The leaders defeat Joventut for their 7th consecutive victory in the League
Real Madrid
FinishedJoventut Badalona
Real Madrid remain top of the table after beating Penya thanks to a 26-7 run in the last 7 minutes with Dennis Smith Jr. making his debut.
The next match for Real Madrid offers an opportunity to reach the Copa del Rey as leader. The Whites remain top of the Endesa League thanks to victory over Joventut at the Movistar Arena, the seventh consecutive victory in the league, in an even game that was decided thanks to a 26-7 partial in the last 7 minutes. Musa, with 21 points and PIR of 25, led a team in which Feliz, Llull and Hezonja and Tavares also reached double digits in PIR. Dennis Smith Jr. made his debut with the team, while Campazzo was a last-minute absence due to his recent paternity.
Real Madrid started well, dictating a high tempo in the first 5 minutes. Great attacking play orchestrated by Feliz, with Musa (9 points) and Garuba scoring (6 and 3 rebounds), a defense giving nothing away on the rebounds all combined to double Penya’s points tally with the scoreboard at 15-7. The visitors looked for solutions from the bench and found one in Dekker, who with 7 points without missing responded in a first quarter in which Dennis Smith Jr. made his debut and also got his first triple (22-20).
Improvements in the second quarter
Madrid's scoring had slowed down. Less accurate shooting and less solid in offensive rebounding, allowed Joventut to take the lead, with the Dotson-Tomic pairing prominent. At that point, Chus Mateo had already used all 12 of his players but the team could not recover the rhythm from the start of the game and points came infrequently with several dunks by Bruno Fernando (6 points and 3 rebounds). It was in the last two minutes of the second quarter, with the return of Musa (adding 5 points to his 16 in the first quarter) and the entrance of Ibaka, when our team got an 8-2 partial to go from 32-37 to 40-39 before the break.
The game sped up in a third quarter full of mistakes and slip-ups by both teams. Madrid became more aggressive in defense, led by Feliz and Tavares. They continued to score from free throws, which were particularly successful today. On the other hand, Joventut replied with three-pointers from Hanga, Vives and Robertson. The final quarter was reached with both teams on 58 points.
Madrid finish strongly
The visitors came out better in the final period, especially in shooting terms. Two three-pointers by Robertson gave his team the lead at 60-66 (min. 33). A tricky situation that the leaders knew how to manage. Things were not going well, but they upped the aggressiveness. Tavares shut down the zone (with great help from Feliz) and Llull, Abalde and Hezonja appeared in attack. Between the three of them, they scored a decisive run of 26-7 in the last 7 minutes, which decided the game and left the visitors without a response (86-73, min. 40).