Euroleague: Real Madrid – Partizan

Real Madrid came loose behind and Partizán thanked them for the favor with 8 three-pointers out of 12 attemptsendorsing him, in addition, the impudent figure, for a team of the entity of the Spanish champion, of 40 points at the end of the first quarter.

Only Edy Tavares in the first 5 minutes, in which he scored 10 points, kept his tone in attack. Zach Leday, Kevin Punter, Dante Exum, Vladimir Brodiansky, James Nunnally on two occasions and Danilo Andjusic on two other occasions were the accurate shooters for the Serbs.

Only the departure of Sergio Llull and a couple of flashes from Gabriel Deck they prevented the disaster for Real Madrid from being greater than 32-40 at the end of the first ten minutes.

In the second quarter the solution to so much nonsense and holes behind was clear. Chus Mateo put up a more defensive quintet with Llull, Mario Hezonja, Alberto Abalde, Eli Ndiaye and Vincent Poirier, and Real Madrid scored a 20-2 run (min.15.30) with which they recovered their self-esteem and the lead on the scoreboard, 52-42.

In the remainder of the fourth, Zeljko Obradovic’s Partizán scored another two triples, but no longer found any facility. Hezonja, Llull and Poirier also took the reins in attack for a more academic run in the second quarter, 22-11 to 54-51 with which the teams reached halftime.

Of course, Andjusic scored two triples on the last possession of each quarter, showing his danger.

The output of the third act was more ‘normal’, with Llull scoring two triples countered by those of Leday and Nunnally, 64-60 (m.23.40).

Leday and his three-pointers kept a Partizan on the scoreboard that little by little lost pace in the match against a Real Madrid more focused on defense and that began to assert Tavares’ superiority and Llull’s points in attack.

Deck joined the task, as did Dzanan Musa, and at the end of the third quarter the score reflected 86-74. After, yes, 6 triples out of 10 attempts by the Serbs.

Hezonja opened the final quarter with a triple, 89-74, and Musa followed him, 92-77 (m.31). Nigel Williams-Goss did not want to be left behind and established the 95-80 (m.32).

The path of the three-pointer was no longer clear for those from Belgrade, but the game was not over yet, although it began to look good for Real Madrid.

The Spanish team used the basics of their game, good defense, ball control and success in attack and closed with the 105-97 final his fifth consecutive victory in the competition.