Dynamic Madrid will get rid of Virtus in the second half | Basketball | Sport
Real started in the third quarter, stepped up the game and got rid of Virtus de Bologna (98-86) without any problems. The defense, which was very cheerful in the first half, leaving the Bolognese with many options, became a little more serious in the continuation, although not too serious, and this was enough to win without any problems. The final score could have been much higher for the Whites, who were one basket away from a hundred points, but in the last three minutes they relaxed and conceded a partial score of 0–10, which reduced the Italians’ performance.
Despite the bad omens of the first break, which saw players left cold after a clock failure, both teams were immediately at cruising speed with an entertaining first half that pointed to a long score late in the game. Defense was not the best strength of both teams in the first 20 minutes, which was no doubt appreciated by the crowd, but perhaps not so much by the coaches.
Locker room instructions are a state secret, but you only have to watch how teams play to more or less guess what coaches demand from their players, so it’s immediately clear that Chus Mateo asked his players to use more of the aerial potential of Eddie Tavares, who can stick his head out above the clouds in attacking moves, so Real Madrid players looked for their teammate with immediate effect. At Virtus, Luca Banca’s motto was to give the ball to Tornike Shengelia, who seemed to be seeded.
It was only when the Georgian player was spun in the middle of the third set that the sources that gave life to “Virtus” dried up. Despite the elegance of Belinelli and the professional efficiency of Cordinier and Clyburn, the Italians were unable to follow the dynamic rhythm of Real Madrid, set up from the very beginning and with that acceleration at the opportune moment when they demonstrated their maximum cubicity.
The white team dominated the rebounds, collected a lot of balls in attack and gave second and even third chances to their bombers, who, having successfully shot from the outside (15 of 35 triples), were able to use various variations of their game. , because they also snuck under the basket. Ratan-Meyes and above all Hezonja were inspired by this shot and it is clear that when Real Madrid are at a good level, few teams can match them and Virtus was no exception on the day when Sergio Lull reached the 1100 games mark. with Real and was three points behind the round figure of 4000 in the Euroleague. He still has many games left to reach and surpass.
At the Buesa Arena, Baskonia lost after a very even match against Anadolu Efes (84-89). In the last game, they had the opportunity to go to overtime, but the referees saw a foul in Moneke’s attack with six seconds left, and the Turkish team was punished from the free throw line.