'Los Blancos' led from start to finish to climb in the standings
Walter Tavares leads Real Madrid past ASVEL, 81-70

Real Madrid grabbed its third consecutive home victory by downing LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 81-70 in the Spanish capital on Thursday. Real improved to 16-14 in the standings while ASVEL dropped to 11-19 with its seventh straight loss.
Walter Tavares led the winners with 23 points. Sergio Llull added 12 while Dzanan Musa had 10 for Real. Theo Maledon paced ASVEL with 25 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Paris Less added 15 points for the visitors.
Game Videos
Real found an early go-to guy in Tavares, who dunked twice and added a jump hook and a floater in a 15-0 opening run that Musa capped with a bomb from downtown. David Lighty rescued ASVEL with a theee-pointer, which Joffrey Lauvergne followed with a fastbreak slam. Nando De Colo found his first points but an unstoppable Tavares got help from Mario Hezonja and Andres Feliz to boost the hosts' lead to 22-8. Feliz and Llull each struck from beyond the arc to make it a 20-point game. Llull bettered Neal Sako's layup with a three-pointer that fixed the score at 32-10 after 10 minutes.
Feliz hit another three-pointer early in the second quarter. Maledon stepped up with 5 quick points to bring ASVEL within 37-15. Hezonja took over with a backdoor layup and Fernando scored again, but ASVEL was not done. Lauvergne took over with a fastbreak slam, Lighty hit a step-back jumper and an outstanding Maledon brought his team within 41-24. Maledon followed a triple with a fastbreak layup that prompted Real to call timeout at 42-29. Tavares returned to the game and banked in a close shot. Alberto Abalde sank a three-pointer and Musa's driving layup established a 49-32 Real lead. Tavares took over with a three-point play to boost the hosts' advantage to 52-34 at halftime.
Maledon took over with a three-point play soon after the break. Tavares scored around the basket and Lauvergne matched that with a jump hook in transition before Musa restored a 58-39 Real margin. Abalde took over with a put-back layup which a red-hot Musa followed with a fastbreak basket that broke the game open, 62-39. Maledon kept pacing ASVEL and got help from Ben Bentil and Paris Lee to bring the visitors within 63-46. Feliz stepped up with a follow-up layup and Lee and Gabriel Deck traded three-pointers. Andre Roberson's layup drew ASVEL closer, 68-51. Edwin Jackson made it 68-53 at the end of the third quarter.
Bentil scored around the basket early in the fourth quarter. Hezonja matched that with a put-back layup right after Hugo Gonzalez's big block on Shaquille Harrison. Jackson struck from downtown before Maledon's riving layup brought ASVEL within 70-60 with 6 minutes left. Maledon soon made it a single-digit game, 71-63, with over 4 minutes remaining. Hezonja buried a three-pointer and Llull added a driving layup to make ASVEL call timeout at 76-63. Lee sank a three-pointer, Tavares answered with a layup before Llull's 10-meter "mandarina" sealed the outcome down the stretch.