Darius Thompson sparked Baskonia to key win in Madrid

Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz came into Round 27 on a six-game road losing streak with a game at WiZink Center against Real Madrid, which is in the mix for the best record in the EuroLeague. It seemed that Baskonia would need something special to happen to win on the road. And that something special on Tuesday night was named Darius Thompson.
Thompson was practically unstoppable in his team's 81-85 victory over Real. He posted 18 points, 5 rebounds, 14 assists, 3 assists and committed just 1 turnover in amassing a PIR of 32. He was there just about every time his team needed him.
"We were not able to stop Thompson in the first or the second half," Real head coach Chus Mateo said after the game. "He generated a lot of options and played very well."
Real opened the game with a 9-2 run which Thompson neutralized pretty quickly with consecutive steals that led to a dunk and a fastbreak layup. In the first 5 minutes of the second quarter, Thompson buried a three-pointer, collected a steal and dished 3 assists to put his team ahead 30-32.
Thompson dominated the game again after the break, burying a couple of shots from beyond the arc and finding Matt Costello for a three-pointer on his ninth assist of the game, giving Baskonia a 50-59 advantage. Real bounced back to lead 78-71 with less than 4 minutes remaining. Some teams might have just given up, but Thompson had other ideas.
He found Costello for a two-handed slam and soon connected with him again for a three-pointer that gave Baskonia hope at 79-76. Once Howard buried a three-pointer off a long offensive rebound, Gabriel Deck scored in the low post for an 81-79 Real edge with 1:15 remaining. Thompson, however, had saved his best for last.
Baskonia got the ball back and called timeout with 36.9 seconds left. Thompson sent a bullet inbounds pass to Costello for an easy dunk that tied the game at 81-81. Baskonia needed a stop and a bucket to win the game and that is exactly what happened. First, Daulton Hommes had a big block on Walter Tavares's dunk attempt. With the game on the line, Thompson forced a switch against Tavares and once again connected with Costello for the game-winning shot at the buzzer. The Thompson-to-Costello connection came alive four times in 3 minutes in several different ways.
"We could have easily given up when they made a big run, but we stayed together and fought until the last second, like Coach told us before the game, and we came out with the win," Thompson said after the game. "It is hard to suck it all in right now, but we came out with a win and Matt [Costello] hit a big shot. I am glad that he shot it with confidence."
Costello had 10 of his 20 points in the final 4 minutes but confessed something after the game. "I couldn't see the rim [on the last shot]. I just saw Rudy [Fernandez] running at me, they flipped me the ball, so I just tried to get it up there as quickly as I could," he said. "But it went in, so we got the win. It feels really good."
It was Baskonia's first EuroLeague road win in 2023. Baskonia also completed the regular season undefeated against Los Blancos. Most importantly, the win ensured that Baskonia will remain in the playoff zone through the end of the round.