Los Blancos could not contain Valencia in the first half of Tuesday night's contest.
Real Madrid survived Davies whirlwind to win again
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3 Минутное чтение
Real Madrid stayed perfect in the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, but only after a real fight against Valencia Basket on Tuesday night at La Fonteta. The reigning champion ended up enjoying the better of a true game of two halves by greatly improving its defensive efforts after the break and eventually prevailing 73-76.
One player and one player alone dominated the opening two quarters. Valencia center Brandon Davies was simply unstoppable, reaching 20 points with only one missed shot and adding 2 assists and a blocked shot.
Davies vs. Tavares
Many of those points were scored over Walter Tavares, who seemed positionally unsure of himself after seeing Davies stretch the floor to drain a three-pointer on Valencia’s very first possession of the game. Unable to decide whether he should stick or twist, Tavares fell a long way below his usual defensive dominance in the opening two quarters, and Davies took full advantage with a dynamite display containing baskets of pretty much every variety.
But true class will always come through, and Tavares clearly used the half-time interval to decide ‘enough is enough’ because he was a different proposition in the second half. He blocked 4 shots in the third quarter alone, including 2 from Davies as the man who couldn’t miss in the first half was rendered rather impotent in the second. Valencia’s big man scored just 2 points after the break, going from 9-of-10 field goal shooting to 1-of-7 as Real roared back.
That symbolized the change in Real’s defensive effectiveness, which reduced Valencia’s offensive output from 49 points before the interval to less than half that total – 24 – in the final two periods.
Unsurprisingly, Real attributed the victory to that defensive improvement, with Facu Campazzo, who scored the team’s last 4 points of the game, saying: “We changed in the second half. We did a great job on them, only 24 points in the second half. We played good defense and then made the right decisions on offense.”
Proud head coach Chus Mateo added: “In the first half, Davies did a great job and we couldn’t stop him. In the second half, we were able to stop him and their options inside the paint. We fixed all the mistakes we were making in the first half.
“We had to fight until the end. They are playing great, especially here at home, and for us it’s very important to continue at this level. We have to keep the same mentality.”