By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Despite not having Edy Tavares and Gabriel Deck, Real Madrid got the thrilling 79-77 victory on the road against Baskonia, starting the EuroLeague Regular Season with a smile on their faces.
Powering Real Madrid near the basket, Guerschon Yabusele was crucial for the reigning champions with 18 points and 8 rebounds. “It was a really important win for us, it was pretty good. It was intense, it’s not easy to win here. We’re gonna be the team to beat this year because we won it last season, we have to get better”, the French power forward commented. His countryman Vincent Poirier replaced Edy Tavares, who wasn’t fit to play, and contributed with 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.
“We were very close until the end. We fought, we knew we were a little bit weaker than we got all the big guys. But we believed and won, it was very difficult since they beat us four times last year. We were able to play good defense, and to control the rebound at the end”, Chus Mateo said after getting the away victory. Dzanan Musa added 13 points and 7 rebounds, saying they “have to stay focused” after the victory.
Producing a 16-point losing effort for Baskonia, Matthew Costello wasn’t enough for Joan Peñarroya’s squad but brought home an amazing poster on Vincent Poirier, named the Magic Moment of the Game by the EuroLeague. Celebrating his recent contract extension until 2026 with the Basque team, Markus Howard contributed with 10 points and 5 assists but missed the winning shot at the very end.
Debuting with Baskonia in the EuroLeague, Chima Moneke, Khalifa Diop, and Nico Mannion all had great first games in blue and red. The former AS Monaco’s forward went close to a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds, the former Virtus Bologna’s guard added 13 points, and finally, the Senegalese big man went also close to a double-double after scoring 8 points and grabbing 11 boards.
“We played against a very good team, it was a 50/50 game. The turnovers were decisive at the end, we played well but tonight it wasn’t sufficient”, Joan Peñarroya commented after the loss, where his team struggled a lot from three-point range, shooting 5/27 (18.5%). However, the Basque side dominated on the glass by boxing out their opponents pretty well, grabbing 17 more rebounds (53 vs 36) than Real Madrid.
After being down for the vast majority of the second half, Real Madrid managed to come back into the game thanks to former Baskonia’s guard Fabien Causeur reducing the gap to three points (75-72), and Facundo Campazzo brought his team up 79-77 with 1:47 on the clock. Baskonia managed to stay afloat and had the opportunity to win the game at the buzzer, but Markus Howard’s shot went out.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague