Cwith extreme suffering, Real Madrid took home the victory from bottom club ASVEL (76-77). The whites accused the absences of Hezonja, Rudy, Deck and Yabusele and only winners were seen with the final horn after Llull would miss a free kick so that the Gauls’ possession would run out. The madridistas sweated blood, that of Musa’s lip and that of Tavares’s eyebrowbut the agony is enough for them seal the best first round in the history of the Euroleague with the current format (16-1).
Technical sheet
- 76 – ASVEL Villeurbanne (19+20+18+19): Lee (17), Luwawu-Cabarrot (20), Kahudi (5), Lauvergne (16), Fall (4) -initial team-, Scott (10), Jackson (-), Egbunu (4) and Lighty (-).
- 77 – Real Madrid (18+15+18+26): Campazzo (6), Causeur (9), Musa (10), Ndiaye (-), Tavares (16) -starting team-, Diagne (-), Abalde ( 7), Gonzlez (-), Poirier (17) and Llull (9).
- referees: Piotr Pastusiak (POL), Jurgis Laurinavicius (LIT) and Huseyin Celik (TUR). They eliminated the local Fall (min.37) and Luwawu-Cabarrot (min.40) with five fouls. Unsportsmanlike fouls were awarded to the visitors Campazzo (min.18) and Ndiaye (min.19)
- Incidents: matchday 17 of the Euroleague played at the Ldlc Arena in Lyon (France).
Chus Mateo He had already warned of the danger of the encounter and even more so with the casualties. He had to make bobbin lace to compensate for the absences: many minutes for Ndiayethe only healthy ‘4’ who lived a master’s degree before the experience of Lauvergne, Abalde acting as power forward and playing one of his best games of the season, the youth squad Hugo González already playing in the first quarter, Tavares and Poirier sharing the court… and being decisive: 16+12 for the first, 17+7 for the second and a devastating 33+19 rebounds and 47 rating between the two.
The two giants and their combination with Sergio Rodríguez was decisive in a move from Madrid that seemed decisive. The whites suffered for three quarters, thick in aesthetics, uncomfortable inside and without toe on the outside (5/15 in triples). ASVEL put up a very physical duel and, given the visitors’ losses, attacked the paint to climb on the beard of the intractable leader of the Euroleague (13-4 and 37-28 maximums)but without Falltheir colossus loaded with fouls, the Madridistas saw the sky open.
At the start of the last quarter, eight straight points and four rebounds from Poirier in just 2:24 started a devastating 2-19 partial. I am behind him Tavares, who in that section was also decisive in defense even further from the rim than usual. Always, finding the towers, Chacho’s passes, much better than Campazzo on this occasion.
Luwawu-Cabarrot rises to the ASVEL
Madrid, after a busy afternoon, found themselves 59-70 with three minutes remainingbut that was not over. Luwawu-Cabarrot (20 points) ASVEL was put on his shoulders and the Gauls came to tie at 74 after a basket by Lee (17 points). Tavares put the whites ahead again and then the locals managed the end poorly. First they took a long time to score a foul after a mistake by Luwawu-Cabarrot and later they scored two when they needed a triple at 74-77 after two errors by Campazo from the free kick.
With two seconds left, Llull also missed one, the first. The second one he threw to fail so that between the fight for the rebound and the advance to the basket, the possession of the ASVEL, who have not won any of their nine home games. This is how Madrid won a very difficult victory in which the bottom team, taking advantage of the absences, almost played a trick on them. In the end, a historic 16-1 for the whites.
