Villeurbanne conceded its fifteenth defeat of the season in the Euroleague after losing by one point (77-76) against Real Madrid, European champion, Thursday at the LDLC Arena in Décines-Charpieu during the extreme match of the 17th day.
Asvel, which has only two victories, away in C1, occupies the last place in a ranking of which Real is first with only one setback for sixteen victories at the end of the first phase.
Deprived of its leader, Nando de Colo, injured in a calf, the Villeurbanne team nevertheless made life difficult for the Madrilenians in a meeting during which the two teams were quite clumsy, on shots (25/45, 55 .6% for Asvel, 24/46, 52.2% for Real) as well as three points (6/18 for Villeurbanne, 5/15 for Madrid).
After winning the first two quarters (19-18, 20-15), led by Paris Lee (17 pts), Joffrey Lauvergne (16 pts) and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (20 pts), Gianmarco Pozzecco’s team led 39-33 at halftime before sharing the points in the third (18-18, 57-51).
The match turned at the start of the last quarter when Real, deprived of Frenchman Guershon Yabusele, Mario Hezonja, Gabriel Deck and Rudy Fernandez, led for the first time in the match (59-57, 33rd). The Spanish team then broke away from the score to win, even if the Villeurbannais came back to one point three seconds from the end (77-76) after having equalized 48 seconds from the siren (74-74) .
The year 2023 will have been terrible for Asvel in the Euroleague with only four successes including only one at home, where Villeurbanne has not won since last January, for a total of 29 defeats. This assessment confirms that Tony Parker’s team is still far from the level required in the Euroleague, despite its new ultra-modern Arena for matches in the most prestigious European basketball competition.
