Lucas Sáez-Bravo

Updated Thursday, March 21, 2024-22:46

  • Classification This is the Euroleague

There is no guy in Europe with such talent. Perhaps none with such an unfathomable personality either. The genius is

Mario Hezonja

. It is very likely that next year he will not wear white, that he will leave Real Madrid where he has achieved that plenitude promised so many times. But until that moment, there remain his exhibits. He will be remembered and also missed. In Belgrade he was majestic. Like two days before in Berlin. Two victories that also certify the obvious:

Chus Mateo

's team will be the best team of the regular season, from start to finish and with a record of victories now (25) with three games remaining. [76-88: Narration and statistics]

In three days, Hezonja scored 47 points, 25 only at the Stark Arena, where he did everything, disguising himself as the leader that he is not always, being the transcendental thing that everyone knows he is capable of. He infected his teammates and annulled

Zeljko Obradovic

's group , who fell to the canvas at the end of the third act and was no longer able to get up even though Madrid really didn't have much at stake.

How different from what happened 10 months ago, with lives at stake for both in those Euroleague quarterfinals. So much passion that everything had overflowed into the WiZink, that shameful fight and all its consequences. This time Madrid arrived at the Stark Arena with the calm of someone who has already done their homework, with the prudence of someone who knows that now is not the time to force the machine. Quite the opposite of Partizan, in the midst of a battle to sneak into the positions of the new

Euroleague

play in and with a nail-biting reception for

Yabusele

.

In Chus Mateo

's team

, this difference in intensity was mainly reflected in the offense, more mistakes than usual, less fluid rotation, grayer ideas. It compensated with the defensive effort and Partizan was not able to take advantage either, despite the fact that the whites only scored four baskets (of 27 attempts) in the first 14 minutes. The tone was equality, with more prominence than usual for

Carlos Alocén

, with a somewhat weak

Campazzo

, affected by that stomach virus that has left half the squad affected (none of the three veterans,

Rudy, Chacho and Llull, traveled to the tour

and Dzanan Musa did not play this time either

). And even with the appearance of youth player

Hugo González

in the rotation.

ANDREJ CUKICEFE

Everything came alive when they returned from the locker room, both of them freed from their corsets, their wrists freed. The return was a powerful exchange, with

Frank Kaminsky

and Mario Hezonja as protagonists, two guys who have not been seen in the NBA for a long time. The center hammered from the perimeter with no one to follow his trail. The Croatian, with points, rebounds and assists, took responsibility for Madrid to remain in the gap and more, as a sudden 0-16 gave him, with Campazzo also waking up, a lustrous advantage for the first time (54-68). It was an unusual final three minutes, Partizan on the ground, Madrid electric, which was going to score more points in that third act than in the entire first half. A little while that was going to be key.

It was a technical knockout. Because the start of the final quarter did not serve to wake up the Serbians. A triple by Hezonja, already completely unleashed, extended the set (2-21) and the feeling of superiority in the hell of the Stark Arena. The duel was over, everyone surrendered to the unapproachable genius of Mario Hezonja (five of six in triples, six rebounds, four assists...) for Madrid's fourth consecutive away victory, clearing up any hint of crisis.