By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid fell to Baskonia Friday (5/4) to suffer its third loss over the last four EuroLeague home games and forward Mario Hezonja was definitely not happy with it.
“We know that they needed the victory but so do we because we have to be at the level to play,”We have to win games because if we go down now what we have done during the season will be of no use to us. It is a shame what we have done,” said Hezonja per Marca. The Blancos are 4 – 4 during the last eight rounds, including defeats at home to Panathinaikos Athens, Fenerbahce Beko and Baskonia.
On Sunday (31/3) they also fell victims to Manresa in ACB.
There were no actual stakes involved in the game vs. Baskonia for Real Madrid since the defending champions had already secured the first seed two rounds ago with a win at Partizan Belgrade. For Hezonja, this doesn’t excuse the attitude that his team displayed on the court and considers it a warning ahead of the playoffs.
“It’s very bad because we all want to win, we are all winners here,” Hezonja added. “It doesn’t matter if we are first or if we have already qualified for the playoffs, that has already happened. We have to play better, play as a team like last year, because if we don’t we can go home today.”
Baskonia, on the other hand, was almost on a survival mode. Knowning that next week they have to travel to Italy to face Virtus Bologna, the Basque side looked to clinch a spot in the Play-In tournament and avoid any last-round drama.
This is exactly what they did behind 35 points (15 in the last seven minutes) and 7 out of 12 3-pointers by a scorching-hot Markus Howard.
“He’s on a roll and it’s hard to stop him, that’s what he’s been doing all season,” Hezonja commented. “An American like that, when he’s on a roll, not even God can stop him.”
Hezonja was the top contributor for Real Madrid in the game with team-highs 18 points and seven rebounds. As of Round 33, the Croatian player is the team’s leading scorer in the EuroLeague with 13.9 points while also averaging 4.8 rebounds.