Real Madrid offered the fans a great victory against Maccabi on Three Kings' Day with an exhibition from three-point range. They won the first game of the year in the Euroleague and tallied up their eleventh win. Chus Mateo's team dominated the scoring from the beginning and won comfortably against an opponent who came to the WiZink Center on the back of a hot streak. Our team scored 18 three-pointers and was just one away from beating its record in a Euroleague game. Cornelie and Musa stood out, both scoring 18 points.
Despite the pace on court, scoring was low in the early stages. However, Madrid took the initiative thanks to a very aggressive defence and Tavares' blocks. In attack, Yabusele put the icing on the cake with four points and Causeur, with a three-pointer in the fifth minute. The Israeli offence wasn’t overly fluid and Chus Mateo's men took advantage of this to put their foot down and embark on a 7-0 run. Poirier, Sergio Rodríguez, Cornelie and Hanga, who returned from injury, came off the bench. Between the five of them, they increased the lead to 22-7 by the end of the first quarter.
Great Marksmanship from Three-point Range
If the first 10 minutes ended with a three-pointer from Cornelie, the start of the second quarter began with a bonanza from the 6.75m line. Between the French power forward, Sergio Rodríguez and Musa, the lead was +22 (13th minute). Maccabi tried to respond in the paint, but Madrid held firm. Rebounding (21-13) and again the outside shooting (50% success rate) were key to get further ahead thanks to Musa, with two consecutive three-pointers, again Cornelie (10 points) and Abalde. Although Tel Aviv did didn’t give up the ghost and managed a 0-8 run in the last two minutes of the second quarter, Chus Mateo's team went into the break with more than 50 points (51-34).
Video.98-65: Showcase in the First Euroleague Game of the Year
The scoring went into overdrive after the restart. Maccabi tried their luck with quick transitions; they did so in vain as Madrid continued to make their own three-pointers to not allow their opponents any respite. Causeur, Goss and Yabusele, with 12 points and 6 rebounds, made it 64-43 (25th minute). Real Madrid did not lose their concentration and continued to do everything right, in both defence and attack. With an exhibition of outside shooting (15 out of 28 from three-point range) and with Tavares as an impenetrable wall with 5 blocks, our team achieved its biggest lead so far with a 30-point difference.
Great End to the Game
Nothing changed with respect to Madrid's approach in the last 10 minutes. Poirier and Musa spearheaded an offensive attack that made it 85-56 at the 35 minute mark. Our team was a steamroller and looked to at least equal their three-pointer record in a single game (19). The Bosnian forward kept plugging away with Cornelie. In the end, Madrid fell one three-pointer short of equalling their own record, but still offered the fans the best game of the season in one of the European Classics.
REAL MADRID-MACCABI STATISTICS
