The defending champion completed a 3-0 sweep of the home team and advanced into the showpiece event
Resilient Real edges Baskonia, 98-102, to reach Final Four
Real Madrid became the first team to reach the 2024 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four after a comeback 98-102 win at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz that completed a clean sweep of the Basque outfit in their playoff series.
Power forward Guerschon Yabusele produced a monster fourth quarter and engineered the final twist in a breathtaking contest as he racked up 23 points and 7 rebounds for the visitors, who never looked back after engineering a 0-13 run to take an 80-88 lead in the final period.
Shapshooter Mario Hezonja poured 16 points for Real, Facundo Campazzo and Gabriel Deck chipped in with 13 each while towering center Walter Tavares added 12 to go with 13 rebounds. Crucially, veteran Sergio Rodriguez dished out 9 assists in just 13 minutes on the court to dismantle the home team’s defense when the chips were down.
At the other end, Markus Howard led the way for Baskonia with a game-high 29 points and Codi Miller-McIntyre contributed with 17 points and 11 assists. Nikos Rogkavopoulos chipped in with 18 points, Vanja Marinkovic netted 17 and Matt Costello added 11 for the home team, which fell short despite netting a second-best-ever tally of 56 points in a half that gave Baskonia a 4-point lead at the interval.
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Real prevailed in yet another high-scoring game against a familiar foe with Rodriguez and Campazzo playing key roles late in the game as they fed the ruthless Yabusele in the paint.
Baskonia led throughout the first half and surged ahead 52-42 late in the second quarter before resurgent Real slashed the home team’s lead to 56-52 at halftime. Baskonia dominated the paint in the first half, having outrebounded Real 20-14, with Howard pouring 16 points while Marinkovic added 11. Real dished out more assists (14) and had fewer turnovers (4) but did not do a great job defending the perimeter, as Baskonia sank a barrage of shots from downtown.
However, the visitors kept Howard scoreless in the third quarter and closed to 73-72 ahead of the final 10 minutes, which was a clear sign of things to come. At the start of the fourth quarter, Real edged ahead 73-75 for its first lead since early in the first period before Howard replied with 7 unanswered points, briefly allowing Baskonia to retake the lead. However, Real then showed all its might with a 0-13 streak that gave the visitors the lead for good.
Baskonia was able to pull up to 95-98 late in the game but the home players failed to contain Yabusele down the stretch and the Frenchman was lethal in putting away his shots, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter to seal Real’s smooth progress to the Final Four.