Fuente: © FIBA (Federación Internacional de Basket)
http://www.fiba.org/

FIBA: ESP - Tau keep rolling; Rudy sparks DKV

/noticias.info/ VITORIA (ACB) - Tau Ceramica are quickly proving that despite the departure of former coach Dusko Ivanovic to Barcelona, it is business as usual with defending champions Real Madrid the latest to be brushed aside by the proud Basque club.

Tau, beaten in the ACB final last season by Real, rolled to an 80-57 triumph at the Fernando Buesa Arena on Wednesday.

"We were sensational in our defensive rebounds and I congratulate my players because they were terrific, and all of them fought to leave Madrid with not many points," said Tau coach Pedro Martinez.

Early season results suggest Tau could be better than ever.

Superstar forward Luis Scola of Argentina and Hungarian big man Kornel David have been excellent, but Martinez is getting contributions from nearly all of his players.

Tau, who lost Arvydas Macijauskas and Jose Manuel Calderon to the New Orleans Hornets and Toronto Raptors, respectively, as well as saying goodbye to Ivanovic, began the season by lifting the Supercup, beating Real Madrid and Granada on the way to the first title of the campaign.

In the ACB clash, Martinez's men blew Madrid off court.

After trailing 19-15 near the end of the first quarter, Tau hit top gear and by half-time led 40-25.

That had opened up to 63-44 at the end of the third period and at one moment Tau led by a crushing 75-48, showing no mercy to the side their fans always want to beat.

"After an even start, we broke the game open in the second period, players like Sergi Vidal and Travis Hansen, who came off the bench were important," said Martinez.

Tau had a balanced scoring attack, led by David's 14 points.

"I am very satisfied because a lot of players gave something important to the game," he said.

Madrid coach Bozidar Maljkovic believes the result should serve as a wake-up call to some who believe his side are better than they actually are.

"I repeat that we are not a great team. We can be among the best, but we are not the favourites," said Maljkovic.

"We played badly in all aspects; in defence and attack and we lacked logic in our play because Tau defended very well and they had the depth on the bench to beat us."

DKV Joventut won for the third time in four ACB games, beating fellow EuroCup side Gran Canaria at the Centro Insular De Deportes, 77-66.

Rudy Fernandez had a game-high 22 points for DKV, nine of them at the end of the third quarter when he put his team in front for good.

Gran Canaria were leading 42-41 when the Spanish sensation Fernandez score his side's next nine points on six free throws and a three-pointer.

The Fernandez spurt gave DKV a 50-44 lead. The advantage ballooned to 15 in the fourth quarter and they cruised home.

Unicaja Malaga's struggles continued as Sergio Scariolo's team, without Fran Vazquez this year following his departure to Girona, lost 73-61 at Lagun Aro Bilbao.

Unicaja won last season's Copa del Rey and are supposed to be among the title contenders but they have lost three of their first four games.

Leche Rio Breogan, the team coached by former Spain boss Moncho Lopez, made it three wins out of four, beating Caja San Fernando 77-70, despite Lou Roe's 25 points for the visitors.

Forum Valladolid's miserable start to the season continued; they have still to win in four games after crashing 89-85 at home to Ricoh Manresa. notas_de_prensa_archivo