Real Madrid lost on their Euroleague matchday 32 visit to Partizan. Our team won two of the four quarters (the first and third), but the enormous attacking prowess of the home side in the final period was decisive. Musa and Deck, with 23 points each, were the most outstanding players for The Whites, who with two games to go in the regular season share second place with Barcelona and are just one win behind Olympiacos.
The game started with an evenly matched first quarter in which both teams displayed their shooting accuracy. The home side, who were very aggressive, opted for an open five. Madrid countered this with an inside-outside balance with the Hanga-Tavares duo. Between them they scored the team's first 11 points. Obradovic would put more muscle on court and Chus Mateo responded by introducing more effective attacking players. With six consecutive points from Musa we were 5 up in the 7th minute (13-18). It was the biggest gap in the opening 10 minutes, which our team ended up winning by 21-23.
Video.104-90: Defeat in Belgrade
The home side take the lead
In the second quarter Partizan took the initiative and with a more direct and aggressive game they overcame the Madrid defence. The Whites couldn't control the rebounding either and failure in the turnovers was too great a burden to bear. After an exchange of baskets, which would keep things even until the 15th minute, the Serbians took advantage to take an 11-point lead at half-time with Punter and Nunnally leading the charge (49-38, min. 20).
Attempted comeback
Things got complicated with a +14 lead for the home side (55-41, min. 22). With everything going against them and despite a tremendous amount of pressure from the Stark Arena, Madrid would resurge in attack. They got their second wind and they got back into the game through Musa and Hezonja, who took a step forward scoring 12 points each in this period. They gradually cut the deficit in the third quarter to within 5 points on several occasions, but Partizan held on with a lot of good shooting. We closed this period with 34 points and 78-72. However, in the last quarter we lacked the energy and shooting prowess that the Serbian team displayed, and too much so, to take the final victory.
PARTIZÁN-REAL MADRID STATISTICS
