Dzanan Musa led Los Blancos to their 11th victory
Real Madrid's defense pounds Zalgiris into submission, 64-83
Real Madrid grabbed its fifth consecutive victory by edging Zalgiris Kaunas 64-83 on the road in Round 20 on Friday. Real improved to 11-9 in the standings while Zalgiris dropped to 10-10 and is on a four-game losing streak. Los Blancos' 19-point win saw them also take the tiebreak advantage after registering a nine-point loss against Zalgiris in Round 15.
Dzanan Musa led the winners with 17 points. Facu Campazzo and Serge Ibaka each added 13 while Mario Hezonja had 10 for Real. Lonnie Walker led Zalgiris with 17 points.
Game Videos
Campazzo got Real going with a jump hook which Walter Tavares followed with a layup for a 0-4 lead. Dovydas Giedraitis struck from downtown, then Musa and Xavier Rathan-Mayes restored a 3-7 Real edge. Walker stepped up for Zalgiris with 5 straight points before Sylvain Francisco scored a fast-break layup to cap a 7-0 run. Brady Manek improved Musa's floater with a bomb from downtown before Francisco and Arnas Butkevicius each joined the three-point shootout for a 19-11 Zalgiris advantage. Campazzo stepped up with a floater and Serge Ibaka added a jump hook to keep Real within 21-15. Lukas Lekavicius followed a floater with a three-pointer to make it a double-digit game, 26-15, after 10 minutes.
Ibaka buried consecutive jump hooks early in the second quarter. Hezonja soon added a three-point play that gave Los Blancos hope at 26-22. Giedraitis banked in an off-balanced shot off a Zalgiris timeout, Ibaka answered from beyond the arc and Andres Feliz's three-pointer tied it at 28-28. Hezonja capped a 2-15 run from the foul line to give Real a 28-30 edge. Giedraitis rescued the hosts with a driving layup and Deividas Sirvydis scored the rest of the points in a 6-0 run that restored a 34-30 Zalgiris lead. Musa took over with an off-balanced three-point play before Campazzo put Real in charge, 34-35, at halftime.
Walker hit free throws and nailed a catch-and-shoot triple to put Zalgiris in charge, 39-35, after the break. Hezonja rescued Real with a bomb from beyond the arc which Campazzo followed with a acrobatic layup for a 39-40 lead. Laurynas Birutis scored down low before Musa buried back-to-back three-pointers to make the hosts stop the game at 41-47. Bryant Dunston stepped up with a power layup, Musa silenced the crowd with a coast-to-coast basket and Alberto Abalde's turnaround jumper made it an eight-point game, 44-52. Abalde scored again to giva Real its first double-digit lead, 44-55, which Alen Smailagic cut to 46-55 after 30 minutes.
Ibaka and Feliz each struck from beyond the arc to break the game open, 46-61, early in the fourth quarter. Zalgiris kept struggling to score whle Eli Ndiaye followed a put-back basket with a fastbreak slam that made the hosts call timeout, 46-65, with over 7 minutes left. Sergio Llull capped a 0-13 run with a three-point play. Smailagic tried to change things with a put-back slam and a three-point play, getting Zalgiris within 51-70. Walter struck from downtown but it was already too little, too late for Zalgiris. Campazzo and Ndiaye made sure that the hosts were not even close to steal the tie-break advantage.