After his major feat in Barcelona, ​​Asvel can dream of the play-offs

TJ Parker players had already dominated Barça at home at Astroballe in the first leg (80-68).

They therefore inflicted two of the eight losses, during this European campaign, of the teammates of Nikola Mirotic, still leading the regular season of the Euroleague after 26 games played.

The coach of Asvel becomes the first French coach to chain six victories in the Euroleague, erasing André Vacheresse and Gregor Beugnot from the shelves who had stopped at five, at the end of the 1950s for the first, in the 1990s. / 2000 for the second.

YOU ARE FANTASTIC GUYS !!!

# LDLCASVEL # EuroLeaguepic.twitter.com / s9n9WwI0bP

- LDLC ASVEL (@LDLCASVEL) February 26, 2021

At the Palau Blaugrana, the Villeurbanne offered a defensive recital against the men of Sarunas Jasikevicius.

“It's our identity!

When we defend this way, we are hard to beat.

We scored key baskets in the second half.

It's a wonderful series and we have to continue, ”commented the Euroleague coach TJ Parker.

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"We executed the plan"

Mirotic was contained to 19 points and limited in his defensive duties by many faults accumulated quickly.

And apart from Brandon Davies (22 points), the Catalans were silenced in attack.

“We executed the game plan well.

They're a good three-point team, so we challenged the long-distance shot.

In defense, we had a good rebound game, ”said Norris Cole, once again extremely valuable at the end of the game.

“We knew the game would be tight.

It's my job to take the right shots in the final moments.

My team did the job, it's a team victory tonight, ”added the two-time NBA champion, second leading scorer in the game with 21 points.

“We knew it would be a difficult match against the leader.

We are in a good series and we hope to integrate the Top8 and go to the play-offs, ”said William Howard, elected man of the match (13 points, 8 rebounds).

In the standings, Asvel continues an incredible comeback, with seven wins in their last eight Euroleague matches.

With 12 wins on the clock, Tony Parker's club now occupies 12th place and is only three successes behind Fenerbahçe, the last team in the Top8 synonymous with Euroleague play-offs.

Eight days from the end of the regular season, the next two matches, in Kaunas on Tuesday and against Fenerbahçe on Friday, will be crucial to try to come back even more in the race for the play-offs.

Enough to maintain the dream of the Astroballe. "We believe in us and we must continue in this way, taking one game after another," concluded Norris Cole.

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