Real Madrid crushes Red Star, one of the toughest rivals in the Euroleague

Jaime Pradilla only scored five points, far from the most striking numbers of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (22) or Gabriele Procida (19), but those baskets by the skilled power forward at the Movistar Arena were decisive in quelling the Red Star reaction, which was lurking with a 2-19 run. His contribution changed the dynamics of the Euroleague match and allowed Real Madrid to get a duel back on track that they finished placidly (105-84). Valencia Basket defeated Bayern Munich to record its eighth victory (102-87) in the first 11 days, its best debut ever in the summit competition of European basketball.

Real Madrid was not intimidated by facing the team that has the best defense in Europe. The rival doesn't matter. Pedro Martínez imposes his martial pace and shoots down anyone who gets in front. This time with a very inspired Luwawu-Cabarrot and a Procida. After 12 minutes, they had already reached 44 points (44-20), almost four every sixty seconds. Madrid was flying with excellent percentages in shots from two and three against a rival, Red Star, who was successful in the triple, but who barely made shots from two and who faltered in the rebound, which had been one of their strengths until now.

When the game was looking its best, while the fans were rubbing their hands before another scoring festival at the Movistar Arena, came the reaction of the Serbian team. Spanish Ibon Navarro's team recovered all its defensive capacity, stopped Madrid and accelerated its transitions with Chris Jones and Tyson Carter to record a striking 2-19 run (46-39).

Jaime Pradilla took a step forward to help a Madrid that was deflating alarmingly. Tavares helped strengthen the white team and Nick Smith added to this dynamic that was once again favorable for his team, who was riding one more night towards 110 points.

Luwawu-Cabarrot gave another push after the break to once again sink the head of his opponent (65-44). The Madrid team did not miss the absentees – Campazzo, Maledon, Deck, Garuba and Jantunen. Pedro Martínez, well into November, has managed to ensure that his basketball concepts have already permeated the group, which is driven, no matter who is there, with the same strengths: quick transitions, a lot of scoring, short attacks to multiply their possessions and concentration on the rebound. Andrés Feliz offered his most serious profile and French center Olivier Sarr favored speed, concentrating on getting the ball out quickly to finish disarming Red Star.