By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
In Real Madrid‘s latest defeat, Olympiacos stormed the Movistar Arena thanks to a great Fournier. They dominated the match from start to finish and confirmed their status as the best team in the EuroLeague today. The Greek team proved to be better and deserved to win: that’s out of the question.
The game was hot and lasted well beyond 40 minutes. Chus Mateo had to leave after his bench was called with three technical fouls, a situation that caused George Bozikas, assistant of Bartzokas, to comment that the Blancos “play with the referees, were behind on the scoreboard and focused on things that are not basketball,” statements that were answered by Tavares.
And the truth is that the numbers say that the staff members of Olympiacos are right. After four in the last match, Real Madrid have secured a place at the top of the EuroLeague list for technical fouls, leaving behind Anadolu Efes and Panathinaikos, 14 each, with their 21 fouls: 11 for the players, 6 for the bench, and 4 for Chus Mateo.
95% of these techs (20 out of 21) were given when Real Madrid was below or tied on the scoreboard. The only exception came during the game against Panathinaikos when a technical foul was called on Ibaka (scuffle with Yursteven) while Real was leading 32-24. It ended up being a 90-86 victory for Chus Mateo’s team.
How have the technical fouls been for Real Madrid?
The problems of the Blancos with the referees began very early. Facundo Campazzo left the EuroLeague opening match. With 92-89 on the scoreboard, the Argentine left ahead of time after a technical foul and an unsportsmanlike foul (which goes separately) in a game that the Blancos lost to Bayern Munich 97-89, thus starting the tendency to receive technicals when the team is behind and in a game that will end up losing.
With three, the Argentinian is the player of the Blancos who has been called with the most technical fouls: he also received one in the defeat of Real Madrid against Efes (64-74) with 62-69 on the scoreboard and in the victory against Maccabi (116-113), being that the second time in which the technical foul came with a tie on the scoreboard (81-81).
The other time that Real Madrid was called a technical foul without going behind in the score was in the Clasico they won (90-97): with 86-86 on the scoreboard, the white bench was punished for their protests. Except for these two and the one mentioned before about Ibaka, all technical fouls have been when the game was tied or Real Madrid was losing and in a game they ended up losing.
Mario Hezonja and Dzanan Musa are second (when it comes to players) in the Real Madrid ranking with two each. The Croatian was ejected with two technical fouls with 61-72 on the score in the defeat against Fenerbahce (70-82), while the Bosnian was punished with a tech with 69-67 on the scoreboard in the defeat against Baskonia (76-72) and another at 64-83 for Real Madrid against Zalgiris, an anomaly since despite being called with the Blancos below in the score (32-30), Chus Mateo’s team took that match comfortably.
The other players punished with technical fouls are Tavares (in the recent defeat against Olympiacos with 46-57 on the scoreboard), Llull (with 26-41 for Zalgiris in the match that the Lithuanians won 83-92), and Abalde, in the Milan – Real Madrid (85-76), as with the scoreboard showing a 65-55 for the Italians, the Galician was punished with a tech.
However, the record in Real Madrid is awarded to Chus Mateo. The Spanish coach adds up to a total of four technicals: he was sent out with two technical fouls (33-51 and 44-45) in the defeat against Zalgiris (83-92) and also received a technical foul at Real Madrid – Anadolu Efes (with 16-37 on the scoreboard in a match that ended 64-74) and Olympiacos – Real Madrid, a match that ended with a Greek victory (79-69) and whose tech came with 64-62 on the scoreboard.
The other six technical fouls were for the bench: in addition to the already mentioned during the match against Barça, the substitutes of Real Madrid were punished while losing by 6 against Anadolu Efes, losing by 11 against Zalgiris Kaunas and losing by 5, 12 and 10 against Olympiacos, three technical fouls that meant the expulsion of Chus Mateo.