By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague defending champions Real Madrid pretty much confirmed how unstoppable they are in the 2023-24 season by crushing Maccabi Tel Aviv 99 – 70 on the road in a postponed game to improve their undefeated track to 10-0.
Edy Tavares led the charge for Real with a season-high 19 points and eight rebounds, beginning the game with 15 points on 7-7 shots over the first five minutes. Mario Hezonja contributed 16 points plus five rebounds, Dzanan Musa had 15 points while Facu Campazzo delivered 11 points plus nine assists.
“It’s good for us to keep winning. We know that our first goal is to go to the playoffs and the Final Four,” Tavares said. “Now we have to recover quickly, rest and prepare mentally because in two days we play against Fenerbahce Beko, one of the best teams in EuroLeague and it’s going to be a hard game.”
Lorenzo Brown (16 points, nine assists, five rebounds) and Josh Nebo (14 points, nine rebounds) scored in double figures for Maccabi, now 5-5. The Yellows struggled to keep up with the vastly superior Real offense, trailing from start to finish, mostly in double-digit numbers.
A sublime offense and a lack of aggressiveness
“It’s never easy to play against Real, especially if they play with the way they played tonight,” Maccabi coach Oded Kattash. “But to have a chance to win against a team like that you have to be focused for 40 minutes and we weren’t there. Defensively we weren’t aggressive and we weren’t using fouls. We have to learn from this game.”
With Real up 43 – 60, five minutes into the second half Maccabi dropped 11 unanswered points to try and initiate an actual comeback until their opponents responded with a 14-2 run to shut down any such chances. The Blancos kept pushing and went ahead by 30 when 17-year-old wing Hugo Gonzalez scored his first-ever EuroLeague points for the 66 – 96.
“We did a very good job and we had a complete game. We also shared the ball well again,” Real coach Chus Mateo said on his team’s 29 assists. “We are the best team… today [not in the EuroLeague]. The important part is to keep working and be humble, knowing that the road is long.”