Real Madrid makes amends in the European Classic

Real Madrid won this Friday by a clear 80-61 against Barça on matchday 22 of the regular phase of the Euroleague, with a good team performance led by centers Walter ‘Edy’ Tavares and Usman Garuba, giving the whites a victory of redemption for the Clásico lost on January 4 in the Endesa League.

At the Movistar Arena, just before kickoff, Tavares himself was honored for having recently become the top rebounder in the Euroleague. And the Cape Verdean player thanked him in less than five minutes on the court with six points, two more rebounds for his historic tally and a block against Miles Norris in full local control (10-2).

After a time-out, Barça changed pieces of their quintet in the ‘high’ game with Tornike Shengelia and Willy Hernangómez, both scoring baskets that alleviated the bad start of the culé along with a technical foul called on their rival. And although Shengelia later tightened the score with another triple, Gaby Deck responded with the same medicine (15-11).

Deck himself and Usman Garuba commanded the ‘B’ unit of the locals for the outcome of a first quarter that ended 21-14, after two free throws made by Théo Maledon and an error by Hernangómez at the horn. Despite his teammate Darío Brizuela getting it right at the start of the next quarter, Trey Lyles stretched Real Madrid’s lead (26-17).

Deck contributed to this dynamic with a triple that made it +10 and Xavi Pascual spent time out to try to regroup his pupils, while the stands celebrated the good looks of his team and applauded the visit of the now retired Fabien Causeur. With everything going against each other, even Garuba hit a cornered triple, but missed an ‘alley-oop’ with Sergio Llull.

The Mahón point guard, who immediately tried one of his ‘tangerines’, was once again a guard for his coach Sergio Scariolo’s plans. Barça held on to the game (32-29) with free throws from Shengelia and Kevin Punter, with a steal and simple basket on the counterattack by Nico Laprovittola and also with a long hook from Youssoupha Fall.

The merengue response was provided by Tavares and Facu Campazzo, scoring the ‘rubber’ on the scoreboard (38-29) with 2:32 to go before half-time. Despite another Barça timeout, their lack of aim was evident and, to make matters worse, actors with less weight in Real Madrid stood out, such as Alberto Abalde and especially Chuma Okeke.

The Madrid cushion to start the third period (43-31) gave way after a triple by Brizuela, two exhausted possessions without scoring and a dunk against Jan Vesely on the rebound of another triple attempted by Joel Parra without defenders nearby. Scariolo stopped that inertia with a timeout, where Andrés Feliz returned to the court after a long time.

The Madrid team’s greater resources depended on his connection with Campazzo and Mario Hezonja’s offensive awakening. Then the Croatian forward took the lead and returned the wide distance to the scoreboard (55-40), including a layup on the counterattack and for a moment it was a fake dunk with his back turned, but Hezonja on the fly chose what was easy.

NORRIS AND SATORANSKY, NO CONTRIBUTION

Pascual was desperate, which was not helped by two missed triples by Norris and Satoransky along with two equally missed free throws by Hernangómez. These were details that hampered a determined, but lackluster Barça, who found themselves down 63-47 at the end of the third act. Even so, the scenario barely changed at the beginning of the fourth and final period.

A Garuba cheered by the pavilion shone with points and assists and each free throw missed by Barça was one more step towards their defeat. Punter had been stuck at three points for a long time and the other side of the coin was Deck scoring a lateral triple with assistance from Campazzo, the umpteenth in another day of lucidity for the Argentine point guard.

With a lead of almost twenty, Alex Len jumped onto the pitch for the first time in the entire match and hit a hook midway through that sealed Real Madrid’s victory without any scares in the final minutes. In this way, Scariolo’s men had the same balance of 14-8 that Barça has among the candidates for a direct playoff place.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: REAL MADRID, x – BARÇA, x (43-31, at half-time).

–TEAMS.

REAL MADRID: Campazzo (6), Abalde (2), Hezonja (12), Okeke (2) and Tavares (11) –starting quintet–; Lyles (9), Maledon (6), Deck (12), Garuba (16), Feliz (-), Llull (2) and Len (2).

BARÇA: Satoransky (9), Punter (3), Norris (-), Parra (2) and Vesely (2) –starting quintet–; Marcos (-), Fall (4), Laprovittola (12), Shengelia (10), Cale (-), Brizuela (13) and Hernangómez (6).

–PARTIALS: 21-14, 22-17, 20-16 and 17-14.

–REFEREES: Javor, Hordov and Vilius. No eliminated.

–PAVILLION: Movistar Arena, 12,156 spectators.

–INCIDENTS: In the preludes, Walter Tavares was honored for having become the all-time top rebounder in the Euroleague.