Real Madrid seeks to take the first step to Kaunas
The Madrid team defends the ‘field factor’ against the dangerous Partizán of Zeljko Obradovic
MADRID, 24 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid will open this Tuesday at the WiZink Center (8:45 p.m./DAZN) their 2022-2023 Euroleague quarterfinal Playoff against Serbian Partizán, a rival against whom they hope to impose their favoritism and their experience in this type of series.
The Madrid team faces the road to the ‘Final Four’ at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas. After a solvent Regular Phase, in which they finished third with 23 wins and 11 losses, now comes the moment of truth, with a best-of-five-match series against one of the revelations of the season as has been the team led by the laureate Zeljko Obradovic.
The Balkan team, remembered as European champion in 1992 already with its current coach on the bench, returned nine years later to the highest continental competition and has managed to win one of the eight prized, and very expensive, tickets for the playoffs, supported by a basketball with a lot of offensive potential and that has led him to sign 20 wins.
The two teams exchanged victories in the Regular Phase in their respective home games, where it was already possible to glimpse that the defenses are going to have a lot of work since they are the second and third best scorer in the competition with more than 85 points per game. 396 points were seen in total in the victories, in Madrid, by 104-90 and, in Belgrade, by 105-97, so both Chus Mateo and Zeljko Obradovic will try to sharpen their own in their own hoop.
Real Madrid knows the importance of the ‘field factor’ and after having to work to achieve it well in advance, now it’s their turn to get the most out of it, knowing that their rival’s pitch, the imposing Stark Arena, is very tight, so that will give him more ‘peace of mind’ to get there next week with the first two points in his pocket.
TAVARES-LESSORT DUEL
The Real Madrid team has the advantage of handling itself much better in these situations, as it already demonstrated last year against Maccabi when it seemed that it was not at its best and closed its pass to the ‘Final a Cuatro’ on the fast track. The biggest drawback for the ten times European champion, something irregular in this stretch of the campaign, is that he has not had much time to prepare the always important first game of a ‘playoff’ after having played this Sunday afternoon in Badalona , where he got a good win against a competitive team like Joventut by 76-86.
Partizán, on the other hand, will arrive more rested after having played on Friday, but Chus Mateo counts to compensate for this ‘advantage’ with a deep squad in which the only casualty will be Vincent Poirier. This will leave Walter Tavares alone again as ‘5’, who will have a nice duel with another of the pivots who has shone this season, the Frenchman Matthias Lessort, the best rebounder and the second most valued player in the Regular Season.
Real Madrid, who will have to avoid unnecessary losses, also knows that a physical duel awaits them against an opponent who, in addition to the center, has important pieces to pay special attention to, such as Kevin Punter and Dante Exum, as well as a lot of danger from outside.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
REAL MADRID: Williams-Goss, Musa, Deck, Yabusele and Tavares –possible starting five– Hezonja, Llull, Causeur, Hanga, Rudy Fernández, Cornelie, Abalde, Sergio Rodríguez and Randolph.
PARTIZÁN: Avramovic, Punter, Nunnally, Papapetrou and Lessort –possible starting five–; Madar, Smailagic, Leday, Exum, Trifunovic, Andjusic and Vukcevic.
–REFEREES: Lottermoser, Vilius and Mogulkoc.
–PAVILION: WiZink Center.