Mario Hezonja was unstoppable for three quarters, then Usman Garuba took care of business
Mario Hezonja's offense and Usman Garuba's defense helped Real Madrid down Efes
Maç Raporu
3 Dk okuma
Regular Season
Round 14 of 38
Regular Season
Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
7581
Real MadridRMB
Overview
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Real Madrid had to battle hard to beat Anadolu Efes Istanbul 75-81 at the Turkcell Basketball Development Center. It was Los Blancos' third consecutive win after edging Zalgiris Kaunas 100-99 at home and stopping Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv 74-75 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Those three close wins lifted Real Madrid's record to 8-6.
It was not easy. Real struggled to score early and trailed 17-15 at the end of the first quarter. Mario Hezonja limited the damage by scoring his team's 10 opening points to put Real ahead, 9-10. Even when the rest of the team combined for 2 of 9 on three-pointers in the first half (22.2% 3FG), Hezonja buried 2 of his 3 attempts (66.7% 3FG) to keep Real within 41-37.
Hezonja finally got some help from Chuma Okeke, who had all 10 of his points in the third quarter. Hezonja was also all over the place, reaching double digits in a quarter for the second time in the game. Both players combined for 20 of Real's 23 points in the third quarter, giving Real a 59-60 lead.
Early in the third quarter, Walter Tavares became the first player in EuroLeague history to reach 500 blocks. It was a really quiet night for him on the offensive end, going scoreless for the first time in 256 games. With Tavares on the bench, and given the fact that Rolands Smits and Ercan Osmani were bringing him out of the paint with their three-point shots, Real Madrid coach Sergio Scariolo tried Usman Garuba at center for the best part of the fourth quarter – and it ended up being the key to this game.
Garuba checked back in when Efes got its last lead, 67-65, and he did not need to shoot the ball in order to make a difference. Garuba blocked three shots, switching the game's momentum with one on Osmani's dunk attempt, in addition to grabbing four defensive rebounds in the last six minutes.
He helped Real go on a game-deciding 5-16 run in which Gabriel Deck and Trey Lyles took center stage on offense. Garuba was everywhere on defense and Efes started to struggle. The hosts missed nine consecutive shots until Osmani buried a three-pointer to bring Efes within 72-74. Once Facu Campazzo answered from downtown and found Deck for a backdoor layup, the game was over.
"I think we played a very good second half, defensively especially. Also offensively, we found the right way to attack people who were in foul trouble. We turned the rebounding account upside down. We were down in the first half and got way more rebounds in the second, and some of them were really crucial," Coach Scarolo said. "Obviously we got the advantage of looking for different lineups, small lineups, Usman Garouba at the five, having different situations which definitely helped us tactically, but I think that the team played with heart in the second half. We really stepped on the floor with the desire to win."
In other words, Hezonja kept Real in the game and Garuba allowed Los Blancos to maximize their chances to win down the stretch. Hezonja finished the game with 22 points and has been unstoppable of late, getting 19 against Hapoel and averaging 22.0 in two games with the Croatian national team.
"I think we picked it up defensively. We got very important stops on the defensive end, and I think we found very good chemistry in the third quarter, which let us separate a little bit from them. And then, of course, the guys did a great job in the fourth quarter," Hezonja said. "A lot of us came back from our national teams, but we stick to what we do good. Coach and the staff prepared the game very well, and we are continuing to win games, which is the most important."
