Barça, led by Kevin Punter, measures its level on the difficult Besiktas court

No time for regrets, nor to recover from the defeat suffered last Tuesday on the court of the Dubai Basketball of Xavi Pascual (94-87), the Barça faces another complicated duel this afternoon (7:00 p.m.) on the third day of the Euroleague: visits the field of a newcomer to the competition, although with the potential to do great things in his debut in the top European competition, the Besiktas from Istanbul.

Those of Alexander Sekulic They started the Euroleague with a more than hard-fought victory in the Palau Blaugrana (89-82) against another of the Turkish teams in the tournament, Anadolu Efes (the third is Fenerbahçe), but on the second day they suffered a disastrous second quarter (29-12) and were defeated, despite the final comeback attempt, at the Emirati Coca-Cola Arena.

One of the positive news of this start of the season is the excellent moment of form of Kevin Punter. The captain of the Barça team is putting up his best numbers since his arrival at the Palau, with averages of 22 points and 25 rating statistics in the Euroleague and assuming stripes in the decisive moments of the matches.

The performance of the Polish center is also surprising, positively. Olek Balcerowski (10 points and 14.5 rating) and that of the point guard Umoja Gibson (11 and 13.5), although Barça is still paying too much for the multiple losses in his inner game (Nebo, Evboumwan and Makoundou) and the lack of coupling of players who should be key pieces in Sekulic’s schemes throughout the season, as is the case, above all, of Tyrese Martin called in theory to be one of the offensive references of the team and that after the first two European games he averages 6 points, with a poor 18.2% in triplesand an average rating of 1, the worst of the entire squad. It is also expected more than Justin Robinson (8.5 points and 3.5 assists), after starting the season as MVP of the Catalan League, or Olivier Nkamhoua (5 points and 2.5 rebounds on average).

Like all new projects, Sekulic It needs time, but the Euroleague is a cyclone and doesn’t wait for anyone.

And a clear example will be today’s duel against a Besiktas that has just played a great role in the last EuroCup (it was a finalist) and that, after fall by a tight 94-96 against Valencia Basket In his return to the top European competition, on Wednesday he achieved a clear victory on the court for Maccabi Tel-Aviv (93-109) and presents the same balance as Barça (1-1).

In addition, it has several players with extensive experience in the Euroleague, such as Scottie Wilbekin or Ante Zizicand old acquaintances of the Spanish fans such as David De Julius (former UCAM Murcia), Connor Morgan (former Joventut and Andorra) or Eugene Omoruyi (former Baskonia), although Barça will do well to have another former member of the Endesa League under control, the point guard Devon Dotsonwho after a more than discreet time at Penya a couple of seasons ago, now averages 13 points, 4 assists and a rating of 18. In fact, the set of Dusan Alimpijevic He plays what he and Wilbekin want.

Finally, it should be noted that the precedents, although they all date back more than a decade, are clearly in favor of Barça, which has always won against Besiktas (4-0). And they say there is no bad fifth.