“Waking up” in the second quarter, Real Madrid swept Zalgiris 96-69 at the “Vizink Center” for the 25th game of the Euroleague and with 17-8 will definitely be at the top of the standings after Friday’s results, leaving the Lithuanians in 13 -12, but always within the “trick” of the octet.
The “merenches” reached double-digit differences in the second period and +27 in the third, reaching the final victory.
The Spanish leaders were Musa with 17, Tavares with 16, Dek, Williams-Goss with 12 and Poirier with 11 points. For the “greens”, only Brazdeikis stood out with 16 points.
The match
Zalgiris’ three-pointers gave them a +4 at the start of the matchup with Chus Maheo’s poor perimeter defense in that stretch. Most of the solutions of the “merinches” brought the tie for the finalists of the event. Tavares with a personal run of 4-0 brought +2 for the Madrids and there the lead began to change for both teams. A 5-0 Zalgiris run led by Dimsa made it 22-24 at the end of the first period.
Thanks to Poirier, Real got a +3 at the start of the second period and kept it steady for several minutes. A 9-0 run with offensive polyphony brought +12 for the “merenches” with the right choices inside the Lithuanian basket. With a new 6-0 streak, Real reached +17, with the rebounds helping the “merenches” escape to their favorite surprises. Consecutive three-pointers by Zalgiris and Brazdeikis brought a 7-0 run for -10. The latter decreased to -9, but there a 6-0 run by the “merenches” brought +15 at the end of the half. Real had 19/24 two-pointers, 9/11 shots, 16 rebounds and 11 assists and Zalgiris 15 rebounds.
A 6-0 run led by Poirier made it 59-38 at the start of the third period, and Cornelier’s three-pointer kept the Merengues up +21. Tavares took action and brought +23, +25 and +27 for Madrid, a 4-0 run of Zalgiris reduced to 74-49 and finally thirty minutes ended at 76-49.
Rudy made it 81-56 and Musa made it 84-60 and 87-62 for Madrid at the beginning of the fourth period, taking the scoring lead for the hosts. Zalgiris with a 4-0 run reduced to -21 and Taylor’s three-pointer made it 88-69. Real responded with an 8-0 run with back-to-back 3-pointers for the final 96-69.
The quarters: 22-24, 53-38, 76-52, 96-69
The statistics
Source: Sport Fm
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