Real Madrid’s defeat against Panathinaikos had many faces. Neither Tavares was the dominant man in the paint on other occasions nor did Campazzo control the pace of the match while Sloukas hammered the white ring, nor were there any miracles on the part of Llull or Rudy this time. But it was Mario Hezonja who took personal responsibility for the missed opportunity and for his individual performance. “The defeat was entirely my fault, I have lost a very important title for my team. Absolutely. It is the truth and it must be said as it is. In basketball, if you don’t score baskets you’re not going anywhere. You can talk about defenses and all this shit that seems very nice for the internet, but if you don’t put in, you can’t do anything. Today I lost a very important title for my club. I always speak from the heart. “Great players win tournaments,” said the Croatian forward into the microphones of Onda Cero.
Hezonja, decisive in other events, finished the match with eight points, eight rebounds and one assist, but above all with a sequence of one success in seven attempted triples that stopped the whites in the second half. In the midst of the growth of Sloukas and Panathinaikos, the Croatian insisted time and again on looking for three-point baskets instead of interior passes as demanded by his coach, Chus Mateo. “We lacked discipline. We shot too many three-pointers. “We should have looked deeper and played with Tavares,” said the white coach without naming any player.
Hezonja, 29, was shipwrecked against one of his former teams, for which he played in 2021, when his future is still up in the air and several big European clubs are knocking on his door. He is one of the seven players whose contract ends this summer with Madrid (like Sergio Rodríguez, Llull, Causeur, Rudy, Poirier and Tavares) and for the moment he has rejected two renewal offers throughout the season. “Mr. Florentino threatens me every time he sees me in the dining room to keep me going, and I hope so,” Hezonja said before traveling to Berlin for the Final Four.
You can follow Morning Express Deportes in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.