By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
With three games left, Real Madrid secured the top spot in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings. After a dominant start to the season, nothing less was expected.
Chus Mateo’s players clinched first place in style, taking down Partizan Mozzart Bet in the packed Belgrade’s Stark Arena with a convincing 76-88 final score to improve their record to 25-6.
Mario Hezonja had a great game for the winning team. He scored 25 points on 5/6 shooting from beyond the arc, five rebounds, and four assists for a game-high Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 31.
“We finally scored some tough shots, but the most important thing is we went on the run and finally got some defensive stops. This team is extremely talented and good on offense, so that helped us, and thanks to God, we got the win in the end,” Hezonja said after the match.
Gabriel Deck followed with 13 points, while Guerschon Yabusele and Fabien Causeur added 10 points each.
Frank Kaminsky led the charge for Partizan with 19 points but went scoreless in the decisive period, while James Nunnally and Kevin Punter followed with 16 points each. Aleksa Avramovic also finished in double digits, scoring 10 points.
It was a close game until the final three minutes of the third period when Real Madrid took off and finished the quarter with a 16-0 run. Partizan tried to climb back but couldn’t really threaten the guests’ lead, and pretty soon, it was obvious that Real Madrid would secure their 25th win of the regular season and clinch first place in the standings before the playoffs.
Key stats: Real Madrid’s four turnovers
After the game, Real Madrid’s head coach, Chus Mateo, emphasized that his side turned over the ball just four times over 20 points, translating to an impressive 5.75 assists-to-turnovers ratio.
“We turned over the ball only four times, which is very important. When we control the rebounds, limit turnovers, and control the rhythm, that is good for us, and I think we can achieve great things this season. It wasn’t easy to beat them; they are fighting for a playoff spot, and they have a strong desire to get there. We remained patient until the moment we broke the game open. We scored 55 points in the second half. We started a bit slowly but then began to score from the outside. Although we allowed some three-pointers from their big guys, we were effective in one-on-one situations, which we need to continue doing,” Mateo said.
Partizan’s head coach, Zeljko Obradovic, was brief in his comments after the match, tipping his hat to the Real Madrid team.
“They played better than us in the second half, scoring a lot of three-point shots. Hezonja had an amazing game, and congratulations to Real Madrid; once again, they showed they are an incredibly good team,” Obradovic said after his team fell to 14-17 with three rounds left in the regular season.
Photo: euroleaguebasketball.net