Real Madrid missed out on a golden opportunity against Efes in the 2021-22 Euroleague final. The team fell into the final with the fewest points in history: 115 between the two teams (57-58) when the minimum until now was 123 that in 2012 Olympiacos and CSKA combined (62-61). She was also the first in a team that only five players scored. Efes was champion with points only from Micic (23), Pleiss (19), Larkin (10), Singleton (4) and Dunston (2).
The white team had to be on the reverse of the same coin that had taken them to the final in the match against Barça: this time it was him who had serious advantages in the third quarter (40-31 over the equator, +9 in a duel with a negligible scoring pace) but he did not know how to maintain them. Y this time it was he who had less finesse, or survival spirit, in the final minutes.
It is true that the last seconds were a coin toss and that Real Madrid stayed to a point in the final when weeks ago even his presence in the Final Four was questioned by many. She had it in her hand and the analyzes would be very different. But, by that rule of three, he could also fall in a semifinal that, in the same way, was resolved in the last attacks and could go anywhere.
On the key day, in Belgrade, some of the problems that the team has dragged appeared and other specific ones were added to complete a frustrating and not at all flashy match in which Real Madrid was for many minutes the least badbut who did not know how to close to win the Úndecima:
-A CALCULATION ERROR BY PABLO LASO: The last seconds will weigh like a slab for Real Madrid and its fans. Llull scored (57-58) with 45 seconds remaining and Real Madrid did not regain possession. Since I wasn’t in bonusa theoretical advantage that he did not know how to manage to the point that it turned against him, he allowed too many seconds between each foul that gave Efes 14 seconds of possession again, which played with the calculator and ended with a triple missed by Larkin with four seconds left. The bounce was not clean and the time was consumed. Madrid didn’t even have an attempt, and Pablo Laso recognized later that it was not the ideal management of those decisive moments. “I thought that with the remaining time, more than three seconds, we could defend and have the last possession, even get the rebound clearly, but we couldn’t even attack. If you ask me now if it would have been necessary, it would have been necessary, but I don’t know what would have happened either”.
Laso opted for a risky tactic and it went wrong. Y He also received criticism after the game for the management of the internal rotation and the minutes Tavares spent on the bench after being decisive in the first half. A large part of the decisive moment was played by Poirier, a questionable decision but which, however, had worked wonderfully two days before against Barcelona.
-THE HOLE IN THE BASE POST: Before the start of the season, Real Madrid started with a very renewed base rotation. An issue that has been delicate in recent times because the key is not finished, more if you remember the conductors that the white team had when they won the 2018 Euroleague: Luka Doncic, Facu Campazzo and the minutes in the one of a Sergio Llull four years younger (30 then).
For the current course, they had the growth of Carlos Alocén (21 years old) and Thomas Heurtel was signed, after his ugly departure from Barça, and Nigel-Williams Goss. But in the Belgrade final, none of the three were on court. Alocén suffered a serious knee injury in February: a complete rupture of the cruciate ligament. In April, Heurtel (who has already left Barça due to indiscipline) was separated by Laso along with Trey Thompkins. The Frenchman has not played again, and although the coach speculated that he would be available for the final, there were no surprises and it made little sense to expect them after everything that has happened in recent weeks. To top, Williams-Goss only played 52 seconds in the semi-final. As soon as she started, she suffered an ankle injury that he is awaiting tests to know his availability in the ACB playoffs that, for Real Madrid, begin on Wednesday against Baxi Manresa, his rival in the quarterfinals.
In this way, none of the purest point guards was in the final and this time the patches that worked in the second half with Barça failed. Llull was tired, with less spark, Abalde worked on defense but was denied in attack. Along with them, players such as Causeur, Hanga… but obviously, Real Madrid was missing an elite playmaker. Point guard is one of the positions he’ll have to review after the season. He will surely sign one, and possibly two depending on the outputs.
-WITHOUT EXTERNAL DRAFT. Real Madrid scored 52 points in the second half against Barça… and 57 in the entire final. lasso spoke of “a few shots that if they had entered…”. Of course, when based on defensive work and rebounding the team added that +9 from the third quarter and Efes seemed about to go to the canvas, without ideas, some attacks that could have opened the breach were missed, we do not know if definitively. On the three shot, the final balance was 6/33, a terrible 18%. He has passed more times during the season. Without specialists (the strange departure of Jaycee Carroll left an obvious role unfilled in the rotation), Real Madrid is an irregular team from long distance, capable of lethal trances but also of drowning due to lack of aim. That absence of shooters was noticeable in a dramatic way when Efes could be put on the ropes. Two of the six triples were also signed by an Anthony Randolph who only played seven minutes and whose is residual since he returned after his serious Achilles tendon injury. If you remove the 2/3 of the power forward, there is a 4/30 for the rest. With a 0/19 between Causeur, Yabusele, Rudy Fernández and Abalde. That’s where many of Real Madrid’s options went.
-SIGNINGS WITHOUT DIFFERENTIAL WEIGHT. Real Madrid made four signings in the summer. To them we must add, if you will, a Poirier who arrived in the last stretch of last season and has already played in the 2021 playoffs of the Endesa League. And Gabriel Deck, picked up in January after his quick and frustrating time in the NBA. Of those four, two did not even play (the aforementioned Williams-Goss and Heurtel) and they have not been solutions at any time of the season, the French far from his good times and finally separated, the American with a very poor level and, to top it off, his injury in this Final Four. Adam Hanga and Guerschon Yabusele remain. The first has served as a job and rotation player, but at 33 years old he is also far from the level that made him a differential forward. Yabusele (26) has been a good hire but he is an irregular player, and therefore more appropriate to be important in the interior rotation but one of the pillars of the team. After his excellent semifinal (18 points, 8 rebounds, 4/6 triples, PIR of 24), he showed his worst side against Efes: 3 + 3. 0/6 and -3. Also, Deck, whose work is always important, was largely unnoticed on offense. In total, only three of the five new faces played and they added a PIR of 5 with 13 points and 2/12 in triples. Between the three.
