The Spanish giant never looked back after romping away to a big early lead
Real Madrid edges closer to postseason with win at Crvena Zvezda, 72-78

Real Madrid edged closer to a postseason berth in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after improving to 18-14 on the back of a 72-78 win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, courtesy of a workmanlike performance by last season’s runner-up.
Zvezda dropped to 18-14 and the result left both teams needing one win in their last two regular-season games to be mathematically sure of reaching the business end of Europe’s premier club competition.
Walter Tavares paced Real with a team-high 14 points while Sergio Llull and Facundo Campazzo chipped in with 11 each. At the other end, Codi Miller-McIntyre led Zvezda on a game-high 24 points, but the livewire guard lacked support and finished as the solitary home player in double digits.
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Real raced into a 0-14 lead as the visitors blitzed Zvezda with a fast and furious start, while the home team missed their opening 12 shots from the floor in the opening six minutes of the contest.
Tavares reigned supreme in the paint for Real and Usman Garuba followed in the towering center’s footsteps early on, while misfiring Zvezda squandered a barrage of open shots from all over in the first quarter, making just 1 of 15 from deep and 2 of 8 from inside.
The visitors grabbed a 9-22 lead after the opening 10 minutes and although Zvezda regained some of its composure in the second quarter, Real stayed in the driving seat and led 27-42 at halftime as the home team’s offensive woes continued.
The Serbian outfit was 9 of 41 from the floor in the first half and a miserable 3 of 23 from downtown, having also committed 7 turnovers against a mere 6 assists. That cancelled out 16 offensive boards racked up by Zvezda, as Real thrived close to the basket with the visitors hitting 15 of 22 from inside.
Miller-McIntyre scored the opening basket of the third quarter with a coast-to-coast drive through traffic and that signaled a magnificent second half for Zvezda’s playmaker, who almost single-handedly dragged his team back into the contest.
Zvezda was able to slash the deficit to 45-55 ahead of the final 10 minutes, but late drama looked unlikely as Real maintained cruise control and led 59-70 heading into the home stretch.
Unrelenting Zvezda then produced a 13-4 run to close the gap to 72-74 on the back of Miller-McIntyre’s deep three, with the atmosphere reaching fever pitch inside a jam-packed Belgrade Arena.
There was to be no final twist, however, as the visitors kept their cool from the foul line in the final 45 seconds to grind out what will likely turn out to be a priceless road win in the bid to keep the season alive.