The magic of Facundo Campazzo upset the Euroleague leader, Monaco, in the WiZink (94-72). The Argentine point guard teamed up with Usman Garuba to complete a magnificent first half that brought back the sensations to a Real Madrid that had not quite found itself. But this time they enjoyed playing at stratospheric speed to dismast the Monegasques.
Campazzo’s direction and his incredible assists from behind or under his legs, fired the white team that had all the gears working, with Musa and Deck converted into piledrivers. At halftime the difference was already 18 points (53-35), but the best thing was the joy with which Chus Mateo’s team played.
The second half confirmed what had happened in the first. Madrid did not lose freshness and Monaco did not know where they were moving. Mike James, Jordan Loyd and their team played without soul against a team that reached the end of the third quarter with a 30-point difference (77-47).
The last partial was left as an inventory. With Campazzo on the bench, satisfied with the duty fulfilled, Madrid’s intensity dropped one point and Monaco tried to disguise the result, although the inertia of the entire match did not allow the reaction to go much further.
Baskonia receives a beating in Athens (104-69)
Baskonia received an unmitigated beating (104-69) at the Oaka. It was given to them by Panathinaikos, who played with the Vitorians as if they were children, or Pancho Villa’s army playing a party to celebrate the taking of Chihuahua. Not even the shocking injury of Mathias Lessort, who broke his ankle and left the hot Athenian pavilion frozen, distracted the Greeks, because Hernangómez continued scoring triples through tears and Sloukas, who hid his head in his hands, continued to lead his team with the ease that was missing from a stunned Baskonia from the first quarter.
It was in that period in which the Vitorian disaster was forged. Kendrick Nunn began to score for his team with the same regularity with which Baskonia lost balls, and the abyss opened at the feet of Pablo Laso’s men, until the first ten minutes ended at 33-12. Although the game was balanced in the second set, the die was already cast. The distance at half-time decreased (53-35), but not the feeling that Baskonia was a weak team facing a rock. Not even Lessort’s injury slowed down the locals, who continued with their performance until they surpassed a hundred points against a very poor rival.
