Real Madrid sweats the leadership in Miribilla and Baskonia continues to rise

MADRID, 27 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Real Madrid managed to defend its sole leadership in the 2022-2023 Endesa League with a lot of work after beating Surne Bilbao Basket 80-85, while Cazoo Baskonia maintained its great run in Lugo (77-86) and the Gran Canaria won the direct duel (95-89) against Valencia Basket, in matches corresponding to the thirteenth day of the championship.

In Miribilla, Chus Mateo's team had to deal with a great Surne Bilbao Basket, who fought for victory until the final moments thanks, above all, to the enormous game of the Swede Luke Hakanson, author of 29 points, with 12/16 shooting.

The Madrid team started better in Bilbao, thanks above all to their enormous rebounding superiority, led by Walter Tavares (12, although 7 only in the first quarter), and the appearance of the three-pointer. Two consecutive ones from Rudy Fernández and Sergio Llull opened the first gap at the beginning of the second quarter (16-29), but from then on everything was even until the end.

Led by Hakanson and the visiting lagoons, Jaume Ponsarnau's team managed to recover lost ground and reach the break with everything to decide (42-42). After this, the panorama did not change, and although Real Madrid was the one in charge, they always received the local response in partial form, almost always with the omnipresent Hakanson.

A triple on the buzzer signed by Llull gave Chus Mateo's team the advantage (58-59) ahead of a tense final ten minutes. The ten-time European champion, weighed down by his losses (17) and his bad hand from the free kick (10/19), could not clearly dominate and even saw Bilbao Basket take the lead for the final stretch (69-66).

The Madrid team knew how to remain calm and pulled on Gaby Deck's actions to regain control. Hakanson then left the leading role to Adam Smith, who with three triples was the one who struck for the 'men in black', for the last time because Real Madrid handled the last two minutes better to claim their eleventh victory and the ticket for the Copa del Rey.

The leader of the Endesa League will have to recover from the effort for his next match, in the Euroleague and in Vitoria, where a toned Cazoo Baskonia awaits him, who added his tenth consecutive victory by beating Río Breogán in Lugo 77-86 to follow the trail of the head.

Joan Peñarroya's team showed that they are 'sweet' and despite the loss of a key player in Markus Howard, they extended their good run, also with work and needing their best defensive version in the last quarter.

The Baskonistas, hit the triple, started much better than the Galician team and led by 16 points at the beginning of the second quarter (18-34). There, led by Lukovic (10 points), the locals reacted, who, despite everything, still clearly lost at halftime (32-41).

But Breogán maintained his improvement after passing through the locker room and, with the game raising its tension and with the visiting player Marinkovic eliminated by a double technique after a skirmish with Bamforth, they evened the game (60-60) almost at the end of the game. third quarter. Baskonia never let him get ahead and pressed in defense in the final ten minutes to win without worry.

Finally, this start of the day in the Endesa League was completed at the Gran Canaria Arena where Gran Canaria returned to the path of victory by beating Valencia Basket in another disputed match and defending its place in the top eight.

The local team faced the direct duel after three league defeats in a row, but knew how to get out of its bad dynamics after an improvement when it had been put on but the game midway through the second quarter. The 'taronja' dominated then with some clarity (34-44), but their rival remained standing with the arrival of the break (46-51).

In the second half, Alex Mumbrú's men tried to contain the locals, but they lacked offensive success, quite the opposite of Jaka Lakovic's men, thanks to a partial between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the last quarter, 10-0. comfortably ahead (77-69), an income that they no longer released despite the visiting attempts.