"When you don't kill a good team on the road, you are going to lose a game," Saras said.
In a thrilling EuroLeague version of El Clasico, Real Madrid needed overtime to beat archrivals FC Barcelona 91-86 in the Spanish capital on Thursday night. With this win, Real improved to a 14-7 record and topped the standings, while Barca dropped to 13-6.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
27
|
| Paris Lee | |
| Points | 24 |
| Accuracy | 9-12 |
| Rebounds | 1 |
| Assists | 4 |
After the eternal derby, Barca head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius pointed out that it's very difficult to win the game when you waste double-digit leads a couple of times.
"Classical loss," he said in a post-game interview. "When you don't kill a good team on the road, you are going to lose a game."
"I do not know which team was better but Madrid won," Saras continued in the press conference. "It's a big disappointment for playing so poorly after having game control. We just gave it away."
Dzanan Musa made the difference in the game, scoring half of his 18 points in overtime to propel Real to the win. Gabriel Deck led the winners with 23 points, while Sergio Llull added 19 and Walter Tavares 10 for Los Blancos.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game until the end, and we played with big heart today, especially in the last quarter, when we came back. Their lead was 7 to 9 points and it was not easy, but we did a very big effort and our supporters brought us to victory.
Gabi Deck... if someone represents this big heart, probably it's him. We are very happy with him and with all the other players that were involved in a such tough and difficult game," Chus Mateo said after the game.
Veteran Llull also praised Deck who was crucial in a comeback effort.
"In the end, we recovered our soul, our character. You can win or lose games, but cannot never lose your character and your DNA as a team. I think that in the last quarter and in overtime, we showed that character to win.
Gabi [Gabriel Deck] is amazing. He is a quiet guy that doesn't speak too much off the floor. But on the floor, you saw his character. He never puts his arms down, and we really need him," Llull said of his teammate.
Since overtime points don't count for tie-breakers, and Barca grabbed a two-point, non-overtime win against Los Blancos in Round 2, it would have the tie-break advantage over Los Blancos (1-1, +2) at the end of the regular season.
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