that could not dismast Barça either because it likes to play on the run and show muscle, very NBA everything, very open to physical duels. Although it is difficult to shake a team that is a combination of stars, where rotations are not a relief for the rival but rather a continuous punishment. Because Hayes-Davis, Yabusele, Lessort and Sloukas, among others, are pedigree players, leaders anywhere except in the team led by the Lord of the Rings, a Zeljko Obradovic who has nine Euroleagues and who, faced with so much sprinting, decided to pause the challenge, lengthen the possessions and denaturalize the rival. It turned out that Barça did not twist their arm either, making the right three with Robinson and Nkamhoua, but above all excellent in defense, the best news for a team that started the season without knowing how to stop a taxi. Thus, playing at the ropes, but always with Barça behind, the intermission was reached between tight spots (33-32).
It seemed to give Barça a hard time in the restart, as it added losses and impossible shots, many bad choices and an accumulation of errors that penalized a rival who does not understand holidays, Duracell grinder. And, no matter how hard the Barça team tried to defend, Panathinaikos explained that they still have a manual on how to close the basket, all at once, aids and blocks of British punctuality. That depersonalized Barça and Francisco finished it off, since the circulation of the ball was the recipe and the patch, since he found them in favorable situations and there is no one who can stop him. 57-43 after the act, goodbye very good. Or not...
