Hollywood-worthy turnaround: Real showed their championship mentality when it needed the most / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Real Madrid finished the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular season by winning only 2 of their last 10 games.

Player of the Game EFF 25 Guerschon Yabusele Points 16 Accuracy 6-7 Rebounds 8 Assists 2

They entered the playoffs with a 4-game losing streak, including a defeat against the bottom side Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and to FC Bayern Munich after wasting a 20-point lead.

At that time, the team looked like a mess. The Blancos fell down to 4th place. Rumors about Pablo Laso's firing started to rumble, and on top of that, Thomas Heurtel and Trey Thompkins were separated from the team as a disciplinary action for reportedly being caught partying in Athens.

A week later, just before the beginning of the playoffs, both of them were allowed to rejoin the team and its practices.

On the other side of the ring, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv gained momentum and ended the regular season on a 6-game winning streak, which allowed the Israeli powerhouse to reach the 5th seed.

Knowing the circumstances, there was no way that Maccabi wouldn't use such an opportunity to reach their first Final Four since 2014. Coincidentally, they beat Real Madrid in the final that year.

Five staff members of BasketNews, including myself, took the bait and chose Maccabi as the winners of this series. And how wrong were we.

"It's a very important moment of the year, and I'll give you an example," Laso said after the game on Real Madrid's turnaround. "I would have killed Tavares for his technical. Not because of his reaction, but he has to know that it can't happen. He has a year to learn it so that he wouldn't do it in today's game. Today is a big game."

"Everybody has to be ready to play the best and forget everything that is around. That was an example of a team playing together, and that's probably why we play very solid basketball offensively and defensively," Laso added.

Real Madrid / Schedule

Real Madrid Maccabi Tel Aviv84-74 Real Madrid Maccabi Tel Aviv95-66 Maccabi Tel Aviv Real Madrid76-87

In Game 3 in Tel Aviv, Real Madrid showed why the experience matters and why it's not an empty talk to fill the air.

After taking an early 7-point lead in the first quarter, Real shut down all Maccabi's attempts to come back to the game.

With 7:53 remaining in the second quarter, Jaylen Reynolds sank a 3-pointer to cut Real's lead to 33-29. More than 10 000 Maccabi fans started to rise on their feet, cheering their team and booing the visitors, but 20 seconds later, Rudy Fernandez answered with his shot from deep and calmed the crowd.

A few minutes later, Keenan Evans hit the free throws, and once again, it was a 5-point game (34-39). Once again, Maccabi fans were cheering louder and louder, waiting for that momentum that led their team at the end of the regular season.

But last night was a big game.

Ante Zizic blocked Llull's attempt from midrange, and during the fight for the ball, Evans unintentionally hit Llull's head with an elbow. The 34-year-old grabbed his head in pain, making Maccabi fans boo even harder.

Despite having a 5-on-4 opportunity, Maccabi didn't manage to score points. Fabien Causeur made a long-range pass to Llull, who was still next to the hosts' basket, and scored easy points.

Boom. That initiated a 9-0 Real Madrid run, which increased their lead to 48-34.

Once again, Menora Mivtachim Arena was silenced.

Every time Maccabi tried to take over the game, Real Madrid found an answer at the most crucial moment.

The final punch came from the only one and only Sergio Llull. With 4.1 seconds left in the third quarter, Llull missed the second free throw, but Guerschon Yabusele grabbed an offensive rebound and gave the ball to Llull, who beat the buzzer with the second bank shot in the quarter.

Real took a 12-point lead and it was over from that moment as Maccabi didn’t manage to make another comeback after that.

"When you play in front of these amazing fans, one of the things that you want to achieve is the momentum," Maccabi's head coach Avi Even answered the BasketNews question on unsuccessful attempts of taking the game over. "Unfortunately, every time we were one step [away] of taking the momentum and getting in the position of taking the lead, they had some crazy shots, or we missed."

"It is what it is. The momentum is crucial, and we played against a very experienced team. They had some good shots, good decision, combined with some crazy shots," Even added.

So, after having the worst regular-season finish of all playoffs teams, Real Madrid became the only one that completed the sweep of their series.

For Laso, it will be the seventh Final Four in the last 10 years. During that time, Real Madrid became champions twice (2015, 2018) and finished second in 2013 and 2014.

So, where does that hunger, desire, and energy to go for it every single year come from?

"In your career as a coach, you always think about moments," Laso told BasketNews in the press conference. "Both good and bad, for sure. It would be stupid to say that the coach is always happy."

"I remember one night. Omar Cook came up to me and said, 'Coach, I'd really love to see you enjoying and getting into a game like that. For me, these were great words on his part. Because it's the way, I am. I feel it, I have that passion.

Probably if you told me 25 years ago, when I was still playing with the hair on my head, that I will reach seven Final Fours, I wouldn't believe it. Right now, I'm very happy. I'm very happy for me, for sure, but the way I see basketball, I'm also very happy for my players and for my team," Laso continued.

Series against Maccabi was a statement from Real that they could have been underestimated too soon. And winning another trophy would be like a Hollywood scripted movie for Laso and some of his compañeros.

Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernandez are the only current Real players who were on the team when Laso took charge.

Jeffery Taylor and Trey Thompkins have been wearing white jerseys since 2015. Anthony Randolph joined in 2016, Fabien Causeur and Walter Tavares signed for Real in 2017, while Gabriel Deck came to Madrid in 2018.

Even if we exclude Deck for his 1-year adventure in the NBA, at least seven players are with Real Madrid for at least five years.

Knowing that most of them will probably remain for the upcoming season, to call Real's 2021-22 season run 'Last Dance' would be too bold. Nevertheless, such a turnaround and the fact that Real are a serious contender for the title is nothing but incredible.

If anything crazy won't happen, Real Madrid will face FC Barcelona in the semifinals. So far, the Catalans have been the nemesis of Real, winning 5 games out of 6 this season.

Asked whether Real could win the most important battle against their eternal rivals, once again, Laso emphasized the importance of the team.

"We beat them in the final of the SuperCup, we lost in the final of Copa del Rey. If we played them in the Final Four, it would be a final. Barcelona have a great team, and we all know it.

I'm not going to talk good about Barcelona players, you already know how good they are. Like Real Madrid players. Of course, they are good. But for me, the most important [thing] is the team, not the players.

Players, for sure, can be good, but if they do their job, they can be even better. In the end, it's a team thing. If we try to beat with one guy stepping up and dominating the game, it wouldn't be right. We need everybody to perform, we know difficult this series will be without Gabriel Deck and Jeffery Taylor.

Everybody stepped up. This is something we would need in that game. I don't know who's going to play for 1 or 40 minutes, but if we play like a team, we have a chance to beat anyone, not only Barcelona. Barcelona or Bayern, who knows," Laso concluded his detailed answer with a smile.

Whether Real Madrid face Barcelona or Bayern in the Final Four, these gladiators are coming back to the arena after a 3-year break. And as Laso said, they expect to put their best version out there.

The warning has been sent. 3 weeks from now, and it's game on – Real Madrid are back.

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