Madrid secure fourth win in seven days

Real Madrid overcame Bilbao Basket at the Movistar Arena and rounded off a remarkable seven days by winning all their games after the victories against Unicaja last Sunday and the two EuroLeague victories against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and KK Crvena Zvezda during the week. The league leaders continued their winning form with their 13th consecutive victory, which came after a strong second half, spearheaded by Llull (11 of his 13 points in the third quarter), Hugo González (8 and 5 rebounds) and the Tavares-Ibaka duo. Between them, they scored 30 points, 14 rebounds, 7 blocks and 53 in PIR. Ibaka's 19 points are his highest total for the club.
 
Madrid took the initiative early on in the game. They executed their basics to perfection: defence, rebounding and counter-attacking. Tavares was dominant in both areas, with 6 points, 5 rebounds, two assists and 1 block in seven minutes, and Hugo González was highly active (4 points and 4 rebounds). In this period, the Whites had already established a 17-7 advantage against a Bilbao Basket team that had to completely change their quintet midway through the first quarter. The introduction of Abdur-Rhakman and De Ridder gave them more success from the perimeter and reduced the deficit to 5 points in the opening period (22-17).
 
Madrid contain the visitors' response
The visitors' outside shooting success and several Madridista errors gave the visitors more confidence to pull ahead at 27-28 in the 13th minute. Ibaka was the brightest star of the second quarter, which was somewhat more testing. With Bruno Fernando absent (Hezonja was also out), the centre continued to contribute in the exchange of baskets until half-time with the score tied at 34-34.
 
Chus Mateo’s boys kept trying to reignite their game. Defence and rebounding control gave them points on the counterattack but it was more of a struggle in static play. Meanwhile, Bilbao Basket looked comfortable with this tempo and the three-pointers allowed them to fight toe-to-toe with the home side (38-40, min. 22). It was time for Llull to galvanise the team. The captain scored eight consecutive points and Madrid opened up a nine-point lead. This was a lead that, between Campazzo (5), Ibaka (3) and Llull himself, who hit a third three-pointer and notched his 11th point of the quarter, increased to 63-52 at the 30-minute mark.
 
One more home win in the league
The Madridistas hit their cruising speed led by a brilliant Ibaka (he finished with his highest scoring total as a Madridista with 19 points), Hugo González and Tavares, who reached 27 points in PIR. The assistance of Feliz, Rathan-Mayes and Abalde also contributed and the difference soared to over 20 points in a strong second half from Chus Mateo's charges, who closed out a 54-36 win. With today's victory, Madrid have now amassed 23 in a row at home in the league, where they are now unbeaten for a year. Next up, they face another crunch game against Paris Basketball at the Movistar Arena on Thursday (9 pm CET).
 
STATISTICS FROM REAL MADRID-SURNE BILBAO BASKET