01/19/2020 – 20:45
- First defeat in the WiZink of Pablo Laso's team
The character, the fight and the faith in the triumph of a reborn Kirolbet Baskonia ended this Sunday with the Real Madrid streak at the Wizink Center, where he accumulated 17 straight wins in the League and did not lose since March 24, 2019 (94 -95).
In a battle from beginning to end in which the bases Facundo Campazzo and Pierrie Henry staged a huge scoring duel, with 27 and 26 points, respectively, the Baskonist victory was decided by small details and not decided until the last seconds.
The whites had a shot to win, but Sergio Llull, who also shone with 23 points, was not right from his field and his team ended up giving up his third loss of the week, although he fought until the last possession.
With Campazzo as director of operations and all the equipment plugged in from the triple, it seemed that Real Madrid would suffer less than expected since, at the beginning, a rival who started with one less march was shown much superior in all facets of the game and I didn't know how to stop the rush of the ACB leader.
The Argentine base, with three of the six triples converted by the whites in the first ten minutes – in which he added thirteen points and 17 valuation -, became owner and lord of the clash, well seconded by his compatriot Gabriel Deck and Llull .
Behind, Usman Garuba became the shadow of a then-off Tornike Shengelia, a reflection of the poor staging of the players trained by Dusko Ivanovic, who only added 14 valuation points for 42 of the Madrid players after a first quarter clear local color (32-18, min 10).
The second act the script was very different. From the hand of a unleashed Henry, Kirolbet Baskonia was plugged into the game with a 0-13 partial set that got him into battle.
The American base, author of 19 points in the first half, was the revulsive of a team that took the character that he lacked in the previous minutes. A basket under the ring of Shengelia culminated the comeback and gave theirs the first advantage of the afternoon after seventeen minutes of white domination (36-37).
The defense of Baskonia blinded all the attack routes to the players of a Pablo Laso who could not find solutions on the bench. The success of the beginning disappeared and, if in the first quarter they were able to score 32 points, in the second they stayed in six.
With a partial for the visitors of 21-6 in those ten minutes, the match reached the intermediate with minimal baskonista advantage and everything to be decided in the second part (38-39, min 20).
The fight gained in intensity after passing through changing rooms. Baskonia hit first with a 0-5 start but lost Henry to a muscle problem, although he was able to return to the track shortly after.
The leaders of the League reacted immediately with two triples of Campazzo and a Llull that began to take center stage in attack.
The exchange of blows from all positions and the fight for each ball maintained equality and emotion throughout the room although the Vitorians, with Shengelia increasing their performance and Fall doing a lot of damage under the hoop, won the points and were able to arrive ahead of the decisive ten minutes (60-63, min 30).
Real Madrid put one more march into their game and decided to go for the win. Two triples from Campazzo and Thompkins were followed by two steals culminating in counterattack. Ivanovic had to stop the game to stop a white team that was more plugged into the final quarter.
But he did not succeed and, after receiving the sixth triple of the Argentine base on the next play, he asked for another timeout when he was seven down after a partial against 17-7 (77-70, min 34).
Campazzo was so grown up at that point that he even dared to plug the giant Fall (2.21) from his 181 centimeters high, although the referees ended up whistling for personal foul.
A triple from the corner of Italian Polonara returned the advantage to Kirolbet four and a half minutes from the end. His team had resisted the white rebellion and was beginning to believe in surprising the leader on an impregnable court this season.
When he was on the ropes, with six down two minutes from the end, Campazzo plugged his seventh triple. Llull, from the same distance, tied for 40 seconds, although a mate with a hand of Shengelia ended the illusions of a Real Madrid who had a shot to win, but Llull failed from his field the triple that would have given him the victory .
– Data sheet:
94 – Real Madrid (32 + 6 + 22 + 34): Campazzo (27), Llull (23), Deck (13), Garuba (6) and Tavares (4) -initial team-, Causeur (10), Laprovittola ( -), Reyes (8), Thompkins (3) and Taylor (-).
95 – Kirolbet Baskonia (18 + 21 + 24 + 32): Henry (26), Janning (9), Shields (9), Shengelia (16) and Eric (-) – titular quintet -, Fall (16), Staukas ( 7), Polonara (12).
Referees: Antonio Conde, Sergio Manuel and Vicente Martínez Silla. They eliminated Henry and Fall for fouls.
Incidents: Party of the eighteenth day of the Endesa League, first of the second round, played at the WiZink Center in Madrid before 9,852 spectators.
Antonio Soto