“With a little bit of urgency”. This is how Sergio Scariolo defined Real Madrid’s situation in the preview before his Virtus Bologna stormed the WiZink Center (92-95). A soothing victory for a team that played their best game in the current Euroleague in the Spanish capital: 95 points, their maximum, and after not exceeding the 66 barrier in the four previous duels played, with a 67% success of two. His cap was 54% at the opening of the tournament against AS Monaco. In his only victory until this Thursday, against Bayern Munich on the second day, he made 50%.
And if their trip to Madrid was positive for Virtus and Scariolo, for Real it was one more drop on a glass of doubt. Above all, as seen in the Italian scoring facility, on the defensive where the gaps are a little bigger at every step. More nervous. “We have not recovered those 14 points that they have put us, due to a weak defense. Our defense has not been what we want to do. As good as we can be in attack, we have to defend if we want to win. (…) In Vitoria they scored 33 points in the last quarter and today they scored 54 points in the second half”, explained Chus Mateo, white coach, at the conclusion of the duel.
Balance
This beginning of the season, the first of the Mateo era (or the first of the post-Laso era, depending on how you want to see it), has not been easy for Madrid. It is the second time since the establishment in 2016-17 of the system of all against all that they start the Euroleague with a 2-3 against. Although his worst start was in 2020-21 with a 1-4. In the remaining four courses, he added a 4-1 three times and a full, 5-0, in 2018-19.
If we join the results of the maximum continental competition with those of the Endesa League, the result it gives us is that it is the second worst start in six years with a 60% win rate: 2-3 in the Euroleague and 4-1 in the ACB. It is the same percentage of the aforementioned 2020-21, although in that case the 5-0 of the Spanish championship covered the horrible start in Europe.
points received
A poor balance derived from the aforementioned defense. The Whites receive, between the Euroleague and the ACB, an average of 79.4 points, the second worst average since the 81.8 goals received in the first five games of 2016-17. An average of points fattened to a large extent by the 82.2 that his rivals in Spain endorse him because in Europe he remains at 76.6, which is not by far his worst average in the last six years after five games: in three starts exceeded 80 (81.8 in 2016-17; 83.8 in 2019-20; and 2020-21 in 2020-21).
Virtus has been the fifth team to have scored 95 or more points at the Palacio de Deportes since 2016. Anadolu Efes and CSKA Moscow did it two seasons ago with 108 and 96 goals, respectively. Valencia was the first to do so with the new system in 2020-21 with 99 goals and Bayern Munich, the last last season with 97.