Bilbao Basket 79-67 Real Madrid (April 13, 2022) -The Stitch

There was Llull and nothing else.

When it's not a matter of just one player, when the good image against the current best (financially priceless for them) team in Europe is not worth it, when the exits are not noticed, neither due to absence nor due to the team climate of action, when nothing works, when the basket becomes a white dwarf... well, it's time to narrate another defeat.

This time against Bilbao, whom we had beaten 27 out of 36 times, and no less than +34 the last time we met.

As always at this time, it was the day of anniversaries of leagues and cups that adorn our memories. But only Llull, who came from his own record, posted reasonable numbers. https://twitter.com/ACBCOM/status/1513800428701597699From the outset it seemed like another tight match. Sergi was the great value of the group (he quickly got to 14 points) and the scoreboard reflected tug-of-war, until a first 22-18 in the opening quarter https://twitter.com/ACBCOM/status/1514296884168376325

Real Madrid was in dispute to win the game, and we took the lead on occasions, without ever taking off (31-33 after the basket from above, for example). Four down, at the end of the second quarter, 45-41, in a tied segment

We could have foreseen that the last quarter could choke us with the unfortunate start after the break. 12-1, which as a tribute to Malta was already worth us https://twitter.com/MovistarBasket/status/1514306673464197126

We had a final moment of inspiration with a partial 0-10 with which the team finished tidying up the end of the third quarter 60-55.

And the beginning of horrors came in the last quarter. We hadn't caught a ball when we were already down by 10. At 75-61 we could already see Laso desperate on the bench, yelling at one of his assistants who was enduring the downpour. On the court, meanwhile, Deck was throwing a watermelon like you and I would do after a party with Heurtel: it didn't even reach the hoop. No better metaphor for how bad we played from there to the end.

79-67 would be the end. 12 points for Madrid in the last quarter, the one in which our players become softball players, for being soft, or whatever. < p style="text-align: justify;">Now anyone begins to doubt in what position we will finish the regular league, something unthinkable a month ago.