Real Madrid has avoided the worst news after the tests carried out on Edy Tavares. The Cape Verdean center of the white team, surely the most dominant inside player in the Euroleague in recent years, It is doubtful to play the game this Thursday (20:45, Dazn) against Partizanthe second in a series of quarters that has started crookedly for Madrid, but it seems that he has avoided a serious injury to his left knee.
Those problems took the center out of the game two and a half minutes after the start of the third quarter, which played with a cumbersome bandage after hurting himself in a first half in which he had played 19 minutes of the 20 total. Chus Mateo recognized that there was worry about pain “in a ligament” which left his availability at the expense of the tests that had to be carried out this morning. So far things have not gone bad at all and he is awaiting developments between now and the start of the second game to confirm his presence or not. The illness occurred in an action from the first quarter in which Tavares jumped to put a block on Smailagic. At that moment he was able to continue playing, but when he cooled down at half-time the pain worsened and, although he tried, he had to leave the game.
The minutes of Tavares (2,20, 31 years old) have been a matter of debate in recent weeks, since there have been games in which he has seemed tired, below his usual level. Is he second player with the most time on the court of the entire squad this season… and the first in the Euroleague. A possible absence would be dramatic due to his importance in the Real Madrid game, in attack and especially in defense. And more if we add the absence of the Frenchman Vincent Poirier, the five surrogate recovering after an operation for appendicitis. The French, in principle, will not play the second duel. In yesterday’s game, Anthony Randolph and especially Yabusele occupied the pivot position, in the absence of another rotation specialist. In 2021, Real Madrid fell in the quarterfinals against Efes, in a dramatic five-game series in which Tavares missed three due to injury. Then a heroic Usman Garuba emerged, already making his way to the NBA.