Real Madrid achieves its goal in the Euroleague against Luka Doncic

Real Madrid did not falter in one of the season’s culminating moments, on the final day of the Euroleague, and stood strong at the Movistar Arena, where they have only suffered one defeat this season. Sergio Scariolo’s team delivered a great performance on their home court, securing their eighteenth victory (103-82) against Crvena Zvezda, which guarantees them third place and gives them a chance at second if Valencia loses this Friday in Bosnia against Dubai.

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Real Madrid always steps confidently at the Movistar Arena. There they have laid the foundation of their Euroleague season, where they are practically unbeatable. The white team has only lost one game, and that was five months ago. Thursday’s game was especially important: a win on the last day guaranteed them third place, and statistics show that 81% of teams with home-court advantage, the reward for the top four, reach the Final 4.

The problem was that they faced Crvena Zvezda, who had chances to enter the playoff spots and avoid the play-in. Sasa Obradovic’s team knew how to play against Madrid for many minutes, causing many turnovers, with a great intimidator under the basket like Joel Bolomboy, and exploiting the white team’s defensive lapses, which allowed many easy shots that Crvena Zvezda took advantage of to flood the basket from the 6.75m line (eight three-pointers in the first minutes).

Tyson Carter was a coat wrapping Facundo Campazzo, and Jordan Nwora outperformed Mario Hezonja and anyone who stood in front of him on offense. With all that, Madrid felt very sluggish, which hurt them on the scoreboard (19-25). Until the white awakening came, improving on the rebound, another weakness, and with good minutes from Trey Lyles and Theo Maledon, they revived on offense. The defense increased its intensity, and with Sergio Scariolo’s team on the rise, Campazzo returned to do his thing and finish accelerating Madrid. The beacon of the eleven-time European champion led his team to their maximum lead (56-44 at halftime) after a basket that the Argentine dedicated, winking, to Luka Doncic, a confessed Madrid fan, sitting in the stands due to the injury that has kept him off the courts alongside tennis legend Novak Djokovic, who suffered seeing Crvena Zvezda below.

Real Madrid again bled on the boards in the second half. Crvena Zvezda survived in the game thanks to those second chances. Scariolo experienced those tougher minutes calmly, keeping Campazzo safely on the bench to keep him fresh for when the alarm sounded and he had to finish the game. And if the South American winked at Doncic at the end of the second quarter, Sergio Llull went to high-five the Lakers player after his umpteenth three-pointer to close the third quarter with a very favorable score for his team (77-63).

Crvena Zvezda increasingly struggled to contain the dam that Lyles and Maledon began to break, scoring and drawing fouls from their defenders. Like Usman Garuba, who always delivers in the minutes Scariolo calls on him. Real Madrid ended up dismantling their rival, who finished without arguments against a much superior opponent.

Thursday’s round saw Baskonia lose at Partizan Belgrade’s court (91-79), led by Spaniard Joan Peñarroya, despite another good game from Guinean Mamadi Diakité (20 points and six rebounds). The one who did not fail was Olympiacos, who closed the regular season as leader with 26 wins after beating Milan (85-76).

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