Real Madrid subdues Virtus Bologna with three-pointers

He visited the white box against a cursed rival who had only been beaten once in the five previous duels in the Euroleague, but with the peace of mind that knowing that he had qualified for the quarterfinals of the competition gave him. However, that prize is short for the team, which is pursuing the ambitious prize of finishing the regular season in the top four.

For this they made merits in Bologna, exhibiting good game from the beginning. A partial start of 2-10, with two possessions rushed to almost the limit, were quite a declaration of intent against a host that was languishing in the triple and from which Jaiteh shot.

Then a technical problem arose with the central computer that forced a short stoppage. far from cold Real Madrid continued to do their thing until certifying a 0-13 where the rebounds in both hoops had a lot to do with it, dominated in a dictatorial way (2-15). Two of them were offensive by Tavares, allowing the pivot to be in the top-8 all-time in the competition within this section.

Belinelli was in charge of hardening the madridista rictus, whose age has not taken away his talent. Gratiating around the perimeter, he was able to hit three 3-pointers and force six free throws from fouls on outside attempts. Thus, he left 15 of his first 17 points on the road during the second quarter; at a time when visitors were less inspired.

The bad moment, as it came, left through an effective reaction before the break. This resulted in a run that aimed for 2-9 and ended up being 2-12 when Yabusele shot at the buzzer from his own free throw line, leaving the most spectacular moment of the afternoon (33-50, min.20).

The Italian team emerged from the locker room wanting to turn the game around, materialized with a 10-2 win that put them back in the fight. The warning served to wake up the madridistas, who scored six points in a row without reply but received a similar punishment immediately afterwards. In this context, Virtus was below ten points behind and was able to move in those margins to start the decisive quarter with the opponent within range.

They came down from the Hezonja cloud with five triples in a row for a 3-15 that put the match on track. From there, the intensity dropped and comfortable shots began to proliferate on both boards to make the final result more attractive.