2-0 for the meringues in the tie after another clear victory (101-90)
MADRID, 25 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid beat Baskonia 101-90 this Thursday, with a prominent role from the Argentine point guard Facundo Campazzo, and has approached the Final Four of the Euroleague, which will be played in Berlin from May 24 to 26, after having placed 2-0 in their quarterfinal tie.
Again at the WiZink Center, the second duel of this crossing began differently than the opening one. Although Baskonia also did not have the Nigerian power forward Chima Moneke, injured in his left ankle, he did not miss his impetus in a start with referee stops to check the clock.
In that rare dynamic, a triple by Matt Costello and another by Nikos Rogkavopoulos put the Baskonistas up 0-6. Real Madrid equalized quickly thanks to a basket by Mario Hezonja, a ‘bomb’ by Facu Campazzo and an action by Walter Tavares sinking the rim, drawing a foul, although he then missed the additional free throw.
Another referee stoppage, this time to review a possible elbow from Vanja Marinkovic to Dzanan Musa, ended without a penalty and the high pace continued. Campazzo recovered the ball and nailed the triple from a corner, to which Codi Miller-McIntyre responded with another success from beyond the arc.
Then Hezonja scored another triple almost from the center of the court and Baskonia held on to the battle, including a triple by Sander Raieste and a basket by Marinkovic on the counterattack (18-19). To season the WiZink menu, Vincent Poirier put his first block in the middle of so much commotion and Sergio Llull closed the first quarter with a triple at the buzzer (23-21).
The already all-time top triple scorer in the Euroleague added two triples at the beginning of the second quarter, forging a spurt to 35-27 that forced Dusko Ivanovic to call a timeout. The Montenegrin coach had trusted Markus Howard, who soon monopolized the visitors’ scoring.
Despite the effort of the New Jersey point guard, Real Madrid showed its usual bench depth. Sergio Rodríguez, Gaby Deck and Rudy Fernández, along with the aforementioned Poirier, provided quality relief to the starters. In front, the Basque team rotated less, but got closer to 39-37 after a triple by Marinkovic and two hits by Chris Chiozza.
Not in vain, the Memphis point guard consecutively scored two free throws and a front three-pointer. Although there were 3:26 left before the break, Chus Mateo’s pupils handled the rival rush without scares; A three-pointer from Campazzo made it clear, to answer a previous one from Marinkovic, in the last productive possession of the first half.
The visitor’s strategy, shooting more threes than twos, continued upon returning from the locker room with a success from Rogkavopoulos. Instead, Mateo assigned the mission of dominating through his tricks in the low post. Guerschon Yabusele and ‘Edy’ Tavares scored the first local points of the third period, where Campazzo also continued to lead.
With Howard controlled by Ivanovic, the Alava team turned to their secondary players to keep things going. Tadas Sedekerskis appeared, scoring on the counterattack, and later the gap decreased from 56-47 to 58-54; a mirage, according to two converted free throws by Campazzo and another triple by Yabusele, linked with a dunk of his after stealing the ball (65-56).
THE LOW POST DOMINATES FOR THE MERENGUES
Yabusele himself raised the stands of the pavilion with another dunk, on the run, to establish the 70-57 with 1:57 left in the third period. His pupils came out of the time-out requested by Ivanovic with enthusiasm, which did not last long when they saw the connection between Campazzo and Tavares, thanks to two nice assists from the Argentine point guard for the Cape Verdean center.
At 74-63 the third act closed, with Baskonia against the ropes, especially after two triple meringues, by Deck and Llull, that started the fourth period. That Real Madrid partial increased without anesthesia, until they were up 89-66 thanks to two long triples from ‘Chacho’ Rodríguez.
Later, two Poirier baskets inside the paint showed that Baskonia lacked weapons against the gale. So Ivanovic sat Howard, his most decisive player, with plenty of minutes left. The Baskonista coach, without faith in coming back, was already thinking about the third match, scheduled for May 1 (8:30 p.m.) in Vitoria.
Miller-McIntyre and Marinkovic made up the result, while in the white ranks Rudy Fernández was also encouraged with a triple from afar.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: REAL MADRID, 101 – BASKONIA, 90 (46-40, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
REAL MADRID: Campazzo (24), Musa (-), Hezonja (7), Yabusele (16) and Tavares (10) –starting quintet–; Deck (10), Poirier (10), Llull (13), Sergio Rodríguez (8) and Rudy Fernández (3).
BASKONIA: Miller-McIntyre (13), Marinkovic (20), Rogkavopoulos (9), Sedekerskis (9) and Costello (10) –starting quintet–; Howard (12), Kotsar (3), Chiozza (8), Raieste (3), Díez (3) and Theodore (-).
–PARTIALS: 23-21, 23-19, 28-23 and 27-27.
–REFEREES: Rocha, Pukl and Zamojski. Hezonja was eliminated for technical fouls at Real Madrid.
–PAVILLION: WiZink Center, 10,688 spectators.
–INCIDENTS: In the run-up to the match, Real Madrid player Sergio Llull was honored for having recently become the top triple scorer in the history of the Euroleague.