


Real Madrid suffered a tough 87-89 home loss to Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in Game 1 and, although the winner of a record 10 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles was a whisker away from coming out on top, the hosts just couldn’t cope with losing their towering center Walter Tavares due to a knee injury.
With Partizan gaining the upper hand in the first half thanks to a barrage of three-pointers – the visitors were 8-for-14 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes – Tavares kept Real afloat as he dominated the paint at both ends of the court. He barely got a respite, having spent 19:16 minutes on the floor through the first two quarters.
Tavares limped off into the locker room with a sore knee before the rest of the team and when he returned after the halftime break, his knee was strapped and his body language at the start of the third quarter left little room for doubt that he was injured.
Tavares, who posted 12 points and 5 rebounds in 21:50 minutes on the court, never returned after he was benched early in the third and could only watch helplessly from the sidelines.
Real then lost its authority in the paint and, although the hosts looked the more likely winners down the stretch, they ultimately paid the price as Partizan center Mathias Lessort finally found some space to exploit in the fourth quarter.
Having failed to protect its home-court advantage, Real can only hope that Tavares will recover for Game 2 on Thursday – otherwise the Spanish side faces an uphill task to turn the series around and reach the 2023 Final Four in Kaunas.