Lack of resources and the memory of the Guerrilla help Chusu Mateo achieve an unexpected victory | Relief

If anything is proven real Madrid This is a team that can grow in the face of adversity. And the truth is that What he showed this Sunday against UCAM Murcia (64-85) was the same thing a depleted Real Madrid taught two seasons ago.during the Euroleague playoffs. At that time everything was supposedly against him, but in the end he won that famous match with Partizan. Actually, secret weapon the key to victory at that moment was given to him by the same one that Chus Mateo used this Sunday in the Endesa League. A defensive resource, which, in addition, allowed us to correct one of the mistakes that has plagued White the most this season: rebounding.

Before lack of resources – the absence due to injury of Andres Feliz, Ousmane Garuba and Djanan Musa, who damaged the deltoid ligament of his right ankle, – the absence of Serge Ibake due to the virus and Xavier Ratan-Mayes, who was due to have his first child and he was faced with the fact that, in the words of Chus Mateo himself, “the team is not as long as in previous years”, the coach had to reinvent himself. Or rather use a resource that has already brought great profits in May 2023: zone 2-3.

This protective resource is, first of all, managed to force its rival, UCAM Murcia, to shoot from the outside due to the difficulty of penetration. But it was also a good formula to protect your players from foulssomething key, especially given the lack of resources… and it worked.

“This defense has, let’s say, a danger and it lies in the fact that Murcia understands how to attack this type of defense and its success from outside or in the rebound makes us lose faith in the defense. Murcia sometimes allowed us to doubt whether to take shots or not, they lost a few balls, we were very closed when they shot and this allowed us to gain an advantage, which in the end turned out to be much more comfortable than we thought, here on this field,” explained Chus Mateo himself after the game.

And, in addition, this zone also allowed their team, given the lack of success of UCAM Murcia, to improve another of their negative aspects this season: rebounds. ThisThe Whites finished the match with 42 rebounds (36 on defense) to the 27 that Sito Alonso’s team finished the game with, taking only 6 on offense. This says a lot and speaks well about Real Madrid’s defence.

In fact, the coach of the Murcia team, who also used this zonal defense in last year’s Endesa League playoffs against Unicaja, emphasized that the one proposed by Real Madrid This was not a “normal” area.. Cause? Eddie Tavares, who was close to a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds. “It’s true that The situation changes a lot when they come and spend 37 minutes in the zone, and not the usual one, but with a guy who is 2.20 meters under the basket.and it is true that this has caused unusual failures,” said Sito Alonso.

However, Chus Mateo stressed that the key point was that they played a “smart game”: “We knew that we had victims and we needed to protect ourselves somehow. Being smart when it comes to defense, players interpret it very well. They are extraordinary. Sergi Llull was the best at managing and leading, knowing when to change defense and the rest of his teammates knew where he was going. Abalde helped him and he was really good. All”.