Advance | Baskonia had become a small ogre for Madrid (small, because with this Thursday there are only 13 European duels between the two), in fact, they still dominate the balance by 7-6, but this Thursday they grabbed an incontestable victory, in a demonstration of enormous solidity in which only his 16 losses screeched compensated by a good attack that distributed 21 assists. Another choral success with nine players between 7 and 13 points was Causeur. Another triumph of a block that threatens to be stronger with the imminent incorporation of the injured (Alocén, Taylor, Randolph and Thompkins are still out), a full-blown rearmament, although perhaps without immediate effects. Furthermore, with this victory, Real closed last season’s black streak in which they lost their six Euroleague duels against Spanish opponents.
The change on the bench, the improvement of Baldwin, the emergence of Enoch and the signing of point guard Lamar Peters (all without a key injured, Alec Peters) had washed the face of Baskonia a bit in a disastrous month. Madrid’s visit was a good time to confirm their progress, an opportunity to take a stride worth three, but the whites swept the club of local support and it plummeted. “Madrid plays at another level”, summed up Spahija at halftime. The one that showed after the initial 9-5 (the 9 of a very plugged Enoch against Tavares) with Causeur percussing with penetrations up to 11 points in the first act. The visitors stole and attacked in transition, he found his way to the hoop, simple baskets, with Abalde as a ‘false’ base supported by Hanga and the aforementioned Causeur. A 2-18 partial put Real into orbit, raised it to another level, to which the Croatian coach was referring, and it was only the beginning. On the track, at the same time, the four French and the four ex-Baskonians, three share a bond (Heurtel, Causeur and Poirier), the other two are Yabusele and Hanga, respectively. Then Rudy would enter through the Hungarian and the storm broke. First in a face-to-face between Heurtel and Baldwin: mate from the American, brush with the French, triple from the latter and collision between the two resulting in a double unsportsmanlike performance. It was the first target of three in that quarter, the count would rise to 7 in 10 minutes, three from Rudy, two from Heurtel, one from Llull and one from Williams-Goss. A fire at will, shouted by Laso, which riddled Baskonia, who suffered from the short blanket syndrome, tried to cover his feet (the easy baskets or in the starting area) and uncovered his neck (the open shots, the line of goal). three). Great work by Poirier, back and touching all the rejections, although the king of the rebound was Abalde (11). We saw Williams-Goss more cheeky than before the injury, perhaps because of the wide advantage. Up front, only Granger generated some play and Fontecchio seemed underutilized (14 points from just 7 shots). The rifirrafe, by the way, put a lot to Heurtel in the duel, with his mid-distance shivers (12 goals) and an endless repertoire of assists (9 assists). The +19 of the intermission (34-53) proved insurmountable in a third more rácano period, in which not even the six losses in cascade in 6 minutes gave options to the Barcelona. The gap was irreparable and did not stop growing: 60-88. Until almost to the affront. White November, Madrid faces the national team break with nine victories in a row, from goose to goose, a streak that opened on October 31 in the league in the capital of Alava after falling in Kazan and knew how to maintain this Thursday in his second visit of the course to Vitoria. It is strong.