The defending champs opened their best-of-five series with a 90-74 victory
Focused Real delivered a statement-making win over Baskonia
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Real Madrid looked every inch a reigning champion as it started the playoffs with a bang, comfortably downing Spanish rival Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 90-74 at WiZink Center on Tuesday night.
Coach Chus Mateo’s squad raced into an early 5-0 lead and never looked back, producing a focused and purposeful performance at both ends of the floor to dominate the Basque visitors from start to finish.
It was a demonstration of perfect balance from Los Blancos, who converted 20 of their 34 two-point attempts (58.8%) and a solid 14-of-33 three-pointers (42.4%), achieved with great efficiency as 21 assists were paired by just 7 turnovers.
Real also did a great job defensively, restricting a dangerous Baskonia offense to nearly 10 points below its regular season average partly thanks to 9 steals, all forming part of a total team effort as 11 different players spent at least 10 minutes on the floor.
The reigning champ’s no-nonsense approach was echoed off the court after the game, as leading scorer Dzanan Musa – who scored 16 points on 6-of-9 field goal conversions – admitted his team was in a serious mood for this playoff opener.
“We came in very hard today," said the Bosnian shooter. “We tried to make a statement in the first game. It’s important for us that we got this first home win.”
However, Musa was clearly in no mood to start celebrating too much, emphasizing that much more work remains to be done – starting with Game 2 on Thursday.
“Baskonia is a great team but we’re going to keep pushing and try to make this 2-0,” added Musa.
”We’ve been in this situation so many times. We have experience of playing these big games and we'll continue to try to push it. Every game is important. We don’t look forward to what's going to happen in ten days. We're looking forward to Thursday and we’re trying to make it 2-0.”
The same message was delivered by Coach Mateo, who restricted his happiness with his team’s display to a snappy initial assessment, saying: “We did a good job. We played with energy and were very active until the end.”
But Mateo knows that going ahead 1-0 in the playoffs is by no means the end of his team’s ambitions for the season, adding: “This is just one victory, and we have to keep working.
“Baskonia is a very tough team. They are very good players and they’ve got character. They can come back so the second game will be totally different. We have to be aware of this and we have to be ready. It’s the beginning of the playoffs and we know how are the playoffs.”
Indeed, with a roster containing no less than 11 players with more than 100 EuroLeague appearances, no other team in Europe has more experience of what it takes to win.
And judging by the statements made by Real on Tuesday – both on and off the court – the kings of Europe will not give up their crown without a fight.