Laso after his 800th game with Real: 'We showed character again, this is our identity' / News - Basketnews.com

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Real Madrid (11-2) remained on the top of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague standings after a thrilling game against Maccabi Tel Aviv (7-6) decided by Guerschon Yabusele.

Player of the Game EFF 17 Walter Tavares Points 9 Accuracy 4-5 Rebounds 8 Assists 1

The Blancos got its seventh consecutive win in the Euroleague. Pablo Laso could not hide his happiness with the victory.

"I want to congratulate my players. It has been a difficult game. We did not have rhythmon offense, but we understood what we needed in the last quarter", said the Spanish coach.

"When you are down, it is not easy to play possession by possession. You just want to overcome fast. And we did it great. We focused on each defense, each offense. Rebounding, being patient. Then Yabusele decided with a great individual action", added Laso.

Asked about another overcome, something that shows Madrid's identity, the 54-year-old admitted he prefers to win easier.

"We knew Maccabi is a physical team, and they will test us on that. Today we lacked inspiration, but we were good on defense. We left them with only 11 points in the last quarter. It means everything," emphasized Laso.

Alberto Abalde left the game in the second quarter and did not return to the court.

"We will have to wait. It seems he has fiber breakage. He was annoyed because he felt it. He will not play this weekend and probably will be out more days," recognized Laso.

Laso, who reached his 800th game as Madrid's head coach, praised his players.

"I am so proud of them because we showed character again. This is our identity," he concluded.

On the other side, Giannis Sfairopolous gave a short press conference after the game.

"I have congratulated our players in the locker room," Sfairopoulos said. "We controlled the game, we played well... I think we deserved to win. Just the small details took away the victory from us."

Maccabi Tel Aviv have not won in Madrid since 2010. It's eleven losses in a row.

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