Joventut-Real Madrid: the league leaders look to extend winning run on the road
Chus Mateo's boys play their third game in five days and are the best away team in the league (6:30pm CET).
Real Madrid this evening head into their third game in less than five days. They started out on Tuesday in Belgrade, continued on Thursday at the WiZink Center and now they close the week out in Badalona looking to secure their 14th League win. This will be the last away game of 2023 for the competition's leader, and only unbeaten team on the road. Up the other end is a Joventut team that sits seventh, with five wins fewer than our boys, but they will be driven on by the support of the vociferous home support.
The penultimate game of the year (we'll host Valencia Basket on 31 December) for a Real Madrid team who are back on an impressive run with four successive wins in the League alongside another four in the EuroLeague. All six of our away days have ended in victory and today will be another tough test as we attempt to extend the impressive run on the road. The hosts have won their last three in the competition and won their EuroCup clash against Lithuanian team Wolves this week.
Chus Mateo boast the tournament's best offense (91-point average) and the best defense (77.5). The +13.5 reflects the team's impressive balance. They're sharing the ball around beautifully, with different names stepping up in attack all the time. The win over Partizan saw Musa come to the fore with 23 points in 19 minutes. Two days earlier against Crvena zvezda, Hezonja posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Joventut are averaging 10 points fewer (81.1) and concede almost eight more (85).
An 11-year run
Joventut is always a competitive unit that plays at a high pace and with physical prowess. This season, point guard Andrés Feliz has stepped up and delivered some devastating displays. Thomas is top scorer, but they have others with lots of points in the bag like Tomic, Andrews, Brodziansky and Cook. Real Madrid will be hoping to continue an impressive streak in Badalona that started back in 2012/13 and now reads 13 wins on the bounce. The last one came in the past campaign, 73-94 with the Sergio Rodríguez-Musa-Tavares trio recording a PIR of 80.