It sounds easy, but it is not. Not much less. But Real Madrid has been determined to achieve the impossible and has succeeded. The eleventh is already here. The white team has already been eleven times continental champion after Llull sealed the victory with a house-mark basket with three seconds to go. The only one who scored all afternoon. For what else? Kaunas is the last city conquered after an exciting final against an Olympiacos that froze in the last 2m13s, in which they were unable to score and bought a front row seat to see success slip away after an almost perfect season.
This Madrid of Chus Mateo fell to the canvas against Partizan, losing the first two games of the playoff, and has managed to get up with one leg and end up winning the title by playing the last five games without Yabusele, Deck and Poirier. The merit is tremendous. He was the first to lift a 0-2 defeat in the quarterfinals, he surprised a disoriented Barça in the semifinals and yesterday he withstood the onslaught of Olympiacos with impressive fortitude.
Madrid has an impressive squad, that is indisputable, but there is no money to pay for what the three grandparents contribute. Rudy Fernández was not fine in shooting but his competitiveness defending and fighting for the rebound was priceless. Sergio Llull scored the winning basket again. And, above all, Sergio Rodríguez, who was already the executioner of Barça and yesterday, at the age of 36, gave a leadership recital to put in the basketball schools. Although the MVP went to Tavares, who had much more impact in the semifinal than in the final.
Despite everything, it was Bartzokas's men who started the most inspired in a red-tinged Zalgirio Arena, thundering out Greek chants, the indisputable superiority of Olympiacos in the stands. Canaan's initial triple was the first slap Madrid would receive in those first minutes. Again with Ndiaye as the starter trying to shut down MVP Vezenkov - Mateo's play did not go as well as with Mirotic - Madrid Tavares was enough to dominate the paint, undoubtedly the fear of the Hellenic players when they approached the hoop, but the rojiblancos' outside shot started doing a lot of damage.
Vezenkov's inspiration –for whom Barça opened the back door of the Palau...–, who decided to join the Greek party, finished decorating an immaculate start in a whole final (24-12, minute 8). On the other hand, the tall men of Olympiacos were quickly loaded with fouls, Tavares' incidence is endless, and Madrid woke up.
The white team returned the coin to those from Piraeus in the second quarter scoring six of the first eight triples they shot. Causeur, Musa, Randolph and, above all, a highly inspired (and serious) Hezonja hammered the Hellenic hoop and turned the score around. Madrid complemented that spectacular success with an indisputable dominance on the rebound, which allowed them many second options.
Once again, Mateo clung to the oldest in the place – not to say the best – and with Sergio Rodríguez as the execution weapon, as in his best times, he stretched to 40-45. The reinvention capacity of the canary is impressive, who had a very gray course until the Euroleague playoffs arrived and confirmed that he has rescued the best suit from his closet.
Olympiacos regained control of the game after the break with a Canaan in a state of grace and a tireless Vezenkov, who barely missed 34 seconds of the entire final. With an impressive mastery of the scene, the Bulgarian did not let go of the reins of the duel and stretched to 68-61 already in the last quarter. A pair of triples from Causeur kept Madrid afloat in a final in which the tension was chewed.
With 2m13s left to play, Bartozkas's team, the executioner of Madrid in the 2013 final, froze and the Madrid experience broke through. Sergio Rodríguez's wrist did not tremble and he scored a triple. Olympiacos completed a terrible attack that ended with a bad shot from Fall. Of course, Llull's wrist did not tremble either and he raised the final 78-79 with 3.2 seconds to go. Sloukas' final ruling confirmed that the eleventh was heading for the capital.
78 - Olympiacos (24-21-18-15): Walkup (0), Canaan (21), Papanikolau (6), Vezenkov (29), Fall (0) - starting five - Bolomboy (2), Sloukas (6), Black (0), McKissic (14) and Larentzakis (0).
79 - Real Madrid (17-28-14-20): Williams-Goss (9), Musa (6), Hanga (2), Ndiaye (3), Tavares (13), Hezonja (12), Causeur (11). ), Sergio Rodriguez (15), Rapndolph (3), Rudy Fernandez (3) and Llull (2).
Referees: PUKL (SLO), Vilius (LIT), Difallah (FRA). Son eliminated.
Incidents: 15,442 spectators filled the stands of the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas. Majority presence of Olympiacos fans, who occupied almost half of the seats.
