Euroleague Qualifying
With a heavy heart, like a tightrope walker on the wire, but Real Madrid is still alive.
These are their new times, marked by circumstances, by the lack of reinforcements, by survival.
He has gone from being the favorite to win the Euroleague to a team that sweats to get into the top eight, although in those crosses that he already caresses he will be feared.
Because he now has them
within a shot of a victory in the three remaining days
, because he escaped from Villeurabanne with a triumph of sheer agony.
[71-74: Narration and statistics]
Against a rival who did not play anything, it is true, and who was plagued with casualties, but who fought him until the final honk.
The French enjoyed up to two triples to send the shock to extra time, to lengthen the anguish.
At last, Kahudi was completely liberated.
Because
Pablo Laso's
team had not been able to
close the night earlier, with little success and many losses.
It was a triple from Abalde -assuming responsibility-, the Galician's third without failure, which seemed to end the duel.
But Madrid still had to row more, until the edge of the final sigh.
He soon realized that he was going to suffer.
Because walking over the abyss always brings vertigo, especially if the guys who juggled in this type of situation are lacking.
The absences of Llull and Rudy
not only affect basketball itself.
His experience in these areas makes a difference.
And Thursday in Lyon was (almost) a final.
After the first tactical scramble, with Madrid waking up in the zone with a very physical quintet in which Garuba of three appeared, it didn't take long for Laso's team to wander uncomfortably.
The first symptoms, as always, coincided with
Tavares' first break
.
There the team of TJ Parker - Tony's brother, who is the owner - took the reins, with Heurtel's gaze from the stands, his current teammates (he cannot play in the Euroleague) and the next ones.
The whites could not find the triples and lost more balls than advisable.
ASVEL came to command with ease (33-25).
The click occurred around the dressing room.
With the most solid Laprovittola of recent times and a
Garuba who was an absolute leader
.
In a battle that demanded physicality, the 18-year-old boy dominated her, omnipresent, inexhaustible and even brazen this time.
He bounced, stole and scored.
And it was key in the visitor pull, which also coincided with the irruption of Carroll, that bullet in Laso's chamber.
A 4-18 that gave oxygen to Madrid and that calmed the local momentum.
But the battle was not resolved.
The fourth of Tavares once again jammed Madrid, which lives with a brutal dependence on the giant.
ASVEL came to the fore (10-2 partial) with
a toned Norris Cole
.
And only in the final game of poker, with mistakes here and there, could the whites breathe.
On Tuesday they receive Efes and can seal their mathematical classification, minimum objective.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Madrid
Real Madrid
Sergio Llull
sports
Euroleague 2020 - 2021Neither pride nor Tavares avoid frustration: Barça reign again in Madrid
Soccer The hidden vexations of the former women's soccer coach: "He pinched my ass and said: 'Do you know how roosters fertilize chickens?'
"
ACB 2020 - 2021 Burgos meets a record Tavares
See links of interest
2021 business calendar
Spain - Greece, live
Asvel Villeurbanne - Real Madrid
Valencia Basket - FC Bayern Munich