Costello plays Howard and silences the Palace

Baskonia defeats the Euroleague leader at the buzzer, three out of three against Real Madrid this season

MADRID, 7 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Cazoo Baskonia knocked down Real Madrid (81-85) this Tuesday on matchday 27 of the Euroleague held at the WiZink Center thanks to a basket on Matt Costello's buzzer, which knocked down the leader of the competition and broke the bad dynamics of the Basques, who can once again believe in their potential before their favorite victim.

Joan Peñarroya's men went from less to more, like the game, and, when Madrid seemed to have it in their hands, they came back to life to get closer to the 'Top 4' of the table and find the confidence they had lost, especially away from home. Chus Mateo's men, who give up the lead to Olympiacos although with one game less, did not take advantage of the great game of Dzanan Musa (21 points, 8 rebounds and a PIR of 26) and Walter Tavares (13 and a PIR of 20).

The Palace went to rest without being clear where it could break the thing, with a 43-40 well distributed on the court and with moments for many of the actors. The defense seemed key even before starting, between two teams with a lot of artillery, and this was confirmed with so many points. Costello was that unexpected hero, while the Basques hope to recover the lethal version of Howard, to defeat Madrid as in the first leg and in the Endesa League.

Despite the fact that Joan Peñarroya was taken by demons on more than one occasion, Baskonia had better minutes stopping the whites, who left 11 turnovers in the first half. However, the success was more local, better in triple length, and the rebound was also from Madrid. The first quarter was two triples from Hanga plus power from Yabusele and Porier against Kotsar and Thompson (22-17).

A bit from here and a bit from there, no one broke the deck either in the second set, distributed among the locals under the umbrella of Tavares, in the same way as in the visitors. With four triples, Costello already acting as gunner, Baskonia took command of the match, but guests were still arriving at the party before the break and 'Chacho' Rodríguez, Musa and Poirier left it 43-40 for the whites in the face to the second time.

Peñarroya's men returned with that tangle of hands in defense and another difficult moment for the local attack, turning the score around to achieve their maximum in the match (50-59). Between the return to the track of Tavares and a Musa who pulled the car, the Palace did not take long to cheer up, as it had been doing the meeting.

A 15-3 did damage to the azulgranas and Madrid found the rhythm that gave them the rebound, but they did not finish the arreón. The last quarter began with an exchange of three pointers from which Mateo's team came out ahead again, with a 78-71 score three minutes from the end. Madrid missed a couple of rebounds and Howard seemed to warm up his wrist in time for a 79-79 that promised a heart attack.

Deck did his usual, but neither Musa nor Tavares managed to round off their great night. On the other hand, Costello maintained the equalizer and assumed the last one, from the triple, to tip the balance in favor of those from Peñarroya, who hugged each other madly on the ground and the bench knowing what a rush it is to storm the Palace to remember that this season are candidates for everything.

--RESULT: REAL MADRID, 81 - CAZOO BASKONIA, 85. (43-40, at halftime).

REAL MADRID: Williams-Goss (6), Hanga (6), Musa (21), Deck (4), and Poirier (10) -- the starting quintet -- Causeur (1), Sergio Rodriguez (3), Hezonja (2). ), Yabusele (6), Tavares (13), Rudy Fernandez (9).

CAZOO BASCONY: Thompson (18), Marinkovic (3), Giedraitis (6), Hommes (2) and Kotsar (13) --starting quintet--; Howard (11), Heidegger (5), Costello (20), Enoch (4), Ten (3), Sedekerskis (-).

--REFEREES: Javor, Mogulkoc and Vilius. No deleted.

--PAVILION: WiZink Center, 7,286 spectators.