By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
It turned into a simple task pretty early as Real Madrid dominated the latest classic matchup opposite Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, 98-65, Friday.
Leading all scorers of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 17 fixture, Dzanan Musa and Petr Cornelie poured 18 points each. They combined for eight triples as the Whites connected a team total of 18/33 from beyond the arc.
“I am just happy we played together, we played defense well. We just stuck together. We had fun playing together,” said French big Cornelie following his best performance since joining the team based in Spain’s capital.
More three-pointers, 3/6, Guerschon Yabusele ended up with 16 points paired with eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Towering center, Walter Tavares put up only four points but packed five blocks, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
“It was an amazing game for the whole team. It was a great team effort in offense and defense,” said Yabusele, “It seemed like everything was going our way.”
“I think we played good for 40 minutes, consistently. We shared the ball very well. We had 29 assists, which is a good sign for us,” Chus Mateo pointed out another part of the one-sided traffic in Madrid.
A comfortable win upped the W-L tally to 11-6, good enough for a share in the five-way tie on top of the standings. Sixth win in nine matchups at WiZink Center. “It’s probably the toughest EuroLeague in recent years. We are at the end of the first round. We know how difficult it is to be at the top of the standings. We have to keep fighting. We must focus on the main goal, to be in the top four at the end of the season,” stressed Mateo.
Dealing with an injury, Gabriel Deck was sidelined along with Mario Hezonja (personal). Anthony Randolph (knee), Rudy Fernandez (wrist), and Carlos Alocen (knee) are yet to be cleared for action. In good news, Adam Hanga, out with a leg injury since early in the season, was back with five points, three rebounds, and two assists in 13 minutes.
On the opposite end, Wade Baldwin IV recovered from a hamstring injury forcing him to miss the last month but was limited to three points in 12 minutes. Jalen Adams with 15 points and Josh Nebo with 11 points were the only double-digit scorers. Unavailable players stretched between Alex Poythress (hand), Yiftach Ziv, and Guy Pnini.
The team coached by Oded Kattash missed the first 13 attempts from beyond the arc. Finally connecting late in the first half, the distance to cover was already over 20 points. At the end of a six-game winning streak across all competitions, Maccabi fell to 9-8 with its seventh loss in nine away games through the first half of EuroLeague’s double-legged round-robin schedule.
“We must keep our heads up,” was the reaction of Kattash, “There will be some nights like this. Hopefully not many. Nothing went our way, from the beginning of the game. But that can happen, especially against a team like Real.”
The reigning ACB champions, sitting at 11-3 in the 2022-23 edition of Spain’s Liga Endesa, will continue the domestic campaign by hosting Gran Canaria Sunday. Coming up next will be a EuroLeague road trip at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Tuesday and Alba Berlin Thursday.
The Yellows, currently leading Israel’s Winner League with a 10-2 record, will bump into Hapoel B-Cure Laser Haifa Sunday before playing host to Partizan Mozzart Bet Wednesday and traveling to Panathinaikos Friday.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net