Madrid began a small marathon in Berlin, 11 games in 25 days before the Copa de Rey. The reason? European duels postponed and relocated with shoehorn, which will make him face three commitments per week, almost as if he played a KO tournament every seven days. The start of this long-distance test was magnificent (74-89), an upward continuity so far this year, the best since the season of records (2013-14). His balance of 34 wins in 38 games has given him the Super Cup, the ACB leadership and, now also, the first place in the Euroleague. Catch Barca, after the azulgrana stumble in Kazan without Mirotic, and his 16 wins and is ahead of him in the basket-average in 35 points with two games less disputed. And he does it three days before Sunday’s league Classic, on a day in which Heurtel stood out with 17 goals and 7 assists, although it was a resounding collective success in Llull’s 900th game, Deck’s re-debut. The same one that Rudy and Tavares missed due to the coronavirus and Williams-Goss and Causeur due to rest.
Alba doesn’t even come close to having the merengue arsenal, but it is a good group with talented players and attractive basketball that can mess with anyone. It proposes a high rhythm and intense actions, nothing to speculate; However, that game against the current Madrid, who has the attacking cadence that was missing two or three months ago, is doing great. While failures were distributed in the first quarter, those from Berlin resisted. When Real began to combine and find the hoop, there were not enough arms or shoulders in the premises to hold the door.
Llull was the triple plunger in his 900th game for white and his team went from 1 out of 9 in the first act to 6 out of 8 in the second. Heurtel had also entered the scene (Alocén was the starter), the Tortuga Deck stepped onto the court in the 9th minute (still without coming out of its shell) and Randolph and Thompkins were pivots, a double external threat, which gave spaces and offensive fluidity without penalize behind against some light rival interiors. Then Trey (over five without Tavares) matched up with Yabusele. If it’s for class, Thompkins is crazy. How he shoots and what movements on his back, but also how he feints and assists.
Abalde, now, may point more to the shooting guard due to the accumulation of forwards and his ability to generate play with the boat, while Hanga did everything (and well) in the first half. In the resumption, both shared management tasks for a while, without a pure base, and that was when the team showed the least. He went from flying shortly before intermission (33-48) to nailing both feet to the ground and suffering to advance: 46-50.
Heurtel’s entry activated the scoring Abalde and then the French guard himself grew bigger and swelled to hole it from five meters on the move. Poirier showed his head and Israel González, local coach, bet more on the giant Koumadje (former Student, 2.24 meters) to compensate for physical inferiority. It didn’t work either. Madrid gave its second boost (60-81), the definitive one to blow up the duel. New leader, one who accelerates.