On to the Twelfth!

Real Madrid will play in the EuroLeague final, their fourth in the last five years, after defeating Valencia Basket in the Spanish semifinal held at the Telekom Arena in Athens. Scariolo's squad rose to the occasion in another test of resilience, overcoming the absence of centers due to injuries to Tavares and Len, and further complications with Garuba's injury with 9 minutes left. Madrid responded brilliantly, dominating nearly the entire game starting with an offensive showcase in the second quarter (36 points), strong defense after halftime, and 19 offensive rebounds. Hezonja (25 points, 7 rebounds, and a performance index rating of 33), Deck (16 points, 8 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, and a PIR of 20), Lyles (17 points, 7 rebounds, and a PIR of 19), and Feliz (15 points, 8 rebounds, and a PIR of 17) were the standouts for our team, who will face Olympiacos in the final. Olympiacos defeated Fenerbahce, setting up a rematch of Kaunas 2023 (Sunday, 8:00 pm CEST).

Maximum parity in a first quarter with a great offensive rhythm. Madrid began by taking the initiative with strong perimeter defense against Valencia and the duo of Hezonja (8) and Abalde (5) combining to score the first 13 points (8-13, min. 5). However, Valencia Basket grew into the game through their advantage in the paint, finding easy baskets from their interior players Sako and Key, as well as drives from Taylor, to neutralize the deficit (28-26, min. 10).

Madrid explodes offensively with 36 points in the second quarter
Parity and basket trading continued until the 12th minute, with Deck, Maledon, and Lyles (13 points in 12 minutes) counteracting Valencia's dominance near the rim. From that point, with the score at 35-33, Scariolo's team shifted the game's momentum during their best minutes of the first half. They struck a great balance between defense and offense, particularly excelling from the three-point line. They scored 7 triples in the second quarter (11 by halftime), four of them almost consecutively, with two from Feliz, one from Okeke, and another from Campazzo, leading a 14-0 run in their favor.

The score went from 35-33 to 35-47 in just 3 minutes, creating a complete sense of madridista dominance. Not even a team as offensively talented as Valencia Basket could keep up with the pace set by Scariolo's squad, who finished the quarter with 36 points. They managed to maintain it by capitalizing on Madrid's only flaw in the game so far, which was points allowed in the paint—not on defensive rebounds, as they had only allowed 6 (56-62, min. 30).

And seals the semifinal with defense after halftime
Our team managed to stop the bleeding inside and raised their defensive level, with constant switches and help that complicated life for Valencia Basket. But the best way to minimize the opponent's attack was by dominating the offensive rebounds. They did so with incredible efforts from Feliz and Deck (two each), which prevented their rivals from running. Hezonja and Maledon extended the lead to 13 points by the end of the third quarter (73-86, min. 30).