Victory on the road against MoraBanc Andorra

84 -100

MoraBanc Andorra

Finished

Real Madrid

Real Madrid sealed an emphatic victory in the last game of the first round to confirm seeding in the Copa del Rey draw.

Victory on the road against MoraBanc Andorra
NEWS.Edu Bueno

Real Madrid beat MoraBanc Andorra on the road and closed out the first round of the League with a thirteenth victory. Superiority was confirmed off the back of an excellent second quarter in which they achieved a 17-34 partial that laid the foundations for the victory, thus guaranteeing seeding in next Tuesday's Copa del Rey draw. The scoring was spread across the team, with Musa (19 points) and Hezonja (16) leading five players in double digits (Garuba, 13; Llull, 12; and Feliz, 11). The Croatian forward played his 200th game for Real Madrid.

It was an even start in a very physical game with offences on top in the first quarter. Madrid, with a mobile five (Garuba and Ndiaye in the paint) found points near the hoop with incursions from Musa (7), Rathan-Mayes (7) and Garuba (8 and 5 rebounds). These 3 scored the team’s 22 points, with the biggest problem coming from 4 losses with Harding (10 points) leading a more distributed scoring (24-22, min.10) for MoraBanc Andorra.

Madrid take the initiative
Chus Mateo's team improved the offense in the second quarter. In addition to their superiority in the paint, now with Tavares on the court (6 points and 3 rebounds), they added outside success with five three-pointers. Llull (10 points), Hezonja (9), who was playing his 200th game in our jersey, and Abalde (6) took over in an attack that scored 34 points compared to their opponent’s 17. The home side stayed in the game as long as they had success on the perimeter. But Madrid's defense was increasingly aggressive at the passing lane and closed the rebounding inside, preventing second options (41-56, min. 20).

Madrid managed the lead that had been created in the first half in an assured fashion, even increasing it despite MoraBanc Andorra's attempts to get back into the game with three-pointers. But the defense was compact and when there was a chance to run, they took it. Musa, with 12 points in 8 minutes, ensured that the game went smoothly for our team in a third quarter in which they had a +21 advantage in the 29th minute (56-77).

New collective exhibition in attack
With the task nearly done, Madrid showed its most solid and effective version, scoring with ease, especially on the counterattack which kept the Andorrans at bay. Feliz and Garuba stood out in the last quarter. The power forward made the two plays of the game. A basket in which he went ran the length of the court after grabbing a rebound and finishing with a dunk and an alley oop with LlullChus Mateo's team had reached 90 points with 5 minutes to go and finished with 100 with 5 players with 10 points or more. A three-pointer by Feliz made it +16 to put Madrid second in the table (84-100, min. 40).

MORABANC ANDORRA-REAL MADRID STATISTICS