Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz had to wait until the very last second to celebrate an 81-85 road win against Real Madrid in Round 27 of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Turnovers and offensive rebounds made the difference in this instant classic.
Baskonia limited its turnovers to just 6, which was the biggest key to the game. As such, Joan Penarroya's side were able to tie its second-best mark this season; its most efficient game regarding turnovers came in Round 5, as it committed 5 in a 92-75 home victory against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.
Meanwhile, Baskonia forced Real to commit as many as 17 turnovers. Tuesday night's victors finished the game with 16 assists, three less than their opponent. Darius Thompson, however, had 14 of those 16 assists, finishing the game with 3 steals and just 1 turnover.
Offensive rebounds were also critical in this game, even though Real outrebounded Baskonia 34-30. The key is what happened on the offensive glass, as the guests finished this game with 10 offensive rebounds, only allowing Los Blancos to get 6 boards under their own rim. Maik Kotsar had 4 of his 6 rebounds on the offensive end, also adding 13 points.
All of that allowed Baskonia to attempt more shots: the guests had 69 field goal and 11 free-throw attempts. Real took a similar number of foul shots, 13, but only attempted 54 shots in total. Those 15 extra possessions generated off forced turnovers and offensive rebounds made the difference in the game.
