Bar\u00e7a have moved above .500 in the league after securing their third victory in five games, defeating Casademont Zaragoza 99-81. Led by an outstanding Juan N\u00fa\u00f1ez, who delivered his best performance in a Bar\u00e7a jersey with 23 points, Sekulic’s team claimed their second consecutive win and regained confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After returning to winning ways in the EuroLeague in Milan, the Blaugrana came back home determined to give the Palau crowd something to celebrate. However, Zaragoza controlled the opening minutes thanks to the combination of Vives at point guard and Birutis in the paint (7-13). Bar\u00e7a responded through the contributions of their second unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan N\u00fa\u00f1ez, who saw increased playing time with Robinson resting, and a returning Dar\u00edo Brizuela, who had missed the previous games, combined for 15 points during a strong stretch for the home side, allowing Bar\u00e7a to finish the first quarter ahead (24-21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a low-scoring start to the second quarter, Juan N\u00fa\u00f1ez produced another outstanding stretch. The point guard excelled offensively, including from beyond the arc, showing confidence in his shot and knocking down two consecutive three-pointers as the defense gave him space (30-24), taking his tally to 13 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nkamhoua joined the party with five consecutive points, while three-pointers from Minaya and Brizuela helped Bar\u00e7a finish the first half strongly (48-40).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Blaugrana were even better coming out of the locker room. Two three-pointers from Gibson and four points from Nebo sparked a 14-0 run, extending the lead to 62-40 and seemingly putting Barcelona on course for a comfortable victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Zaragoza refused to surrender so early. The visitors managed to reduce the deficit by the end of the third quarter (72-57), although Bar\u00e7a still held a comfortable advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps that was why Barcelona started the final quarter so poorly. The Blaugrana switched off, believing the game was already won when it was far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zaragoza went on a 17-2 run, cutting the deficit to just five points (74-69). Sekulic turned once again to Juan N\u00fa\u00f1ez, who restored stability and composure to the team at a crucial moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Led by N\u00fa\u00f1ez, who set career highs in both points (23) and performance index rating (22), both with Bar\u00e7a and in his Liga Endesa career, Barcelona managed to regain control of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point guard was the Blaugrana’s standout performer, alongside Nkamhoua and an impressive Minaya, whose two three-pointers helped restore a double-digit lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brizuela continued to regain his rhythm and confidence following his injury, while Bar\u00e7a were able to celebrate an important victory in front of their home fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bar\u00e7a 99-81 Zaragoza<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bar\u00e7a:<\/strong> Gibson 8, Punter 6, Martin 2, Evbuomwan 4, Balcerowski 2 (starting five); Umude 2, Brizuela 14, Ubal 3, Nkamhoua 14, N\u00fa\u00f1ez 23, Minaya 9, Nebo 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zaragoza:<\/strong> Vives 9, Jaworski 6, Blumbergs 11, Miguel Gonz\u00e1lez 5, Birutis 12 (starting five); Olaseni 18, Javi Garc\u00eda 0, Homesley 0, Brussino 15, Jaime Fern\u00e1ndez 0, Sergi Garcia 5, Al\u00edas 0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quarter scores:<\/strong> 24-21, 24-19, 24-17, 27-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Referees:<\/strong> Luis Miguel Castillo, Vicente Mart\u00ednez, Igor Esteve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bar\u00e7a defeat Zaragoza 99-81 as Juan N\u00fa\u00f1ez shines with 23 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":555753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[305],"tags":[16096],"rumors":[],"typology":[15727],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-555757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acb","tag-barcellona-en","typology-press-release-en"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/10\/Barcellona.jpg","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555759,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555757\/revisions\/555759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555757"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=555757"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=555757"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=555757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}