Real Madrid-Paris Basketball: first opportunity to make the playoff
Chus Mateo's will be into the knockout rounds with a win in tonight's Play-In at the Movistar Arena (9:00 pm CEST)
Real Madrid face Paris Basketball in tonight's EuroLeague Play-In. The single-game tie takes place at the Movistar Arena, and represents our team's first chance to book a place in the playoff. A win this evening means they'll face Fenerbahce in the next round. Defeat, and they'll have to play again on Friday, still on home turf, against the winner of Bayern Munich-KK Crvena zvezda for another bite at the cherry.
Chus Mateo's boys come into another decisive clash in their best form of the campaign. They've won all six of their last Regular Season games, 12 in a row if we count the domestic league. That run began back on 9 March against UCAM Murcia and continued as they beat Virtus, Baskonia, Asvel, Unicaja, Milan, KK Crvena zvezda, Bilbao Basket, Paris Basketball, Barcelona, Partizan and La Laguna Tenerife.
Up the other end tonight will be one of the tournament's surprise packages. Paris Basketball ended the Regular Season in eighth place, with just one win fewer than Madrid, but were hovering around the top of the table for large parts of the campaign. They boast a distinctive and dangerous style of basketball, played at an immense pace with short possessions, plus impressive numbers from three and on the offensive rebound. TJ Shorts, Hifi, Ward and Jantunen are their standout men. The key tonight will be focus, and an ability to match their intensity, without rushing things up top.
Superiority inside
The only previous head-to-heads between the two outfits are the two wins for the madridistas this season. The most recent, on 3 April at the Movistar Arena, 105-104. In that clash, our boys' efforts on the inside made the difference, with Tavares, Ibaka and Hezonja (70 PIR between the three of them) all delivering superb displays. It will again be on the inside where Real Madrid must make their superiority pay, especially since they boast the recently-crowned MVP for March and April in their ranks. Bruno Fernando will also be back from injury following his exploits in the win over Tenerife with a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds). It's shaping up to be a big European night at the Movistar Arena.