Barcelona climbs to fifth place after win over Zalgiris

Thanks to their 82-70 win over Zalgiris and a better overall point differential (+108), Barcelona ends the round in fifth place in the EuroLeague standings, ahead of Crvena Zvezda, Bayern Munich and Paris, all tied at 13-17. The head-to-head tiebreaker among these teams will only apply once all have played each other.

At the Palau Blaugrana, Barça controlled a hard-fought game and closed it out strongly. Kevin Punter sealed the deal with a deep three-pointer from eight meters in the final minute. Chimezie Metu made a major impact with rebounds, assists and highlight dunks, while Darío Brizuela caught fire in the second half to finish with 20 points. Justin Anderson was the standout in the first half, keeping Barcelona afloat during the toughest stretches.

In the final moments, Jabari Parker attempted a highlight-reel dunk that missed, but it didn’t affect the result. The Palau crowd voiced its frustration over several controversial officiating decisions, especially a non-unsportsmanlike call at the end of the third quarter that stood after video review.

For Zalgiris, Ignas Bradzeikis and Sirvydis showed flashes, but a poor shooting night from deep (5-for-27) and 19 points allowed in the fourth quarter weighed heavily.

Barcelona now looks to the final stretch of the regular season to solidify their playoff position. Among the stat leaders: Justin Anderson finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists; Kevin Punter added 14. For Zalgiris, Sylvain Francisco had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists but also 6 turnovers, while Bradzeikis and Sirvydis scored 13 each.