By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Both Thomas Heurtel and Ante Tomic notched a double-double as they led Barcelona Lassa to a 77-70 home win over Real Madrid in Round 24 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Heurtel banked a double-double with 17 points and ten assists followed by Tomic’s double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds. Kyle Kuric added 15 points.
For Real Madrid, Rudy Fernandez scored 15 in addition to Jaycee Carroll’s ten points. Anthony Randolph flirted with a double-double, banking 12 points and nine boards.
Heurtel had a great start by scoring the first seven points of Barcelona which held a minimal led at the end of the first quarter (18-17). Then they faced a bit of an offensive crisis and Real Madrid used that to create a 12-3 run and go ahead 29-21 midway through the second period. However, Tomic stepped up for Barcelona as they quickly turned the tables banking 21 points – of which Tomic scored eight – in five minutes and went on the break with a 42-37 advantage.
“I think we did a lot of good things, globally, but also made a lot of mistakes and they punished us. At the end of the game, we were able to fight back but we were always a little bit behind. I am not very happy, of course, because of the defeat, but we have to get some good points out of this game to learn for the future. We are still in the situation in which we are looking for the home-court advantage in the playoffs. We have six games left and have to keep fighting to get that position”, Real Madrid coach Pablo Laso noted.
Both sides put on strong defense after the halftime rest and although Barcelona had a 50-39 lead, Anthony Randolph’s seven points sparked Real’s comeback as they cut the lead to 56-51 in front of the final period. However, Real couldn’t find their shooting groove in the final quarter, especially from deep, while Barca gradually increased the lead with Heurtel’s triple for 67-54 lead being the dagger from which Real Madrid couldn’t recover although they came dangerously close (75-70).
Coach Svetislav Pesic was very happy with his players: “Not only did we win the game, but we hope to play many more games like that in the Spanish League and the EuroLeague. Congratulations to my players for their game tonight. I cannot find the words to congratulate my players for the way they played tonight. Some may think we play against Madrid and it is always important. For us, this game was an important one to improve our place in the standings and try to make it to the playoffs.”
Barcelona improved to 15-9 tying with Efes at the fifth spot while Real Madrid stayed at the third spot with an 18-6 record.