Madrid sweats for leadership against heroic Bilbao

It was a tremendous clash with the Chus Mateo team. They are constantly trying to dodge the scoreboard, taking advantage of their superior rebounds (34-44 on offense, 11-18) and Jaume Ponsarnau’s team’s response with Hakanson (29 points and 33 PIR). Adam Smith (19) in the first three quarters and the last quarter.

But the scorers in black were answered by the referees at the decisive moments. Returning Argentine Gaby Deck (11) and Sergi Llull (13 and 18) had a stratospheric ‘tangerine’ and a massive Edy Tavares (15, 12 rebounds, 7 offensive, 2) blocks and 23 throughout the game.

Despite having a tough fight with Cape Verdean local ‘5s’, Jeff Withey and MIchale Kyser, who put 7 blocks, 3 and 4 between them.

With this win, Madrid is reinforcing a leadership that it has been left alone.A loss to Bilbao Basket could knock them out of their Playoff and Copa del Rey positions, where they started this thirteenth day.

Causeur scored the first basket, but the start was a Hakanson-Tavares duel. Cape Verde, With 7 of his team’s first 13 points, whites swept away in the region (0-4, 2-8, 9-13), but the Swede, who scored 9 of Black’s first 12 points, refused (12-13).

He so insisted Local star (14-13) where Surne Bilbao took the lead with 2.45 minutes But the visitors’ first quarter finished with a 5 lead (16-21) as Yabusele and Rudy soon reacted with a 0-8 win.

Madrid extended the series to 2-16 and at the start of the second quarter (16-29) looked set to dominate the game thanks to their massive lead in rebounds. Hezonja, Rudy and Llull score from distance.

But no, Bilbao Basket reacted again. Hakanson could not be stopped (17 points at halftime) started to find Kyser at the bottom of the rim as well, and Black took the lead again 21-7 (37-36) and 24-9 two-point lead (40-). 38).

Musa moved to save his team (40-41), but one tap on the horn Suleymanovic left the swords in the air In the middle of a fantastic setting for the second half, Miribilla (42-42).

Returning from the locker room, Musa tried to kidnap Madrid again, although history repeated itself (47-54). Surne Bilbao not only drew again (56-56) but also took the lead again under Smith’s lead (58-56).

And the last quarter didn’t start ahead because Llull got one of his impossible ‘tangerines’. To the amazement of the 10,000 fans gathered in Miribilla, it touched the sky before falling into the local basket.

The last 10 minutes were another dressage and trade-off until the ‘Tortuga’ Deck appeared, unraveling the mess Madrid was in. Five points in a row were crucial, bringing Whites 1.48 to 77-82.for. Although Smith brought the ‘men in black’ close again (80-82), Llull closed the game with three free throws (80-85).