By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
When the two titans of European sports collide, chances are that something memorable will happen. That was the case in Real Madrid’s 97-90 win over Barcelona after two overtimes.
It doesn’t get more epic than that as Madrid has just a 6-6 record and Barcelona dropped to 8-4 in the standings of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Facundo Campazzo with 18 points, 10 assists, and five rebounds, plus dominant Edy Tavares with 24 points and 18 rebounds were the stars of the show, while Mario Hezonja added 24 points for the winning side.
“This is the “Clasico”, you never know what’s going to happen so we gave everything and we got to fight, it’s like this all year”, said Tavares after the game.
Kevin Punter with 27 points and Jan Vesely with 20 had a big night, which was not enough for the Catalans.
“We never surrendered, we were always there and we were able to comeback when things were not good for us, so we are going to enjoy it today because that was our first road win”, said Madrid coach Chus Mateo after the game.
A real “Clasico”
Everyone expected a fight and nobody was disappointed in this aspect. Despite a 17-8 start for Madrid, Barcelona reacted, cut the lead to five at the end of the first period (22-17), and was up by four at halftime (38-34).
At the end of the third, however, after a Hezonja’s three, Madrid had the 54-52 lead, with the Croatian forward already having 19 points.
The score was tied at 61 after a three by Jan Vesely with five minutes left, and everything was possible. Alberto Abalde scored another three (64-61), giving Madrid the lead back.
Still, with two minutes left, all were tied again at 66 thanks to Jabari Parker’s first three-pointer of the game.
With the game on the line, Abalde missed twice, Punter was fouled on a three-point attempt and made three free throws (69-66) and with 52 seconds left, Tavares with a goal-foul made it a one-point game (70-69) after one made free throw by Vesely.
Punter missed, but Jabari Parker stole the ball in the next play, leading to two made free throws by Punter (72-69) with 20 seconds left. Τavares again made it a one-point game (72-71), Parker made two free throws (74-71) and Campazzo with a big three tied it all (74-74) with one second left.
Jabari Parker had one last shot but he missed it, Dzanan Musa missed the chance to win the game in the first overtime which ended up tied at 84 but at the end of the night it was all Madrid.
Despite a 90-89 lead of Barcelona entering the last two minutes of the second overtime, Madrid closed the night with an 8-0 run, securing a valuable win.
Photo credit: EuroLeague