Madrid’s infamous first half dooms them to defeat | Basketball | Sport

Real Madrid could not overcome their infamous start and lost to Efes on WiZink (64-74). He eventually paid for his original sin when fatigue disarmed Hezonja, Tavares and Campazzo, who played every minute of the comeback. A counterattack would have changed everything at 62-63, White’s first chance to take the lead after an initial 2-0 lead, but Thompson blocked Hezonja’s layup that would have changed the momentum of the game. Madrid got stuck there and gave up.

Facundo Campazzo summarized the first part in three words: “We did shit.” It’s hard to explain it better. 25-47 on the Anadolu Efes scoreboard, 22 points behind after losing by 27. A complete disaster in many aspects, the most serious of which is the blow from the outside. Only one attempt out of 17 was successful; losses increased. Everything was bad, Madrid was bleeding from many wounds. Thompson screwed Campazzo, Poirier, a wedge from the same wood, and became a master of painting. There was not enough energy, there was too much rainfall.

The second half was different, Madrid could have changed everything in a fit of fury and class, but the spark did not ignite and Efes won. WiZink wanted to believe in an epic comeback, another one of those magical evenings that Madrid fans spend more as a habit than a sporadic gift, but in the end they emptied the stands because that last exciting minute, which was intuitive, which didn’t lead to. Last season also brought to mind the spectacular battle between the Spaniards and the Turks in the longest game in the history of the Euroleague with four overtimes.

It all started with a triple from Sergio Lull, who joined four players with more than 4,000 EuroLeague points (4,002), making it 61-63, which again opened the game with 4.50 left. Efes failed in their efforts and Madrid began to falter in the next game when the captain scored only one free kick. He could have dealt a psychological blow to Efes in a draw, but they were separated by one point. The Turks suffered a setback in the next play, Hezonja running alone towards the basket, but Thompson was just as quick and struck with power and cleanliness to avoid Madrid’s penultimate chance to take the lead. The last one was on the next throw-in. Real failed, Willis scored three (62–66) to end Madrid’s hopes, the players were exhausted from the effort and made poor decisions that prevented them from coming back.

At the Buesa Arena, Baskonia lost to Monaco (75-87) after a dismal first half in which the Vitorian’s team became very small. Their attempts to come back in the second half were unsuccessful.