By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Including the friendly against the Dallas Mavericks and Spanish Super Cup, Real Madrid played 12 games since the start of the season – and won them all. The defending European champion got the better of Olimpia Milano, winning 88-71 in Round 4 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Sergio Llull led Chus Mateo’s side to another win with 19 points, Mario Hezonja added 13, while Facundo Campazzo recorded another double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
“It’s not funny when you play like this, running fast breaks, shooting threes. Crowd also enjoyed the game, we won so we are happy, but we have to keep going,” Llull said after the game.
For Milano, Shavon Shields scored 16 points with seven rebounds, while Nikola Mirotic added 13 with six boards.
Interestingly, Milano got off to a better start. They had a 26-19 lead after the first period, but Real Madrid stayed calm and managed to erase the deficit before the big break (42-42). The hosts slowly started gaining control in the third period, and even went to a 66-56 lead in the final minutes, but Olimpia showed resilience and fought back. It wasn’t enough, as the Madrid side opened the final period with a 10-0 run, and it was pretty clear that Real’s streak will go on.
“Congratulations to Chus and Real for the complete match. We played good first half, but afterwards we lacked physical and mental energy in the second half. We missed a lot, didn’t have enough legs to defend,” Messina said at the press conference.
Real Madrid’s head coach Mateo liked what he saw in the second half.
“We lost too many balls quite early, and with a team that recovers balls and defends quite well in the paint like Milan, it gave us a lot of problems. We were able to come back; Llull helped a lot. The second half was different; we were able to have amazing teamwork and defend properly. I love to see the way we can share the ball, to find a way to get through the opponent’s defense,” Mateo said.