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Nacho Duque
Updated
After four consecutive losses, Real Madrid savored again before the Virtus what it is to win away from home. He did not do it since January 10. The Whites solved the first of their six finals in search of the Euroleague playoffs. They would still have to win everything to reach the 20 victories with which the sixth classified in the last editions ended. Difficult, but the first step is taken.
The Bologna was intuited as the most affordable exit that Madrid players had left, who should still visit Belgrade twice. And so affordable was that the game was a walk for a good part of the night. Madrid was only slightly hurried in the last quarter, when the Italians reduced a maximum disadvantage of 22 points (35-57) to 11 (61-72) and two shots failed to place it below 10. Tavares, Campazzo and Musa left from the bench to put order and ensure the victory.
Madrid went from more to less. It started with a serious and centered version, in the beginning, in which the Virtus, due to its lack of character, did not seem like an Ivanovic team. The intensity of Garuba, the presence of Tavares in the area and the persistent search for the ring by Muse opened a gap of 14 points (14-28) before the non-existent defense of the premises, where the referents Shengelia and Cordinier did not appear.
The whites dominated the rebound and the rhythm, shared the ball, found no opposition in the area and even seemed that the ballast of the triples had been removed. It was a mirage: from 3/5 with which they started they went to 5/20 from the end. Between Hezonja, Garuba and Llull they made 2/13. Complicated to win Euroleague matches with that percentage … unless the opponent puts on your part.
At the end of the first quarter, Madrid had put 30 points and the rotations added. Good minutes of happy, Fernando and Ibaka to make the difference at 19 shortly before the break (29-48). As Chus Mateo had recommended, the team suffered less and enjoyed more.
But, in the second part, after reaching a maximum of 22 points (35-57), Madrid lost freshness and fluidity. A 12-3 partial put the Italians in the game. The whites scored a basket at stake in the first six minutes of the last quarter and saw their advantage at 11. The score could still be adjusted. It was not so because of the errors in the virtus shot and its accumulation of losses.
Mateo had to resort to headlines to guarantee a fundamental victory. Above all Tavares prevented the Bolognese insurrection from going to more. It was not a round triumph of Madrid, but it was a triumph. And out of home. It is what it was. The results of the day have favored him, although he still has to sleep outside the play-in posts.
