By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Edy Tavares scored a career-high-tying 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Nigel Williams-Goss dropped 22 points, including the go-ahead triple, as Real Madrid defeated Partizan 82 – 80 in Belgrade after a comeback from down 15 to get its first win in the EuroLeague playoffs after starting with 0-2 at home.
In his best performance with the Real jersey, former Partizan guard Williams-Goss drained the 3-pointer to make it 80 – 77 with 24 seconds remaining. James Nunnally missed from afar and then Mario Hezonja hit a pair of free throws to put the visiting team up by 5. Zach LeDay scored a quick triple and Real players lost the ball but Partizan wasn’t able to tie the score.
LeDay had 15 points plus eight rebounds and Alen Smailagic scored 15 of his own for Partizan.
“This is one of the toughest arenas in Europe,” Tavares said. He also had three assists and three blocks, registering 41 PIR to tie Olimpia Milano swingman Shavon Shields for the third-highest PIR number in playoffs history. “We knew we had to stay focused to try to win the game and we did. This is now in the past and we’ve got to stay ready and focused for the next one, it is going to be harder than this. It is in two days, so we have to try to recover as well as we can. I am feeling good. After the win, you are always feeling good. I know I am tired but the win always helps.
Partizan was quite close to the sweep but remains up in the series and hosts Game 4 Thursday (4/5). They will still be without leading scorer Kevin Punter (suspended two matches after the Game 2 brawl) but will have big man Mathias Lessort back. The latter’s absence left the Serbian side with a major frontline gap that Tavares took great advantage of.
Real will see forward and key two-way contributor Gabriel Deck returning to action after his one-game suspension. With him out, it was Hezonja who provided a huge boost on the glass with a career-high 14 rebounds to go with his 12 points.
“I rely on faith a lot,” Williams-Goss said. “I trust my faith, I trust my work. My teammates battled all game long and I just wanted to make a play for them. We knew we are coming here in a tough environment against a great team. It was going to be a war, as you can see it came down to the end. But we got one now, and we are looking forward to Game 4. Yes, [we will be ready]. This is playoff time, this is what we play for, and there is no choice.”
In a packed Stark arena and amid a quite unfriendly atmosphere that was further energized following the Game 2 fight, Partizan had a stunning start of 12-0 and was up 39 – 24 at the beginning of the second period. It looked like Real will be overwhelmed and succumb but the Blancos cut that deficit to 46 – 45 a bit before halftime and proceeded to take the lead with free throws by Tavares for the 55-56.
The game remained close and Nunnaly pulled for the 77 – 75 with 3:04 to play but Tavares tied the game and Williams-Goss delivered the decisive 3-pointer in the last minute. “I believe we had a problem offensively,” Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic. “We need to fix a few things. Small details decided it. The next game will be very interesting.”
A start and a hope for a complete comeback
Real Madrid coach Chus Mateo talked about using Tavares on offense and the tweaks on his team’s defense that led to the turnaround.
“We started the game hesitating a little bit, we were not consistent, especially on defense,” Mateo said. “Probably this beautiful basketball environment made us make mistakes, but we came back into the game. Using our strength inside with Tavares. We lost Poirier during the warm-up and we could not use him in the game. We fed Tavares a lot and we started to come back. We improved our defense and our alternative defense, a 2-3 zone, and we were able to go in front. In the last moments, we were tied, and the shot from Nigel Williams-Goss gave us the advantage. It was a great effort of all the players. I am very proud because it is not easy to win here. This is still far [for the series] going back to Madrid, we need to fight a lot in the next one, but it is one step.”