By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After winning against Virtus Bologna at home in the Play-In Showdown, Chima Moneke-less Baskonia was coming to Madrid with high hopes of escaping satisfied from the WiZink Center.
However, this wasn’t the case as Real Madrid pushed from the early beginning until the final 90-74 victory against Dusko Ivanovic’s team, going up 1-0 in their best-of-five series in the EuroLeague Playoffs.
Against the Basque side, Dzanan Musa shone with the team’s high 16-point scoring performance, also collecting 3 assists and 3 rebounds. “Finishing 1st in this EuroLeague is tough, all praise to my guys and teammates. We tried to make a statement in this first game, we will try to keep pushing”, he said.
The powerful center duo composed of Walter Tavares (8 points and 7 rebounds) and Vincent Poirier (10 points and 7 rebounds) also made their presence felt at the rim.
Sergio Llull became the all-time leader in three-point shots in EuroLeague history with 624 three-pointers made. “It’s amazing to pass a legend like [Juan Carlos] Navarro. I’m really happy, but I’m happier about the win. The most important thing is that we put a 1-0 in the series. I’m really proud of my career”, he commented.
“We did a good job, we played with energy. We were able to allow them not such a high percentage in threes. Baskonia is a very tough team, second game will be totally different: we will have to be aware of this”, Chus Mateo added.
Despite shooting 3/9 from beyond the arc, Markus Howard still led Baskonia with 15 points in the loss. Adding 14 points each, Matt Costello and Nikos Rogkavopoulos followed the American guard, who previously erupted in the Play-In. Codi Miller-McIntyre had 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.
“Tiredness doesn’t exist, it’s not an excuse. I think this night we didn’t have aggressivity, what we needed against a team like Madrid. They played very easily. This is difficult, but let’s see in the next game”, Dusko Ivanovic said after the defeat.
Complete domination from the reigning champions
With an early exchange of three-pointers, it looked like a high-scoring game since the beginning. Codi Miller-McIntyre brought Baskonia down by two points (13-12) at 5:36 on the clock, while Dzanan Musa gave Real Madrid a first ten-point lead (21-11) at 4:32 on the clock.
The reigning champions escaped thanks to a 10-point run for the 17-point lead (42-25) in the second quarter, but Baskonia replied with a 7-0 run forcing Chus Mateo’s timeout with 3:01 left. At halftime, Madrid was leading 48-37.
With back-to-back three-pointers, Dzanan Musa basically wrote the word end to the encounter extending the lead to 19 points (59-40) in the beginning of the third. Markus Howard banked in from deep but Madrid still led 70-53 to close the ten minutes.
Baskonia tried to enter once back in the conversation in the fourth quarter, but Sergio Llull pulled up one of his usual “Mandarinas” for the 22-point lead (84-62) at 3:42 minutes left. Chus Mateo’s team’s victory was never in doubt.
After this home victory, Real Madrid will try to go at it again in two days time, playing in the WiZink Center on April 25 at 21:00 CET. Baskonia won’t have the crucial contribution of Chima Moneke, once again.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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