Reigning champ and regular season standings leader Real will aim to strike first at home on Tuesday against Baskonia, which qualified for the playoffs by surging past Virtus Segafredo Bologna in Friday's play-in decider.
Dusko Ivanovic, Baskonia: 'We have to look at ourselves, try to play better and believe in our chances'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Playoffs
Game 1
Playoffs
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Real MadridRMB
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Baskonia Vitoria-GasteizBKN
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Overview
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The visiting team will take confidence from a thrilling 91-95 victory at the WiZink Center in the penultimate round of the regular season. Markus Howard was the chief architect of that victory with 35 points, and he will clearly be a focus for the home team's defense after also netting 28 in the win over Virtus.
Real will look to dominate physically through its fearsome big man duo of Vincent Poirier and Walter Tavares, who rank first and second, respectively, in blocks with 1.5 and 1.4 per game. Baskonia will desperately hope that Chima Moneke will recover from injury soon to play at 100%, while Matt Costello has fond memories of Madrid after scoring 19 crucial points in the Round 33 victory.
The defending champ boasts unmatched depth, including the rebounding and scoring of Gaby Deck and Guerschon Yabusele, the veteran leadership of Sergio Llull and Sergio Rodriguez, and the consistent scoring of Dzanan Musa and Mario Hezonja. So Baskonia will need the likes of rebounding ace Tadas Sedekerskis and long-range shooting threat Vanja Marinkovic to find their best level in the hope of grabbing a priceless road win.
Chus Mateo, Real Madrid head coach
"We get to these playoffs eager to face the final stretch of the season and eager to play well. We all start from scratch, and I hope we can meet expectations at all times during this series. We know how hard this final stretch is and how hard is the opponent we will be playing against. We face the challenge with energy and optimism. Baskonia has many scorers, they are a difficult match and a team that plays very well. They have the character, the hustle, the fight and they always come back into the games when it looks like they are defeated. We will have to be ready for that and more."
Dusko Ivanovic, Baskonia head coach
"I am happy. We have to be well because it's an important occasion for us. We will try to make it to the Final Four. The EuroLeague has been to tight this season that anybody could beat anybody. We must believe in ourselves and fight. Real is the best team in the league; they won the regular season and deservedly so. They played great and have a complete team with many resources. In this series we have to look at ourselves, try to play better and believe in our chances."
Vincent Poirier, Real Madrid player
"The most exciting part of the season is here and we are really happy to face it. In the playoffs you must never lower your guard. There are five games and if we do not start well we will have to keep fighting. We must be together, believe and do our thing, which is what we did last year. Baskonia is a very uncomfortable team. They have quality players who know how to play against Tavares and myself, because they have bigs who shoot from beyond the arc and they open the court really well. They play fast on offense and forces you to run back behind. Baskonia has been playing that style for years and now it's up to us to take a step forward. We must adapt to whatever is thrown at us and help each other out. Real Madrid also has its weapons and we hope we can use them properly."
Vanja Marinkovic, Baskonia player
"We are very motivated. I think we deserved to be in the playoffs and now the team is very motivated to do a good job in Madrid. We can steal a win there. We had a rough season with injuries, but I think the team has confidence now. All the teams have the same chances to be in Berlin. We are 0-0, no matter what happened in the past. Real is a great team, they are the champs. I think we showed that we can beat them, we won in Madrid a couple of weeks ago. I think that game can be used as an example of how we have to fight against Real Madrid. We have to be at 100 percent until the last minute and look for our chances to win."