Dubai find their finish against Real Madrid

Dubai’s decisive attack began with a miss, and then another. Dwayne Bacon could not score with his side four points behind late in the fourth quarter, but Elie Okobo recovered the ball. Mfiondu Kabengele then missed from distance, followed his own shot and drew a foul. His two free throws brought Dubai within a basket of Real Madrid, preserving a chance that might have disappeared with either rebound.

McKinley Wright made the next scoring opportunity count. His three with 55 seconds remaining put Dubai in front, and they held on to win by a single point at Coca Cola Arena on September 24. The small margin revealed little about how often the match had changed direction. Madrid had been six ahead inside the last three minutes and still had the final possession to win it.

The result gave Dubai an immediate answer to their defeat by the same opponents in Abu Dhabi six days earlier. Madrid had won that SuperCup semi final after overtime, leaving Xavi Pascual with a close game to examine before the EuroLeague season began. This time Dubai found the late points and Madrid could not respond. Their second European campaign had started with a win that remained available to either side until the final seconds.

Bacon had done much of the work needed to keep it available. He finished with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists, making nine of eleven attempts from inside the arc. Neither of his two threes went in, but he continued to supply points through the areas of the court where he was having success. Dubai did not have to wait for a difficult shooting evening to improve everywhere at once; they had one scorer whose finishing was consistently productive.

He scored eight points in the first quarter, helping the hosts establish an early rhythm around the basket. Madrid recovered through changes from the bench and briefly moved in front, before Dubai finished the period four ahead. The visitors then found more reliable shooting. Mikael Jantunen made two threes in the second quarter, and Madrid’s attack began producing enough points to offset the extra possessions Dubai were finding at the other end.

By half time, the visitors led by six, having stretched the advantage to eleven before Dubai reduced it. Madrid had scored 28 in the period, a more fluent passage than their opening ten minutes. For Dubai, the interval arrived with a clear need to improve their use of the ball. Bacon’s scoring was valuable, but too many of the other opportunities were ending without a basket.

Okobo helped change that on the restart. Dubai scored the first nine points of the third quarter, six of them through the French guard, to move back ahead. Damian Jones answered around the basket for Madrid and prevented that recovery from becoming a sizeable home lead. The quarter ended with Dubai one in front, restoring the close balance that would eventually decide the evening.

The shooting figures show how much Bacon’s efficiency mattered. Dubai made seventeen baskets from two point range and he was responsible for nine of them. His teammates combined for eight from 29 attempts. That left a considerable amount of work for the rest of the team to recover, particularly when fifteen turnovers also removed chances to score. A good night from the leading scorer alone would have been a precarious way to overcome those numbers.

Dubai gave themselves more opportunities through rebounding. They finished with eighteen offensive boards, twice Madrid’s total, and a fifteen rebound advantage overall. Tornike Shengelia collected five at the attacking end despite struggling to make his own shots. Those contributions kept missed attempts from becoming the end of a possession. They also helped ensure that a poor shooting spell did not immediately become a run of easy opportunities for Madrid.

The visitors still appeared to have created a winning position early in the fourth quarter. A strong defensive stretch allowed only two Dubai points while Madrid moved seven clear. Bacon scored again, Filip Petrusev made a three and Andres Feliz replied for Madrid, leaving the home side six behind with a little over three minutes remaining. There was no longer much time for another extended recovery.

Dubai found it in a short sequence of useful possessions. Okobo reduced the gap, Kabengele turned the two offensive rebounds into free throws and Wright then made his first three of the game from Bacon’s pass. Madrid did not score again after taking that six point lead. Dubai’s final seven points were enough to change the result, with the shot that put them ahead created by the player who had carried much of the scoring earlier.

There was still a last defensive task. Feliz blocked Wright, helping Madrid gain possession with ten seconds left and the opportunity to end the night themselves. His final attempt did not fall. Dubai had protected the smallest possible advantage, a finish that rewarded the work required to make the game close rather than erasing how difficult much of it had been.

Pascual has plenty to take from both sides of that performance. Bacon’s finishing and the offensive rebounding gave Dubai a route through an evening of missed shots, while the turnovers and uneven scoring left them relying on a late rescue. The useful part is that the rescue came from several players. Okobo retrieved a miss, Kabengele recovered another and Wright completed the opening that followed. Dubai kept finding another chance until they had taken the one that mattered.