Real Madrid and Panathinaikos must face each other on Sunday in the Euroleague basketball final after coming out of one-sided semi-finals on Friday in Berlin. The White House, defending champion, dominated Olympiakos (87-76), crushed by 25 lengths (54-29) even before the middle of the match.
When the Greeks of Piraeus thought they were coming back at the end of the match, the stainless “Chacho” Rodriguez (37 years old) extinguished the first flames with a behind-the-back pass to send Dzanan Musa (20 points) to the basket (87-73 , 69 seconds from the buzzer).
In pursuit of the “duodecima” (12th coronation), the Madrilenians of the French Vincent Poirier (11 pts), Guerschon Yabusele (11 pts) and Fabien Causeur (4 pts), will have to get rid of their runner-up of the regular season, Panathinaikos , scorer of Fenerbahçe (73-57) in the first semi-final on Friday.
“Pana” owes this final, the first since its coronation in 2011, to the 17 points of its French interior Mathias Lessort. The meeting was delayed by 25 minutes due to clashes between supporters on the Arena square, some of whom took advantage of this to enter the enclosure, Berlin police said.
Facing “Fener”, Clover, in search of a seventh coronation, was able to count on its stars who arrived thanks to expensive recruitment in the off-season (Lessort, Ataman, Sloukas, Nunn, etc.).
The French pivot Mathias Lessort, who was already in the typical team of the most prestigious European competition with Partizan Belgrade last year, signed a double double (17 points and 10 rebounds) symbolizing the domination of the “Greens” in the painting.
Lacking skill behind the arc (9/35, 25.7%), the “Fener” shooting team was weighed down from the start by conceding a 12-0 before the eyes of the Chicago legend Bulls Scottie Pippen and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who came to see his brother Kostas play with the “Pana”.
