Real Madrid falls to Red Star and deepens its crisis
The Real Madrid improved his attitude this Tuesday and fought to the end in Belgrade, but he ended up adding a new setback that prolongs his worrying game crisis and results in his visit to Red Star (65-62)before which he ended up succumbing weighed down by another bad afternoon of his shooterswho only hit nine of the 37 three-pointers they threw (24%).
The twenty points Serge Llull, who had one last shot to force extra time, and the eleven and as many rebounds from Walter Tavares were not enough to recover the path of victory to a team that played in fits and starts and, once again, their offensive production dropped alarmingly.
Continuing with the trajectory shown in its previous commitmentsthe white team disappointed again in their staging, exhibiting the same erratic attacking line that had cost him six losses in his last nine outings. One more day, his shooters were denied facing the hoop, especially from the triple, where they only hit one of his nine attempts in the first ten minutes.
The best news for Paul Laso came back, where at least his players compensated for their jam based on fighting and a better attitude in attack and hindered the attacks of a rival who did not seem to have his best afternoon either.
As the defenses clearly prevailed over the attacks, the points came in dribs and drabs and, as a lesser evil, the Whites leveled the score thanks to the success of Guerschon Yabusele and Walter Tavares, their team's top scorers at the end of a balanced first quarter that ended with minimal local advantage (16-15, min 10).
The game went on without an owner for several minutes. Real Madrid lacked more criteria in its bases and he insisted on shooting from the 6.75 line, where the percentages were increasingly worrying, especially in the case of a Rudy Fernández who missed five in a row. A couple of hits by Trey Thompkins and Llull seemed to give their team some air, although it was only a mirage.
The Red Star, who did not have enough outside shooting either, preferred not to abuse from long distance and, led by Nikola Ivanovic, regained control based on suffocating pressure that paid off by taking advantage of several resolute recoveries with fast counterattacks . In their best minutes to date, they managed to turn the score around after an 11-2 run that reflected the traffic jam of a Spanish team that in five minutes went from winning by two points to being seven down at halftime (35- 28, minute 20).
With 4/20 in triples (20%) and 7/17 in shots from two (41%) in the first twenty minutes, Real Madrid went to the changing rooms with a lot of room for improvement, although at least the disadvantage was manageable little by little that he improved his percentages and minimized errors in the second half.
And so it happened in the resumption. The visitors seemed to leave more in tune and quickly pressed the electronicalthough they lost Williams-Goss when he hit his finger at the exit of a block and returned to their old ways from the perimeter, where with six new mistakes they continued to spoil their statistics and, incidentally, weigh down their comeback options.
The Serbs, who enjoyed up to eight lead points, also struggled to score, which the Whites took advantage of to get closer based on individual actions until they managed to get within a single point ten minutes from time (43-42, min 30) .
Four points in a row Nikola Kalinic and a triple by Nate Wolters eased the situation for the Serbian team on resumption. He responded as Real Madrid could to stay in the slipstream, although he was once again diminished by his lousy percentages from outside. With a worrying 57-50 against, Pablo Laso was forced to stop the game with 3.50 left in search of solutions to the traffic jam of his men.
The measure had an immediate effect with a 0-6 run after three-pointers by Llull and Abalde, who arrived when they needed it most. Once again they were down a point, although three consecutive offensive fouls led to Dejan Radonjic's men taking off for good after six straight points from Davidovac (63-56, min 38).
When everything seemed decided, Llull made his team dream by hitting two quick three-pointers that increased the score to 63-62 to the marker 13 seconds from the end. The Menorcan had the ball to force extra time in a forced throw, but he did not hit the hoop and the victory stayed in the Serbian capital.
Data sheet:
65 - Red Star (16+19+8+22): Wolters (12), Hollins (5), Davidovac (13), Kalinic (8) and Kuzmic (1) -starting five-, Lazarevic (-), Lazic (2), Mitrovic (-), Ivanovic (13), White (2) and Dobric (9).
62 - Real Madrid (15 + 13 + 14 + 20): Williams-Goss (2), Abalde (5), Hanga (4), Yabusele (8) and Tavares (11) -starting quintet-, Heurtel (2), Rudy Fernández (-), Thompkins (6) Llull (20) and Poirier (4).
Referees: Mehdi Difallah, Elias Koromilas and Arturas Sukys. They fouled out Trey Thompkins.
Incidents: Postponed game of the 20th day of the Euroleague basketball played at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade.
