2018-19Regular SeasonRound 1
Real Madrid 109
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul 93
October 11, 2018 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 WIZINK CENTER

Madrid starts title defense by routing Darussafaka

Reigning Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion Real Madrid started its title defense by routing EuroCup champion Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul 109-93 in the Spanish capital on Thursday. Anthony Randolph led six Madrid scorers in double figures with 16 points. Jaycee Carroll added 14, Sergio Llull, Jeffery Taylor and Fabien Causeur scored 13 each and Edy Tavares got 12 for Madrid. Ray McCallum paced Darussafaka with 18 points, Zanis Peiners and Stanton Kidd each added 12 and Emircan Kosut 10 for the visitors.

Randolph shined early with a triple, a power layup and a jumper in a 9-0 run that gave Madrid an 11-2 lead. Three-pointers by Causeur and Taylor soon caused Darussafaka to call timeout at 17-6. The guests cut their deficit to 25-18 after 10 minutes. Facu Campazzo and Felipe Reyes took over in the second quarter and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Rudy Fernandez boosted Madrid's margin to 53-38 at halftime. Randolph took over after the intermission and helped Madrid break the game open at 69-47. Tavares kept dominating in the paint and a rain of three-pointers - including an incredible one by Llull at the third quarter buzzer - kept Madrid far ahead, 91-69, after 30 minutes. Nothing changed from that moment as Madrid extended its margin to 101-75 and cruised to a very convincing win.

Pivotal performer

On a day in which Madrid hit 15 three-point shots, a big man made the difference in the paint. Edy Tavares had 12 points and missed just one shot. He added 6 rebounds, had 2 blocks and intimidated everyone around him to get an index rating of 16 in less than 20 minutes.

Stellar stat

Three-point shots made the difference in this game. Madrid made 15 of 34 (44.1%) while limiting Darussafaka to 8 of 23 (34.8%). On a night in which both teams shot well inside the arc (Madrid 63.2%, Darussafaka 66.7%), outside shooting was critical.

Game-changing moment

With a tired Ognjen Kuzmic struggling to intimidate in the paint, Darussafaka got within 46-36 late in the first half. Tavares came back, followed free throws with a layup and then blocked a shot that allowed Fernandez to beat the halftime buzzer with a big three-pointer for a 53-38 margin at halftime and full control of the game for good.

Did you notice?

Madrid had its seventh-best scoring night in competition history with 109 points. It hadn't scored that many points since downing Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari 115-94 on November 5, 2014.

Next game

Darussafaka plays its home opener against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica on Tuesday. It is a rematch of last season's 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals, which Darussafaka swept. A day later, Madrid visits AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan. Those teams faced each other in the 1967 European Cup Final, which Madrid won 91-83.

Real Madrid celebrates - EB18
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; PANTHER, ANNE
Attendance: 8168
By Quarter1234
Real Madrid25283818
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul18203124
End of Quarter1234
Real Madrid255391109
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul18386993
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 CAUSEUR, FABIEN 18:35 13 2/8 3/4   1 1 2 3 1 1     1 1 11
3 RANDOLPH, ANTHONY 20:14 16 3/4 3/5 1/2   1 1 3 1 1     1 2 17
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 20:00 5 1/3 1/4   1 2 3 5         2 1 7
7 CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO 18:08 7 1/2 1/6 2/2   2 2 3   1     3 4 6
9 REYES, FELIPE 13:50 9 3/3   3/3   1 1     2     2 4 10
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 13:33 14 4/4 2/4     1 1   2       4   11
22 TAVARES, WALTER 19:32 12 5/6   2/2 1 5 6       2 1 3 1 16
23 LLULL, SERGIO 21:55 13 1/1 2/6 5/5   1 1 8   2     1 4 19
24 DECK, GABRIEL 13:49 2 1/1 0/1   1   1 1   2     2 1  
25 PREPELIC, KLEMEN 7:49 2   0/1 2/2 1 1 2           1 1 3
32 KUZMIC, OGNJEN 12:35 3 1/4   1/2 2 4 6       2 1 1 1 6
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 20:00 13 2/2 3/3   2 1 3 3 1 2     1 1 18
Team           4 1 5               5
Totals 200:00 109 24/38 15/34 16/18 13 21 34 26 5 11 4 2 22 21 129
        63.2% 44.1% 88.9%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 MCCALLUM, RAY 31:19 18 7/12 1/3 1/2 2 4 6 6 3 3   2 3 3 20
3 OZMIZRAK, KARTAL 11:51 8 1/1 2/2     1 1           1 4 12
9 KOSUT, EMIRCAN 6:56 10 4/6   2/4 2   2           3 4 9
10 DEMIR, BERK 4:48               1         1    
11 KIDD, STANTON 22:07 12 4/4 1/4 1/1 2 2 4 2   1     2 1 13
18 OZDEMIROGLU, DOGUS 10:32 6 1/1 1/1 1/4       1         3 3 4
21 SAVAS, OGUZ 9:02 4 2/3           1   1   1 2 1 1
22 BROWN, MARKEL 15:50 2 1/3 0/4   1 2 3     1   1 3   -6
31 PEINERS, ZANIS 20:26 12 5/6 0/1 2/3 2   2 1   2     1 4 13
33 DIEBLER, JON 19:09 5   1/3 2/2   1 1 1   1     1 1 4
40 EVANS, JEREMY 29:33 8 1/1 2/5 0/1   3 3 2   3 2     1 9
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 18:27 8 4/8     4 2 6 1 1 2     1   9
Team             4 4               4
Totals 200:00 93 30/45 8/23 9/17 13 19 32 16 4 14 2 4 21 22 92
        66.7% 34.8% 52.9%
Head coach: CAKI, AHMET

Head Coaches

LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"First of all, congratulations to the guys for the victory. I think we started a new competition and playing at home, I believe our staging was very good. We played a very solid first half. We were punished by some mistakes that would have allowed us to get an even bigger lead. In general terms, we were in the right away after the first half. Then in the third quarter, I guess anyone who watched it here or on TV enjoyed it; it was back-and-forth basketball, they tried to open the floor a lot and the third-quarter score says it all, 38-31. Both teams hit a lot of shots and our lead went up to 20-25 points. In the end, we had the win under control. I am happy with the way the whole team was involved and for the win. We have to rest and recover. We have a tough week ahead of us with games on Sunday, Tuesday, Friday and the following Sunday. I have the feeling that we played with a lot of rhythm and found a lot of shots. At first, they opted to lock their own rim in pick-and-roll situations. It was hard for us to find our big men, but found open shots. Even though we had good percentages at halftime, we could have made even more, because we had a lot of open looks. After the break, they tried to put more pressure on defense, leaving more open looks, and we moved the ball very well, finding open shooters. Offensively, in general terms, I think we had a very good game because most of our shots were open, looking for the extra pass, and we grabbed tough offensive rebounds."
CAKI, AHMET
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul
"We knew what kind of team we were going to play against. Last year, they were the champions, Real Madrid. We prepared the game to make less simple mistakes and not allow easy scoring opportunities because we knew that Madrid can punish every simple mistake and get easy points in a few seconds. But we couldn't play this way; we had 11 turnovers and gave them 10 offensive rebounds and because of that, they hit 15 three-point shots. We reacted badly in the final two minutes of the first half and they got a 15-point difference. And also, from the locker room, we couldn't come back [in the second half] and this is why we had a difference of more than 20 points. After that, in the last part of the game, I think we did something good. We kept going offensively and created something good with just 3 turnovers in the second half. We tried to finish the game in a good way, but Real Madrid is very experienced, a high-level team and our performance was not enough to stop them. That's why they got 109 points; it is too much for us, but I believe this difference is quality difference. We have to improve, especially on offense, with less turnovers. We allowed 109 points; not just for bad defense, but for bad offense. We have a lot of ways to improve. We will work hard and stay together."

Players

TAYLOR, JEFFERY
Real Madrid
"I think it was a good start for us. We played pretty good defense. We were sharing the ball a lot, a lot of assists, finding the open players and making the shots. I am a pretty good shooter from the corners, I like to shoot those corner threes and today they just happened to go in. I just happened to have a good day. I try to do everything that the team needs to win. Darussafaka has a lot of talent on their team. The EuroLeague is tough. Obviously, they started today against us. It was a tough game for them, but I think they'll do well."
REYES, FELIPE
Real Madrid
"We are happy with the first win and such a good start. We have to carry on that way. We now have a double week and hope we can do as well as we did until now. We have an advantage at the start of the season; we more or less kept the same players from last season and you can tell on the court. We have to keep working hard without relaxing or being overconfident, because we will have bad moments in such a long season, and that is when we have to be together to go through that in the best way that we can. Winning it again is very difficult, but not impossible. We will work to make our fans happy and fight for all the titles this season. We are playing at a really high level so far, playing good defense, moving the ball, with everyone involved. That is the goal: having a great start and a good season. We work hard in practice and hope that work is shown in our games. So far, it is going well."