Once upon a time there was a player without an antidote, so lethal that not even facing him on warning is enough. An individual domain like that of Shane Larkin, unstoppable in the Palace, is not remembered in Europe. His nth exhibition led to the fourth career loss for a Real Madrid that January has made him lose his way. [75-80: Narration and statistics]

The little devil came after three days of wonder - three consecutive MVPs, something unprecedented - and no one was able to contain him, resources for each defensive approach, lethal from triple and brave in penetrations. He finished with 32 points (19 in the second part) , almost half that of his entire team, an Efes who on the back of Larkin feels all-powerful. Neither all the white ardor nor the full strength of the stands were sufficient. The leader escapes stronger and Pablo Laso's group sinks a little more in his own pothole after losing at home for the first time in Euroleague since May, only days after Baskonia also took the WiZink in ACB.

It seemed that there was nothing better to break the bad inertia than a game of high flights, of those who return to shoot the pulsations as if a recess of the Mortirolo was treated. Because the proclaimed Efes is no longer just a conjunction of stars. To the coup book and the flashes of his undisputed talents, with Larkin at the helm, they have added a serious team entity - Ergin Ataman's work - from which no one would be surprised that there by May will lift the first Euroleague in its history.

Decisive Pleiss

As if wanting to jump from the heart-based mini crisis, Madrid set the pace above all else, the road map so as not to fall into the recent bad memories of this strange start of the year. He woke up resoundingly (14-5) with that warrior as silent as effective that is Deck of power forward and Carroll, so layered lately, headline. And there came the first response of the Efes, without half measures despite the short rotation without Micic or Dunston .

Larkin, how could it be otherwise, as the beginning and end of everything that happens in the Ataman collective, although without the point of selfishness that is usually the evil spread in those of its kind. The second quarter repeated the script: white squeeze, with the traditional impetus of Llull and Rudy and the effectiveness of Mickey; and Ottoman response, without shaking an apex, the solidity of the leader.

Obviously, he needed something else. As simple as reuniting with his basketball, because before such an opponent only good intentions are not worth it. In that attempt, the intensity rose to the point that the battle reached desperate levels very soon. And, with such talent and equality on the parquet, it was a delight, with Madrid leaving everything - Thompkins's great third quarter - to disrupt the Larkin effect, a permanent headache that kills at the slightest clue and planted in the final act with 21 points and four assists.

Now it was the local who struggled to return and for that he needed the success. With three triples, two consecutive of Llull, he revived the Ottoman maximum (55-64), clinging to the duel as only Madrid knows. It seemed that there was an outcome of those epics in which the Palace vibrates, in which even the impossible happen.

But Madrid was one span away, to which the revolution was not enough this time. When he was closer, Pleiss, the other protagonist of the duel by the visiting party , dealt a painful stab, a triple almost at the end of the possession that froze the atmosphere, when the whites rode with the wind in favor of the comeback. Then came the lace of Larkin, who left the WiZink with the feeling that a hurricane had passed.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Real Madrid
  • Pablo Laso Biurrún
  • Europe
  • sports

Euroleague 2019 - 2020The curse continues in Moscow: end of the Real Madrid streak in Euroleague

Euroleague 2019 - 2020 Shane Larkin, the great base that dominates Europe with exhibits as they don't remember

ACB 2019 - 2020 Anthony Randolph, the ultimate transformation of the man who never smiles