It was a cheat match.

A rival with less pedigree than those who regularly walk through the Euroleague.

And apparently sunk in the table.

But ASVEL Villeurbanne, the last team to hit the WiZink before the pandemic ruined everything last March, was on the full rise.

And so he showed it until Llull said enough.

[91-84: Narration and statistics]

The French team was believed capable of anything and it is no

wonder after plucking Barça and Panathinaikos in a few days

, reborn after a tremulous and bumpy start to the course due to coronavirus infections.

In those two posh wins, he nailed 30 of his 45 3-point attempts.

In the Palace he woke up with nine out of 10 ... and the mistake was in extremis, on the horn of the first act.

Breaking the spell, then, was not an easy task.

Patience and a cool head, because the guys from TJ Parker always seemed to have an ace up their sleeve.

Defense and courage.

Llull and Rudy

.

When Madrid finally reached the shore, with 79-79 with just over four minutes to go, all the Gallic candles were extinguished.

Only the boy from Mahón reigned, the incombustible, the one who took a step forward when Campazzo left.

Another challenge in his voracious career.

Before the blow, the visitor had been a gale of impudence, with

Yabusele as the main threat

.

Madrid stayed in the duel as best they could, with Laso enraged.

Llull's first outburst - three triples in 48 seconds - cut the bloodletting and Garuba did what he could against the giant Fall in the paint, but at halftime the Parker team -Tony, the president, in the box;

TJ, his brother, on the bench.

It was the brilliant appearance of Norris Cole that stretched the rope again (40-50).

Defense was the only secret, breaking in with tanks in the recess in which ASVEL had turned its party in the Palace.

Yabusele returned with a powerful mate, but Madrid raised the bar, trying to put sticks in the French wheels, muddying the battle (51-55).

But as soon as they heard music, the Gauls began to dance, pulling out of the hat all the individual talent of their pieces, unstoppable at times

Cole and David Lighty in one on one

.

Every action, a smile.

Like stabs in white frustration.

Thus the plan, just the heroic one remained.

Those moments of madness in which anything can happen in the Palace.

Always more prone when there is an audience in the stands and, above all, when Llull is on the track.

He and Rudy (

Carroll, touched, was not even on the bench

), specialists in lighting the fuse.

Three consecutive triples from the eternal couple brought Madrid back to life in the blink of an eye (67-70).

There was only one more push left, sweats to finish the job.

But the ASVEL was clearly faltering and the ring that was once an ocean was now the entrance to an anthill.

Tavares had been his death penalty (19 points, six rebounds and four blocks)

, a 15-3 run.

And a beautiful Thompkins basket, less showy than lately, was his highlight.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • ACB League

  • Euroleague

  • basketball

  • sports

Euroleague 2020 - 2021Tavares, the giant that also wins matches for Real Madrid: unstoppable for Zalgiris

Euroleague 2020 - 2021The metamorphosis of Barça: this is the Jasikevicius formula that begins to scare

ACB 2020 - 2021 Causeur to forget Campazzo

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