2020-21Regular SeasonRound 7
November 06, 2020 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 ZALGIRIO ARENA

Tavares and Campazzo lead Real to comeback in Kaunas

Real Madrid came back from an 11-point deficit to claim a hard-earned and exciting 90-93 road win at Zalgiris Kaunas on Friday night. Real were red-hot in the first quarter to take a 24-32 lead, but a 13-0 run put Zalgiris in charge. The home team’s lead grew to 66-55 in the third quarter, but Real battled back in the fourth and Walter Tavares took over in the final stages to seal the outcome. It was the first road win of the season for Real, which improves to 3-4, while Zalgiris drops to 5-2. The unstoppable Tavares, who missed only 1 foul shot all night, led Real with a huge double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Facundo Campazzo also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists. Jaycee Carroll netted 13 points, Sergio Llull added 11 and Alberto Abalde scored 10 in victory. Thomas Walkup paced Zalgiris with 18 points, and October’s league MVP Marius Grigonis added 17. Augustine Rubit scored 14 points, Arturas Milaknis added 12 and Nigel Hayes contributed 10.

Campazzo twice fed Tavares to score from Real’s opening two possessions, while Grigonis, Campazzo and Walkup were on target from deep for an 8-8 tie. Walkup netted another triple but Carroll bettered that with two inside buckets and a triple for an 11-18 lead. The red-hot Carroll and Lukas Lekavicius traded floaters and a pair of threeballs from Campazzo made it 19-30. Milaknis responded from deep before Carroll again and Rubit fixed the first quarter score at 24-32. Rubit opened the second quarter with a pair of baskets, Milaknis struck from beyond the arc and Walkup’s floater and three-pointer sent Zalgiris ahead, 39-34, as Real scored just 2 points in the opening 6:30 of the period. Llull ended that drought from deep and soon added another pair of baskets, but 5 points from Grigonis followed by threeballs from Hayes and Walkup kept Zalgiris ahead at the break, 54-48. Joffrey Lauvergne scored twice to start the second half, and a tip-in from Walkup made it a double-digit game, 60-50. Tavares and Abalde brought Real closer, but Milankis from deep and Rubit from mid-range protected the home team’s lead. Tavares continued to punish Zalgiris inside and his three-point play helped make it 73-67 with ten minutes remaining. Trey Thompkins twice struck from long-range early in the fourth, and another triple from Campazzo gave Real the lead, 75-78. Lauvergne and Grigonis struck back for Zalgiris, and a three-point play by Milaknis made it 82-78. Campazzo and Hayes struck from deep, before Tavares with two alley-oops and a layup made it 86-87 inside the last 90 seconds. Tavares grabbed another offensive rebound and made his free throws to extend the lead, and Zalgiris couldn’t answer as Real held firm.


Real on fire in the first

Real circulated the ball superbly in the first quarter, racking up 9 assists and making 8-of-8 two-point attempts in the process of scoring 32 points in the opening 10 minutes. Facundo Campazzo shone with 11 points and 4 assists and Jaycee Carroll also netted 11 in that sparkling first quarter.

Tireless Campazzo makes a difference

Although Walter Tavares was the key man with a huge double-double, Campazzo also played a key role in the victory. Real’s point guard scored a career-high 5 three-pointers, and spent every second of the second half on the floor as he finished with 19 points, 10 assists and 3 steals.

Career performance for Walkup

Thomas Walkup produced the best performance of his 69-game EuroLeague career by posting 18 points, 9 assists and a personal best 7 rebounds for a PIR of 29. But all 18 of those points came in the opening 22 minutes and Real was able to contain him much better the rest of the way.

Milaknis climbs into all-time top ten

Zalgiris sniper Arturas Milaknis made 3-of-4 three-point attempts to climb into the competition’s all-time top 10 for triples converted. He now has 379 career triples, overtaking JR Holden (377).

Next round

Round 8 will send Zalgiris to Israel to face Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv next Thursday, while Real is back on the road to face Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade the following night.

Facundo Campazzo - Real Madrid - EB20
Friday, November 6, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PUKL,SASA; BISSANG, JOSEPH; PANTHER, ANNE
Attendance: 239
By Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas24301917
Real Madrid32161926
End of Quarter1234
Zalgiris Kaunas24547390
Real Madrid32486793
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WALKUP, THOMAS 31:32 18 3/5 4/6   3 4 7 9   2     2 3 29
1 BLAZEVIC, MAREK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 20:19 6 2/4 0/1 2/2   2 2 2   2     4 2 3
10 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 25:58 12 1/1 2/3 4/4 1 5 6 3   1 1   2 2 20
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 8:55     0/2                   2   -4
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 19:02 12 1/2 3/4 1/1       2 1       1 2 14
23 GEBEN, MARTINAS 6:17 3 0/1   3/4       1 1 1     3 2 1
24 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 13:10 14 5/6   4/4   1 1   1       1 2 16
32 VASTURIA, STEVE 18:50 2 1/2 0/1         2 1 1     4 1 -1
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 30:28 17 4/12 1/3 6/6   2 2 3 1     2 3 5 13
77 LAUVERGNE, JOFFREY 25:29 6 3/6     1 4 5 1 1 2     2 1 7
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 90 20/39 10/20 20/21 6 19 25 23 6 9 1 2 24 20 100
        51.3% 50% 95.2%
Head coach: SCHILLER, MARTIN
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
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 RANDOLPH, ANTHONY 23:53 7 3/4 0/2 1/1   1 1 1   1 1   2 2 6
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 28:46 10 1/1 1/4 5/6 1 3 4 3 1 1     3 4 14
7 CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO 32:43 19 1/1 5/8 2/2   3 3 10 3 4     4 4 28
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 7:17 5 2/2 0/1 1/1       1         1 2 6
9 REYES, FELIPE 2:26   0/1               1     2 2 -2
12 ALOCEN, CARLOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 GARUBA, USMAN 11:31   0/1     1   1 1         1    
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 23:11 13 5/6 1/4     1 1 2 1 1     2   10
22 TAVARES, WALTER 21:02 22 9/9   4/5 6 6 12 1   1     3 4 34
23 LLULL, SERGIO 19:44 11 2/5 1/4 4/5   1 1 4   1     1 6 13
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 21:05 6 0/3 2/3     3 3       1 1 1   4
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 8:22     0/1     1 1           1   -1
Team           1 3 4     2         2
Totals 200:00 93 23/33 10/27 17/20 9 22 31 23 5 12 2 1 21 24 114
        69.7% 37% 85%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO

Head Coaches

SCHILLER, MARTIN
Zalgiris Kaunas
“Congratulations to Real Madrid. We got a defensive grip on the game in the second and third quarters, but in the third quarter the opponent scored 10 points off offensive rebounds, we couldn’t close the possession. That was hurting us a lot. Still I thought we took the lead with our defense, but what changed the rhythm of the game with 5 minutes to go was Thompkins with the pick and pops. It was a tight game and they came out making one or two plays more.”
LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
“We couldn’t play defense against them in the first half, not just scoring but playing too easy, penetrating, passing, moving the ball too easy. In the second half defensively we stepped up, we were able to control our boards, and then we controlled the rhythm of the game. We played good offensive, attacking the paint, looking for open jumpers, and Tavares inside was very effective, but it all started when we changed our mentality defensively and we did a great job defensively in the second half to come back in the game. I think it’s a good lesson. We have to be solid, not only offensively or defensively, but in every aspect because in the EuroLeague you face great teams. If you don’t play good defense or are suffering on rebounds, anything like that can give the other team a lot of opportunities. Our second half was very solid and shows us the way we have to continue to play and grow as a team.”

Players

WALKUP, THOMAS
Zalgiris Kaunas
“We gave up almost 50 points at half-time and finished with 93, that’s too many. We need to correct some things and get it right next game. We let them do what they wanted to do, and didn’t tune into our defensive gameplan.”
TAVARES, WALTER
Real Madrid
“We stayed focused, we concentrated and we kept fighting until the end. That was the key. We kept it consistent, did what we do best, found a good way on the offensive end, and found the open guy every time.”
CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO
Real Madrid
“I’m so tired right now! But the happiness is more. We played a smart game, a great second half, we shared the ball and played hard defense, so I’m very happy for that.”