Real Madrid sings against Alba Berlin

Euroleague day 18

Alba Berlin

real Madrid

After a calamitous start, poorly digesting the losses of Yabusuele and Poirier, in addition to the goodbyes of Sergio Rodríguez and Rudy Fernández due to wrinkles, Madrid is beginning to gain color and form in this season, still with time to explain what it is one of the leaders of European basketball. Last week they surpassed the leaders Paris and Monaco, and this Thursday, in tow of a sweet Llull -20 points and five triples-, they easily overthrew Alba Berlin to add as many wins as losses in Europe (9), to screw themselves at the equator of the table and finally look up, towards the play-in or the playoffstowards where his heraldry and basketball demands. Next stop, framed in the ACB, the classic against Barcelona.

There is no more comfortable opponent for Madrid than Alba Berlin, with whom they have been counting on successes for many years (they already have 18), a team with some embarrassing figures in the Euroleague, as it is the worst defense in the competition. and the fourth that scores the least, now also weakened by the transfer of its starting center (Trevion Williams) to Maccabi. Condition of Cinderellain any case, which he tried to mask at the beginning of the challenge, since he was running around with hypersonic transitions, running shots and madness on the hardwood. Madrid reluctantly accepted the challenge and, although it initially paled with the triples from Hermannsson and Delow, Musa asked for the ball and the flashesthe prominence and the points, since 10 of the white team’s first 13 came from their hands. But for Musa to play the violin, Campazzo made the basketball, the builder who never fails, the only one who is always there, the best of the best. A duet that ended up breaking the Berlin team, after being broken up from the outskirts by Hezonja and Lull. A most comforting vermouth (15-28).

It was not just any match for Llull, who equaled the record of matches in the competition (425) set by the American Kyle Hines – he stood out, especially in CSKA Moscow and Milan -, now retired. To celebrate, he reminded everyone that he has a supernatural talent, that where he puts his eye he puts the ball – that’s why he also has the most triples in the history of the Euroleague (661) -, since he shot Alba from the periphery . Chof goes and chof comes, even one like Stephen Curry -looking at the bench when releasing the ball without waiting for it to be sheltered by the hoop net-, too much for the German team, a spark in the season to the dismay of its coach, the Spanish Israel González, since he also suffered in his domestic competition, fourteenth out of 17 contenders. And although Madrid took a nap before the intermission because they conceded eight points in a run, Hugo González’s green shoots seasoned the result (34-45) and led to a Madrid with a smile, far from that weak version that it showed at home in Europe.

Schneider tried to deny the major upon returning from the locker room with a three-pointer and another on the turn, but Campazzo, Deck and Hezonja knew how to keep their distance, a night of triples, 13 for the whites. But maintaining is not eroding or bending, so they did not put any ground in the way and when the defense lost intensity and decibels, Alba entered the game with medium-distance shots with Hermannsson and Spagnolo in front. Something that, again, Llull questioned with his direction, assists that were candy, layups without failure. 51-61 in the absence of the last chapter.

It happened then that Madrid lost their fang for a few minutes, unable to say theirs in the bottle and permissive towards the rival inside game, fallow for an Alba that understood that it was not the day of the triple –he made 3 of 22– and was able to reduce the gap from 17 to seven. With the alarm ringing, however, Llull once again said that this was his game and that no one was going to ruin it, another triple and a drive to the basket, the points crossed and the whites won. The seasoning was provided by Hezonja, once again devastating in the last bars of the epilogue. But that is another story and that of the duel against Alba Berlin was solely Llull’s.