FC Barcelona took its second consecutive victory by defeating Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 98-86 at Palau Blaugrana on Friday. The hosts improved to 10-3 for a second-place tie in the standings with arch-rival Real Madrid while Panathinaikos saw its four-game winning streak ended. Barca excelled offensively from the start, taking a 5-0 lead behind Nikola Mirotic and staying ahead the whole game despite several comeback attempts by Panathinaikos. Mirotic had 17 of his game-high 23 points in that first half and added 7 rebounds for a performance index rating of 30. Malcolm Delaney followed him with 17 points, all of them in the second half, while Brandon Davies posted 13 for the winners. Jimmer Fredette collected 19 points, Nick Calathes posted a double-double of 13 points and 13 assists, while DeShaun Thomas and Ioannis Papapetrou added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the losers.
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