The win ended Baskonia’s home unbeaten streak in the league that had stretched back to April.
Baskonia opened the contest with an 11-4 run, driven by an inspired Duarte who scored eight of the first eleven points for the home side and forced Shulga to the bench after the Ukrainian chained several poor decisions on both ends of the court. Martínez, visibly angry, completely renewed his starting lineup to neutralize the early deficit.
Real Madrid tightened its defense in the second quarter, disrupting the hosts’ offensive rhythm as local attacks lost fluidity with barely any accuracy on forced shots, depending only on occasional visitor lapses or well-knit plays. Andrés Feliz and Maledon orchestrated the offense, creating constant advantages to find their interior players who punished the rim with alley-oops, as well as Luwawu-Cabarrot.
Madrid maintained its scoring pace after halftime, with Maledon prolonging his sweet return by signing seven of the first nine points following the resumption, while teammates backed up the work defensively.
With the Baskonian defense having no arguments beyond Kamenjas to stop the white gale, Damian Jones matched Maledon’s 18 points, taking advantage of every single opportunity generated by his teammates to leave sensations similar to those once offered by Vincent Poirier as an absolute guarantee substitute for Tavares.
With the clash in Vitoria, coach Pedro Martínez equaled Aíto García Reneses for the record of matches managed in the ACB, a mark he will surpass next weekend against Joventut de Badalona, following upcoming European commitments against Besiktas and Olympiacos.
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