At times it was simply devastating. At others, a little bit ropey. Eventually, Chus Mateo and Real Madrid got over the line and defeated Olympiacos at the Euroleague Final Four.
This looked like it was going to be the worst beating in living memory at the Euroleague Final Four. Dignity was eventually restored for Olympiacos but they never did enough to truly worry Chus Mateo’s Real Madrid.
Levels above
The first quarter was about as emphatic a statement as Real Madrid could have made. The team that led the Euroleague standings from start to finish decided that it was time to remind the world why they had.been a class above everyone else. Chus Mateo’s men unleashed the fury early.
An 11 of 16 shooting performance in the opening frame, led by Mario Hezonja’s 9 points, pushed Los Blancos into an enormous 28-10 lead after 10 minutes. It wasn’t just good shooting. Real controlled everything on the defensive end, making life a nightmare for Olympiacos.
The game was barely 10 minutes old when any thought of a Greek derby in the championship game seemed fanciful at best.
Relentless
The decision by Olympiacos to not play D was a curious one. At least that was the only explanation I could find for their utter failure to do anything about Guerschon Yabusele or Walter ‘Edy’ Tavares. Hearing either name followed by “2 points” from the awfully robotic announcer seemed inevitable.
I was reminded of Chus Mateo’s mood a day ago. He had a fire in his eyes when discussing this weekend at what is normally a sedate introductory press conference. Winning Euroleague again is so important to a man that is known more for his time as an assistant than in the lead chair.
That fire and merciless approach was visible throughout this Real Madrid performance. The only comparable performance that came to mind was when Los Blancos destroyed FC Barcelona in the 2014 Euroleague Final Four. Remarkably, Real only won the second quarter by a single point. Still, the stench of inevitability was rank.
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We really shouldn’t have been surprised
The only reason that some of us, this writer included, felt this might be close was history. Rarely do games in the Euroleague Final Four turn out to be straight up paddlings that. Come to think of it, the times there have been hammerings, they were usually dished out by Real Madrid.
This is comfortably one of the deepest rosters ever constructed in Euroleague. The overwhelming presence of such top tier talent can be hard to manage. It’s certainly expensive to maintain. Yet at no stage over the two years this core has been together has there been reason to think disharmony might prevail.
A mini run from Olympiacos early in the third quarter irked Real Madrid but it didn’t worry them. The look on Mario Hezonja’s face was one of annoyance, that they’d have to keep pressing in the second half. Such irritations are beneath a side that lives to destroy.
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A tease or a hope?
Chus Mateo had to do something that didn’t seem likely with 1.35 left in the third. The Real Madrid coach called a timeout. Olympiacos had become more than an irritation and were nearing being an actual problem. The lead was still 10 points but Los Blancos didn’t look as home and hosed as they expected to be.
Sergio Llull with the three and that was really that. Vincent Poirer would get to the line to close out the quarter and give Real Madrid a 71-58 lead after three. Panic over, right?
Not so much as Los Blancos continued to stutter through the fourth. When Nigel Williams Goss cut it to single digits for the first time since early in the game, the arena was awake. It was all just too much work for the Reds to do. Real Madrid weren’t exactly playing lights out but they needed to collapse completely to fall here. They didn’t and that was enough to advance to Sunday.
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