Incredible Llull returns to give Madrid victory in Tenerife in the last second



Over the previous 39 minutes, the game saw waves of good play from one side to the other. While Tenerife struggled to warm up and offered too many doubts in defense, Madrid kept the ball and the best chances from the opening minutes. He becomes the owner of the floor until Jaime Fernández He eliminated local irregularities and propelled the Tenerife team to a 10-0 score to mark the territory.

However, the locals did not have continuity, and Real Madrid did, which forced a new period of errors from the rival to calm the ball again and tip the feelings to their side. Those of Scariolo did not suffervery confident, despite the 22 turnovers with which the match ended, because there was success on all points and 44 ball interceptions.

As a guide from the start in this reaction and in the continuity of the second quarter, Sergio Llull, of course. But they also helped Maledon and Tavaresthat opened a ten-point lead that remained at eight at halftime (25-33) and was extended again into the third quarter.

Ten minutes of high tension

But Tenerife reacted, and in an important way, with a triple score from Jaime Fernández, Giedriatis and Alderete, which increased the adrenaline of the shock, lighting up the pavilion as they managed to scare and even defeat the whites on the scoreboard: 48-49 to start the last ten minutes of the match.

Ten minutes of high tension that the stands celebrated, encouraging their team to keep Tenerife always close, very close, every time Madrid took a slight advantage. Yeah Héjonza managed to extend the distance to five points with a triple, Fernández immediately responded with five more consecutive points (58-60).

An explosion of Portenekamp He unleashed the madness in Santiago Martín who sealed the tie (69-69) 49 seconds from the end of a final which also included an error from Hejonza (top scorer, with 17 points) on the three-point line and another from Fernández, but the Madrilenian made up for it by scoring one of the two free throws on the mistake committed by Campazzo (70-69).

Scariolo’s timeout had only one message: the ball to Llull. And with 2.9 seconds left, the Mahón player assumed his responsibilities, took a breath, received the ball, took one, two, three steps towards the basket, rose above everyone, hovered eternally in the air to throw the ball at the right time and at the right parabola: basket, end of the match, Real Madrid’s seventh consecutive victory in the ACB league.

“Tenerife, with a lot of pride and success in shooting, especially in the second half, had his chance, but the final result was for us. I am very happy for Sergio, because he continues to be a great captain. There are matches in which he plays more and others less, but on a daily basis he is always there and today he had to act like a leader”, commented Sergio Scariolo, who appreciated this victory: “Considering that you have just played in Europe and decide to rest key players, I think this victory has a lot of merit.”