2023-10-26 22:58:33
Thirteen games and thirteen victories including three Clásicos. Madrid leads the Euroleague alone after a difficult game to digest. The whites’ usual 90 points remained at just over 60. Enough to overcome a Barça that arrived after a streak of seven consecutive victories.
That each Classic is a world is a clear reality. Let them tell Madrid after the first two quarters they committed. A look at the statistics painted a dramatic scenario. One look at the scoreboard and there was no trace of the foreseeable disaster. The night of the Chus Mateo snipers was a nightmare. The balance in the first two periods was 1/15. The errors were very distributed. The lack of aim was contagious. Rudy missed four; Hezonja, three; Llull and Campazzo, a couple; Rodríguez, Deck and Musa also collaborated. Fourteen errors to start and the fifteenth did not come thanks to Deck getting it right moments before the break. Errors and losses (7) could be a grave, but they were not.
Barça had felt comfortable in the first quarter of an hour despite the loss of Laprovittola, their top scorer. Roger Grimau’s team has nothing to do with the one that lost in the first two Clásicos of the season (semifinal of the Super Cup and Endesa League). It is a more vertical team, it is not averse to speed and its centers, Vesely and Willy, are one of the few capable of harming Tavares and Poirier. The Czech and his 4-5 meter shots showed the way and the eldest Hernangómez seconded him. This is how Barça escaped (16-30). Chus Mateo was not convinced by the formula with his giants on the track. He traded centimeters for intensity while the team was still aimless. Ndiaye appeared and placed Hezonja as power forward – Yabusele was out – and the game changed. He didn’t do it because of Madrid’s success because the mistakes kept happening. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen triples and all crashing into the rim. But Barça stopped having a placid night. With a guerrilla quintet, Madrid was able to reinvent itself and forget about the disaster in the external launch. Campazzo increased the revs and hooked Deck into the game. The work behind did the rest. And what was a scrap turned into a 12-0 run. Barça was unable to score in the last 4:03 of the second quarter. When Deck made Madrid’s only triple almost on the way to the locker room on 1/15 it was an anecdote.
The Barça drought continued until they conceded a 16-0 scoreline that allowed Madrid to take the lead for the first time. The local intensity had nothing to do with what had started. Campazzo was able to overcome his lack of shooting accuracy to feed Deck tirelessly. The Argentine had scored seven points in the second quarter and became a nightmare for the Barça defense. Grimau tried to stop him with Kalinic and was unsuccessful. He opted for Parker and he was no match for the “Turtle.” He alone scored the same points as the entire Barça team in the third quarter. His solidity and reliability was transferred to the rest of the team and suddenly all the ghosts of the first two Clásicos of the season had appeared to Barcelona. The scoring crisis (11 points in the second quarter) was repeated in the third (11 also). Madrid had buried its crisis in the shot, had held on to Deck and Poirier and entered the decisive stretch feeling that everything was already in its place.
With the wind in their favor and with the trio of illustrious outside players, Chacho, Llull and Rudy, Barcelona’s loss extended to 55-41 with eight minutes left. In the middle of the wasteland that was every Barça attack, Jokubaitis appeared. The team rejoined very little by little, taking advantage of the fact that Madrid was suffering again when it was time to look at the rim. He went four minutes without scoring and in a rocky Clásico, Barça was able to take a look at the game in the last minute (59-59). Campazzo, on a dark gray day, scored four free throws and another two from Hezonja outweighed the endless episode of reviews. After two and a quarter hours of fighting, the third Clásico of the season also went to Real Madrid.
65. Real Madrid (12+16+23+14): Campazzo (5), Abalde (0), Musa (4), Deck (20) and Tavares (8) – the starting quintet – Rodriguez (4), Llull (2). Rudy (0), Poirier (14), Ndiaye (0) and Hezonja (7).
64. Barcelona (19+11+11+23): Satoransky (10), Abrines (8), Kalinic (5), Da Silva (3) and Vesely (12) – starting quintet – Willy (13), Jokubaitis (6 ), Brizuela (2), Parra (0), Parker (0) and Nnaji (0).
Referees: Belosevic (Ser), Nedovic (Esl) and Kardum (Cro). Satoransky eliminated. Grimau technique.
Incidents: 12,000 spectators at the WiZink Center. Match corresponding to the fifth day of the Euroleague.
5th round: Partizan, 88-Red Star, 86; ALBA Berlin, 85-Milan, 82; Real Madrid, 65-Barcelona, 64; Olympiacos-Anadolu Efes; Monaco-Maccabi; Zalgiris-Valencia (19:00); ASVEL Villeurbanne-Virtus Bologna; Panathinaikos-Baskonia (20:15) and Bayern Munich-Fenerbahçe (20:30).
Classification: 1. Real Madrid (5/0); 2. Barcelona (4/1); 3. Virtus Bologna (3/1); 4. Fenerbahce (3/1); 5. Valencia Basket (3/1); 6. Zalgiris Kaunas (3/1); 7. Maccabi Tel Aviv (2/1); 8. Monaco (2/2); 9. Olympiacos (2/2); 10. Bayern Munich (2/2); 11. Anadolu Efes (2/2); 12. Partizan (2/3); 13. Milan (1/3); 14. Panathinaikos (1/3); 15. Baskonia (1/3); 16. Red Star (1/4); 17. ALBA Berlin (1/4); 18. ASVEL Villeurbanne (0/4).
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