Real Madrid small-balled its way to another win
Things did not look too good for Real Madrid in the middle of the third quarter against AS Monaco on Friday evening. Los Blancos had just surrendered a 12-1 run to the hosts and had been held to a single free throw, while they had committed an eye-watering 8 turnovers in the opening five minutes after halftime.
Mario Hezonja's 20 points in the first half felt like a distant memory at that point. To add to Real's misery, after only 3:32 of play in the third quarter, Walter Tavares picked up 2 more personal fouls. That took him to 4 in the game, so he went straight to the bench.
Despite Vincent Poirier being available once again, having missed the Round 22 win over Panathinaikos Athens, the French big man picked up 3 more fouls of his own in the following three minutes, which resulted in him fouling out with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
That forced head coach Chus Mateo to turn to a small lineup, as Guerschon Yabusele and Gabriel Deck joined Hezonja in the frontcourt, with Dzanan Musa and Sergio Llull occupying the two spots in the backcourt.
In the next 11 minutes, the only substitution made by Real saw Adam Hanga come in for Llull to give the veteran Spanish guard a break. The other four held the fort. That turned out to be a game-changer for Real, as it restored control of the boards.
Meanwhile, it did not take away from what worked offensively for Los Blancos: the team's three-point shooting. Real hit all 5 of its three-point attempts in the remainder of the third quarter, and was 3-of-5 in the fourth, of which those 3 makes came in the final 5:24 of the game. Hanga provided 2 and the other came from Hezonja, who made his career-high sixth three-pointer of the night with 1:55 left in the game.
"We were patient and kept working," Coach Mateo stated after the game. "We found open shots and we scored from the outside. We had 22 assists, which is very important: to pass the ball to become a team."
Tavares returned to the floor in the final 3 minutes, but it was the efforts of Deck (9 rebounds), Hezonja (6) and Yabusele (5) that allowed Real to outrebound the hosts 36-26 and grab a big road win.