Deck once again decides the game with a three-pointer in the final seconds

Gabriel Deck did it again. Real Madrid's hero once again with a crucial three-pointer with 1.6 seconds to go to give us the win against Joventut in round 29 of the league. The Argentine had also scored the winning basket against Zalgiris three days earlier in Kaunas. A win today against Joventut, our 24th in the league, mathematically secures our home court advantage in the playoffs and keeps us in the battle for the final lead with Unicaja with five games to go. It was not an easy game, however, as La Penya's drive and three-point shooting required an extra effort to come back from behind. Hezonja (20 points), Tavares (14 and 8 rebounds) and Deck (13) scored 68 points.

Madrid set the tone in the first quarter, making no great strides but with a sense of control. Chus Mateo's side were fluid in attack, with every player scoring points in the seventh minute (6 from Hezonja and 5 from Musa), and playing close to the hoop, where they were far superior thanks to the presence of Tavares. At 17-10 and following a time-out, the visitors reworked their line-up with four changes. Tomic gave them a greater impact on the paint and their success in the three-pointer, with three from Kraag, enabled them to bring the game level in the first 10 minutes (22-20).

Change of possession
The Green and Blacks maintained their impressive outside shooting in the second quarter against a Madrid side that underperformed on both sides of the court. The visitors' run continued to extend as the minutes went by until they took the lead at the 13' mark. Our team looked to get back on track but the shooting percentages were not good and we only scored inconsistently from the outside with three-pointers from Causeur, Llull and Deck. Tomic brought his team's maximum at half-time at 37-48.

Madrid returned with more organised intentions. A more aggressive defence and a spark in attack, secured their rebounding and initiated the counter-attack. Tavares, Musa and Hezonja led a 16-3 run in the first four minutes of the second half to turn the game around at 53-48. The rest of the quarter was highlighted by two more halves. Joventut recovered with three-pointers and Madrid responded again with an inspired Hezonja to leave the score at 68-65 at the end of the third period.

Deck once again decides the game
There was no room for complacency in the final period, which was an attacking battle. Madrid were getting closer to victory after the emergence of Llull, who with two trademark interventions (an 11-metre three-pointer on the counter-attack and a 2+1), once again commanded the lead, joined by Deck, Sergio Rodríguez and Yabusele to make it 88-79 at the 37' mark. Joventut did not give in, however, and two shots from Andrews culminated another comeback to 92-92 with 8.9 seconds remaining. And then something happened that can only happen with this crest. Llull moved forward, penetrated and assisted to Deck, who scored the winning basket from the three-pointer. Same protagonists as last Thursday and identical ending: a win for Real Madrid (95-92, min.40).

REAL MADRID-JOVENTUT STATISTICS