Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz sent a message that echoed all around the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by thrashing Valencia Basket 114-75 in Round 26 on Friday night.

Baskonia handed Valencia its worst-ever loss in European competition: 39 points. Its previous biggest loss was by 36 points against Le Mans Sarthe Basket in the 2009-10 7DAYS EuroCup, 80-44. In EuroLeague action, Valencia's previous biggest loss came this season, 89-59, against Virtus Segafredo Bologna in Round 8.

The hosts finished the game with a team PIR of 147, the second-best mark in the EuroLeague this season; Olympiacos Piraeus had a PIR of 159 in a 117-71 home victory against Virtus in Round 12. Baskonia was really close to breaking his own club record, as it previously had a PIR of 149 in a 71-107 road win against Limoges CSP on October 29, 2015. Baskonia also scored 114 points or more for the third time this season, and for the fourth time in club history. No other team in EuroLeague history has scored 114 points or more three times in the same season.

Daulton Hommes set a new club record by hitting all of his 15 free-throw attempts. The club's previous record for most free throws made, with none being missed, belonged to Arvydas Macijauskas, who buried 14-of-14 attempts in a 92-76 home win against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on December 17, 2003. Macijauskas set career highs of 40 points and a 50 PIR that night.

Baskonia heavily outrebounded Valencia 43-21, finishing the game with 23 assists and only allowing the guests to dish 12. It was a perfect night at Buesa Arena, one that Baskonia fans will not easily forget!

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Baskonia enjoyed a night of records in rout over Valencia

Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz v Valencia Basket (2023-03-03T19:30:00.000Z)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul ran past the visiting Virtus Segafredo Bologna 104-72 on Friday night behind a club record 20 three-pointers, a season-high 27 assists, which led to the team's fourth game in this campaign with 100 or more points scored.

Interestingly, Fenerbahce missed its first 4 three-point attempts, and Virtus was the team with a better focus in the opening minutes – and a 6-12 lead. But Fenerbahce first responded with a 7-0 run to claim the lead. Then, after Semi Ojeleye's free throws, it scored the final 18 points of the quarter on 6 three-pointers.

Fenerbahce made 7 of its 8 three-pointers to end the first quarter, before scoring the first basket of the second to open a 33-14 lead. During that span of more than six minutes, Fenerbahce held the visitors without a single field goal.

That spurt was soon followed with another run, this time 10-2, which had Fenerbahce up 45-20 with 5:53 left to play in the first half.

A 31-point turnaround in just under 10 minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters featured 9 three-pointers: 3 apiece from Scottie Wilbekin and Dyshawn Pierre, 2 from Marko Guduric and 1 from Nigel Hayes-Davis. That run also had 13 assisted baskets, a sign of a total dominance that paved the way for a blowout win.

A 27-2 run paved way for Fenerbahce's romp against Virtus

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2023-03-03T17:45:00.000Z)

Kyle Hines has often been an unsung hero in the success of his teams throughout a trophy-laden Turkish Airlines EuroLeague career, with the undersized center winning two titles apiece with Olympiacos Piraeus (2012, 2013) and CSKA Moscow (2016, 2019) prior to joining EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in 2020.

In Friday night’s spectacular 83-62 home win over former club Olympiacos, the 36-year-old, who is able to play either as a power forward or a center, reached a rare milestone of collecting his 300th block in the EuroLeague, second only to Walter Tavares (345) and Bryant Dunston (321).

The night’s accolades went to Billy Baron, who paced Milan with 18 points thanks to his brilliant long-range shooting, but Hines was again instrumental with his physicality in the paint, which time and again forced the Olympiacos players to take and miss a barrage of difficult shots.

Standing at 1.98 meters (6ft6), Hines has regularly had to slug it out with players with a significant height advantage, but his tremendous physical strength, his leap and impeccable positioning in the paint has been a telling factor and a crucial ingredient in his teams’ strategies.

In the earlier stages of his career, Hines was just as devastating at the other end of the court, knocking down high-percentage shots from mid-range and closer to the basket.

Hines posted 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting against Olympiacos on Friday, and his offensive effort again underlined his productive use of the ball, while his movement without it enabled his teammates to find and sink open shots from the perimeter.

Kyle Hines still excelling as he joins 300-block club

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan v Olympiacos Piraeus (2023-03-03T19:30:00.000Z)

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan produced easily its best performance of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season on Friday night as it beat leader Olympiacos Piraeus 83-62 at Mediolanum Forum. This win rekindled Milan's hopes of reaching the playoffs as it tasted victory for the fourth game in a row and improved to 10-15, while Olympiacos saw its seven-game winning streak snapped as it dropped to 18-8.

 

Billy Baron was particularly impressive for Milan, scoring 18 points. Nicolo Melli chipped in with 10 points and 5 rebounds, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 9, while Brandon Davies and Giampaolo Ricci netted 8 each. The visitors, meanwhile, misfired all evening and committed a staggering 19 turnovers, conceding 31 points in the process. Thomas Walkup and Sasha Vezenkov paced the Greek side with 10 points each, and Kostas Papanikolaou and Kostas Sloukas scored 8 apiece.

Milan raced into a 10-5 lead early on before Olympiacos briefly turned the tables and led 14-15, but that was as good as it got for the visitors on a night when they struggled to find any offensive rhythm.

Milan kept hurting Olympiacos with simple set plays, with its guards driving through the lane and passing the ball out to open perimeter shooters. That is where Baron did most of his damage. The 32-year-old used the screens to devastating effect, nailing 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc and going 2-of-2 from two-point range. Ricci and six other players also joined the three-point shooting party against a static Olympiacos defense.

The Greek side looked lethargic on offense, too, with Kyle Hines outmuscling his counterparts in the paint as he collected his 300th career block in the EuroLeague, becoming only the third player to reach the rare milestone behind Walter Tavares (342) and Bryant Dunston (321).

Milan took a slender 35-32 lead into the locker room at halftime, as Olympiacos showed occasional signs of its trademark resilience, which saw the competition’s pace-setter pull off more than just a few escape acts this season.

It wasn’t to be this time, however, as Milan found another gear in the third quarter and extended its lead to 61-46 before the final 10 minutes, with Baron ruthlessly sinking his long-range shots.

The lead soared to 20 points early in the fourth quarter, 70-50, and although Olympiacos launched one final onslaught with a 0-8 run, the visitors were unable to turn the tide as Milan found another gear in the home stretch and swept aside its more fancied opponent.

Milan impresses in surprise win over Olympiacos, 83-62 

Real Madrid remained in the upper echelons of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings after grabbing a fifth consecutive victory on Friday night, as it downed LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 71-75 at the Astroballe. But the win could come at a very high price, because star big man Walter Tavares could not finish the game after suffering an ankle injury in the last minute.

Tavares got tangled up with Nando De Colo as the ASVEL guard tried to drive to the basket, before immediately sinking to the floor in agony after rolling over his ankle. It was quickly clear that Tavares would not be able to continue and he was helped into the locker room by Real’s staff, unable to return as his team held on for the win.

After the game, Real coach Chus Mateo confirmed that Tavares had twisted his ankle but added that he does not yet know the extent of the damage, and the Spanish team now faces an anxious wait to discover more about the center’s availability in the coming weeks.

Tavares had earlier shown his value once again, providing 7 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, finishing with a PIR of 15 – the second highest of all players – as he repeatedly thwarted ASVEL’s attempts to score close to the basket with his dominant physical presence. Real will hope that it can count on Tavares heading into the upcoming double-round week.

Real Madrid facing anxious wait for Walter Tavares injury news

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne v Real Madrid (2023-03-03T19:00:00.000Z)

### Ettore Messina, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan head coach

“My players played very good defense and it was important for our confidence. We’ve said it multiple times, we were frustrated because of all the things that had happened. We didn’t play well, we are getting better, so let’s see. The crucial thing today was to play hard and compete with the best team in the Euroleague. It’s always 50-50. You need to do the best possible job, but you also need your opponent to play a little bit below their usual standard. They probably did; once in a while it happens even to the greatest teams. We just took advantage of that.

“I want to congratulate the team and thank the fans for a beautiful atmosphere one more time. The team played with great competitiveness against the best EuroLeague team so far, we forced four or five jump balls, which is a sign of aggressiveness that we would like to see all the time. We attacked the switches well, but the competitiveness was crucial. Of course, when you have such a big win against such a great team, you need them to play a little bit below their level. We need to stay humble, continue to work and continue to find the confidence and the trust. One into the other, which I think is the key for us to finish well this season.”

### Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos Piraeus head coach

“Milan played with a lot of motivation and physicality; they took all the 50-50 balls. For us, it was important to match this up and we didn’t. We need to ask ourselves why, but we trust our players as we are having a fantastic season and we are going to come back again.

“First of all, I want to congratulate Milan for the win and the desire they played with. They fought and that is shown by their steals and the turnovers they forced us to make. We had 19 turnovers and when you commit so many it’s difficult to win the game. They took all the 50-50 balls, on the floor ad in the air, something that shows they had big-time motivation to play against us. Today, we played like an arrogant team, we wanted to win the game without fighting, which is what took us to the top spot in the rankings until now. We have to congratulate Milan and move on. We trust our team, sometimes a loss like this helps a coach set things up again.

(On whether Milan’s big-men strategy was decisive): “It always depends on what the coach decides to play. Many times we decide to play with forwards and basically we switch defense when we play in situations like this. None of our players had a good night, and I am not talking about a shooting night. I am talking about the approach, which was really loose today. It’s not about the \[Milan\] line-up with \[Nicolo\] Melli and \[Johannes\] Voigtmann. Voigtmann is a fantastic player with experience, as are Melli, \[Kyle\] Hines and \[Brandon\] Davies, there is no doubt that Milan has potential and talent. It was about our approach."

### Billy Baron, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan guard

“We needed every bit of it as they’ve been the best team in Europe so far. We needed to play our best game and I think we did. Collectively, on the defensive end, we stuck together, got stops and eliminated \[Sasha\] Vezenkov as much as we could. It’s always easy when shots go in, for sure. We put together our best game of the year so far and we just need to keep building on this. There is still a long way to go and we still have a lot of ground to make up, but if we keep playing like this, hopefully we can get some crucial wins down the road.”

Billy Baron, Milan: 'Our best game of the year so far'

### Joan Penarroya, Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz head coach

"We played a good game. On offense, we played a good game in the first half and the second half. And in the second half, our defense improved, \[Valencia scored\] just 27 points. This is the way. We are happy, because this is an important victory for us. It gives us confidence, but we have eight times left.

"We are happy because it is an important victory for us. After a month without playing at Buesa, it is a good victory for our fans. I think we played a good game. We didn't have problems on offense from the beginning until the end: 114 points is a good score. And in the second half, I think the team improved on defensive situations, \[allowing\] only 27 points. Valencia is a very good team on offense with a lot of talent, and I think we played very good defense in the second half. We can read a lot of things from this game. A lot of players contributed and scored, and we passed the ball well. It is something we do. Our best scorer \[Howard\] had a bad day, and the team scored 114 points, which speaks about our group of players' strength. We had been talking a lot about taking a jump forwards in our defensive quality and we did that in the second half. In the last 10-12 games, in which the outcome seemed clear, Valencia didn't play its best basketball, but I think we deserve a lot of credit to beat Valencia, which comes off two very good months, competing against very good teams and beating them. Nobody played against them the way we did tonight, so we have to give credit to our players."

### Alex Mumbru, Valencia Basket head coach

"Terrible. Terrible game. We didn't turn up.

"In a game that we started to trade baskets with Baskonia, it is very difficult to win, because they have a lot of offensive basketball. We needed to play better defense in the first half. We arrived to get to 9 points down, but the third and fourth quarter were the same, we didn't play defense and they scored all the time. The worst were the last minutes, we were not in the game in the last 6-7 minutes. We needed to continue fighting and we didn't do it. I am angry with my team today. Of course, we have to apologize to our fans because of the image we have shown during the game. You can lose a game, but this is not the way Valencia Basket loses, this is not what we want. The fourth quarter was really tough, without control or hustle. We cannot allow that. March is a month full of games and we started it really badly. The good thing is that we play in two games. We have to give a different image and change many things but compete well. We knew how difficult March would be, and we got off to a very bad start."

### Darius Thompson, Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz guard

"For sure, playing at home, we always have that extra energy. Getting a win was good for us. Everybody wants a chance to play in the playoffs at the end of the season, and with how competitive the EuroLeague is this season, every game counts. We have to try to get as many wins as possible. Anything can happen, two good teams playing against each other; maybe it was our night, maybe it wasn't their night tonight. We didn't expect anything, but it was just a great game for us tonight."

### Daulton Hommes, Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz forward

"It feels good. We wanted this win really bad. We work hard and compete every night. We just have to keep the same energy on the road now. We have high aspirations, our goals are big and we are going to keep on fighting. It feels good, I put a lot of work in my game and felt good tonight."

Daulton Hommes, Baskonia: 'Our goals are big'

In a key showdown in the playoff race, Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz returned to winning ways in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by downing Valencia Basket 114-75 at Buesa Arena on Friday night. Baskonia improved to 14-12 in the standings, finishing Round 26 in playoff territory and ending a two-game losing streak. Valencia dropped to 13-13 and grabbed its third loss in the last four games.

Daulton Hommes led the winners with 24 points on 15-of-15 free throws, a new club record. Darius Thompson added 16 and 11 assists, while Matt Costello had 15 points and Vanja Marinkovic and Rokas Giedraitis each got 14 for Baskonia, which outrebounded Valencia 43-21. Jares Harper led Valencia with 15 points. Xabi Lopez-Arostegui added 13, and Jasiel Rivero and James Webb each had 10.

Webb and Jonah Radebaugh each struck from downtown, Lopez-Arostegui scored twice in penetration and then Chris Jones appeared to give Valencia a 10-15 lead. Baskonia found a go-to guy in Hommes, who had 8 quick points and a big block on Radebaugh to give his team a 21-17 advantage. Costello and Dani Diez hit a triple apiece to keep Baskonia in charge, 27-24, after 10 minutes. Marinkovic followed a three-pointer with a layup, getting help from Sander Raieste to boost the hosts' lead to 36-28. Klemen Prepelic and Harper brought Valencia within 39-36, but Marinkovic and Thompson restored a 57-48 Baskonia margin at halftime.

Hommes kept pacing Baskonia after the break, and Giedraitis soon made it a 15-point game, 65-50. Prepelic and Harper tried to change things for Valencia, but Baskonia kept playing really physical, finding new go-to guys like Maik Kotsar and Costello to break the game open, 79-57, late in the third quarter. Valencia got within 81-66 early in the fourth quarter, but Marinkovic and an on-fire Hommes each had 6 points in a 21-0 run that Costello capped with a dunk in traffic for a 102-66 Baskonia margin, which allowed the hosts to coast over the finish line.

Baskonia thrashes Valencia at home, 114-75

### Chus Mateo, Real Madrid head coach

“We know how they play in the second half; they’re used to coming back in games, so this is nothing new. We knew that we had to keep fighting, we had some moments that were not so good in the second half. But it’s not easy to win here, there are so many teams who have lost in the same way, but we were able to do it and, in the end, we finished the job. I saw that \[Walter\] Tavares twisted his ankle, but I don’t know for the moment if it’s a big injury.

 “I think we were able to play a very good first half; we did the work that we said before we had to do. Very tough, defending very good. We started the second half good and got an advantage... not enough, of course. We had a chance to increase the advantage, but we missed some easy shots under the basket. As ASVEL does at home, they reacted very good, as I remember they did against Olympiacos. The fans are very close, and they reacted very good, but we were able to play with calm and patience and understand our best options to finish the job.”

### Morgan Belnou, LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne assistant coach

“When you saw the second half, the defense was very good. I’m proud of the players. In the first half the offensive rebounds and the transition game – it’s a big problem when you play Real Madrid down 15 at halftime. After that, it’s complicated.

“The beginning of the game was bad. We weren’t aggressive. The second half was better; Madrid scored just 28 points. Against Efes we lost by 1 and today by 4 against Madrid, and we’re just frustrated about the first half.”

### Fabien Causeur, Real Madrid guard

“It was a very tough game. I think we resisted because we controlled better our defense at the end. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, they came back; they had nothing to lose. We were controlling the game, they came back strong and we doubted a bit, but I’m happy about the victory. I think it’s very important for us. We have to be more consistent, especially on defense. If you play defense, you have more confidence on offense. You don’t have to rush. I think that’s what we did a little bit. They started to put pressure, we lost a couple of balls in a row, they got confidence and it was tough for us until the end.”

### Nigel Williams-Goss, Real Madrid guard

“This is a tough place to play against a good team. Regardless of the record, they have some great wins this year – beat Barca at Barca, beat Olympiacos here. Really good team. So, on the road is always tough. I’m proud of the way we fought and stayed poised in the tough moments. Every game is critical, especially down the stretch of the season. We’re trying to finish as high as we can in the standings, so we’ll take it one game at a time and hopefully get as many wins as possible.”