By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A few hours before tipoff, Paris announced that TJ Shorts was ill and would not be able to play against Real Madrid.
Without their leader and leading EuroLeague MVP candidate, Paris tried their best, but Madrid got the 96-85 win and a huge breath of air in the standings race.
Paris is now tied with Monaco on the top of the standings with an 11-5 record, while the “Whites” have improved to 7-9.
Facundo Campazzo with 19 points and six assists led Madrid and Mario Hezonja added 17 points as Madrid got just their second road win this season.
“It is a small step, no more, no less, it’s a small step to improve as a team and everything starts from defense”, said Campazzo.
On the other side, Maodo Lo scored 30 points and Nadir Hifi had 21.
Madrid holding on until the end
Real Madrid opened up the game with a 26-17 lead after the first period and built momentarily a 10-point advantage (29-19) thanks to a three by Mario Hezonja.
However, Paris managed to trim the lead to one point (37-36), but Madrid managed to push the lead back to 10 (48-38) and closed the first half leading by four (52-48) as Maodo Lo scored at the buzzer to trim the lead for the hosts and got 14 points in 12 minutes.
The dogfight continued with Paris getting momentarily a 53-52 lead, but Madrid leading 70-67 at the end of the third period and having a two-point advantage (80-78) with four minutes left.
However, Madrid closed the game with a 10-2 run (90-80) in the next three minutes and got the job done.
Photo credit: EuroLeague