Real Madrid’s regular season was a tale of two halves and the Spanish powerhouse will now attempt to regain its early-season form after a tough run of results in the last few weeks.
Road to the Playoffs: Real Madrid
Coach Pablo Laso’s team made a strong early statement of intent by gaining an 82-69 home victory over reigning champ Anadolu Efes Istanbul on opening night, with Walter Tavares giving an early glimpse of the inside dominance he would provide all season by amassing a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds plus 2 blocked shots, while debutants Thomas Heurtel and Guerschon Yabusele started well with 15 points apiece.
A Round 2 loss at Olympiacos Piraeus was followed by a run of four straight wins – including a 70-69 home thriller against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul decided by late free throws from Vincent Poirier – before Real picked up its first road win by downing Zenit St Petersburg 68-75 in Round 6.
A perfect November – five games played, five victories – saw Real climb to the top of the standings with a 10-2 record and helped Tavares become the league’s MVP of the month with an average PIR of 18.0 during the perfect month.
December also started well as Yabusele hit a late game-winner to seal a hard-earned 72-70 decision over visiting Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, keeping Laso’s men on the march and unbeaten at home with seven wins out of seven.
A Clasico loss at FC Barcelona provided only a temporary setback, as Real responded by downing ALBA Berlin with ease, triumphing on the road at AX Armani Exchange Milan and then ending the calendar year with a truly remarkable 71-65 home win over CSKA Moscow: Real was afflicted by an outbreak of COVID cases and only had five senior players available, but a nine-man roster supplemented by youth team players showed great resolve to grab the victory.
Real’s winning ways rolled untroubled into the new year, taking its winning streak to nine straight games with a series of dominant performances – and also surviving a few close calls including an overtime battle at AS Monaco in Round 23, eventually settled thanks to a big contribution in the extra period from Gabriel Deck, who had recently re-joined the team.
Laso’s men appeared poised to roar into the playoffs with a bang, but the wheels then fell off their season as a 66-51 loss at Fenerbahce was followed by a heavy Clasico home loss to Barcelona and a 68-47 defeat at Zalgiris Kaunas.
Real did steel itself to gain consecutive home victories over Milan and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Rounds 29 and 30, which proved enough to secure homecourt advantage in the playoffs, before finishing the season with four straight losses – including a 75-74 defeat at upcoming playoff opponent Maccabi.