Xavi Pascual replaced Joan Penarroya on the Barcelona bench, and since his arrival Barcelona has posted a 3–1 record in the EuroLeague, along with wins over Andorra and Gran Canaria in the Liga Endesa.
With Xavi Pascual’s arrival, Barcelona first and foremost gained a coach with experience, something they lacked with his predecessor Joan Penarroya.
Claim Now Peñarroya was not able to properly manage a roster full of highly experienced players such as Toko Shengelia, Will Clyburn, Kevin Punter, Nico Laprovittola, and Jan Vesely. Since coach Pascual arrived, Barcelona has looked far more organized, both offensively and defensively.
Above all, what currently stands out as Pascual’s key contribution is that he is drawing outstanding performances from Kevin Punter, who has averaged 25 PIR per game over the last three matches. Will Clyburn has also been excellent in the last two games — he posted 33 Performance Index Rating points against Olympiacos last night, and scored 24 points in the previous round against Crvena Zvezda.
Speaking about how much Pascual’s work means to the team, Will Clyburn said:
“Every day we put an emphasis on defense. Xavi Pascual is doing an excellent job, giving us great game plans, and our job is to follow them.” he said for Eurohoops’ Alex Molina.
Xavi Pascual is the very coach who led Barcelona to their last EuroLeague title in 2010, and since then the club has spent a lot of money without managing to return to the top. The organized basketball Barcelona is playing under Pascual is exactly what was missing under Penarroya, as well as the ability to make the right adjustments and choose the right lineup in crucial moments.
Barcelona currently holds a 10–5 record, sharing second place with Valencia, who have the same record.
INTERVIEWS:
- Aleksa Avramovic: Defense wins championships – for sure!
- Nenad Dimitrijevic: It’s sad for the EuroLeague and Partizan that Zeljko Obradovic left
- Ilona Korstin: We are in contact with both the EuroLeague and the NBA, we are present in all meetings
- Bogdan Tanjevic: The main difference between Partizan and Crvena Zvezda – domestic players still lead the way
- Nicolo Melli: We had no-phone rules with Zeljko Obradovic; There was interest from Partizan
- Bo McCalebb: How can you not respect Zeljko Obradovic? My only regret is that I didn’t listen to him enough
