Cajasol Seville beat Real Madrid (60-66), in the first game of playoff’s quarterfinals in the ACB league. A spectacular game by Dusko Savanovic and, as always, Tariq Kirksay. In a low-scoring game, the Sevillian team managed to get advantage of their great defence against the best scoring team in the league.
The script was quite easy: to win Real Madrid you have to play perfect defense, most of all if you play away. You can’t let them score fast as they have done the two previous games against Cajasol, in which Plaza’s men suffered big defeats. So Cajasol played always to the limit of the clock in every attack, and making the game really slow.
Real Madrid just didn’t know how to read this game. Messina, the king of the basket-control, completely uneable to react to his adversary. He tried even to play with Sergi Vidal, who didn’t play in the previous games but the last signing, Morris Almond, never stepped on the court.
The game was very slow, none of the teams getting great advantages, until the last quarter, when Cajasol managed to get 12 points in advantage thanks to great baskets by Dusko Savanovic, arguably the most developed player this season in the league, and Ivan Radenovic, for the first time in the season a player with confidence.
The only problem to solve for Cajasol is how to control their defensive rebound (18-5 to Real Madrid). Next saturday in Seville could be a historic moment for local team if they manage to win again the spanish powerhouse, since for the first time in years they would reach semifinals (which curiously happened last time after beating Real Madrid too…)
60 – Real Madrid (16+18+17+9): Prigioni (6), Llull (10), Velickovic (6), Reyes (9), Tomic (6) –starting five– Lavrinovic (5), Jaric (-), Van den Spiegel (3), Garbajosa (2), Bullock (13), Vidal (-)
66 – Cajasol (14+17+22+13): Calloway (4), Ellis (9), Kirksay (14), Savanovic (19), Triguero (4) –starting five– Miso (8), Cabanas (-), Douglas (-), Radenovic (8)
