Los Blancos never trailed and led by as many as 24 in the first game of their best-of-five playoff series
Real blasts Baskonia 90-74 in series opener

Real Madrid underlined its status as the defending champion and regular season standings leader by comfortably downing Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, 90-74, at WiZink Center on Tuesday. The teams will meet again in the Spanish capital for Game 2 on Thursday.
The home team needed little time to establish a double-digit margin, and the lead reached 17 points – 42-25 – midway through the second quarter. It was 48-37 at the interval, which grew beyond 20 points in the third and the outcome was never in doubt after that.
Dzanan Musa led the hosts with 16 points, while Vincent Poirier dominated inside with 10 points and 7 rebounds. Facu Campazzo also scored 10 points while Sergio Llull hit 2 triples to become the competition’s all-time leader in three-pointers made. Markus Howard paced Baskonia with 15 points despite only playing 18 minutes due to a knee injury. Matt Costello, Niko Rogkavopoulus and Codi Miller-McIntyre all netted 14.
Game Videos
Real scored the first 5 points, sparked by Musa’s layup-and-one, before Mario Hezonja’s triple stretched the early lead to 8-2. Rogkavopoulus and Costello boosted Baskonia with three-pointers, but Hezonja struck twice more from deep to make it 19-11. Musa netted again for a double-digit lead, before Guerschon Yabusele and Campazzo extended the lead to 25-11. Costello and Howard narrowed the deficit, with Howard’s free throws making it 26-17 after 10 minutes.
Howard struck his first three-pointer early in the second quarter, but Real kept rolling inside through Poirier, Gabriel Deck and Llull. Costello’s slam and Howard’s three gave Baskonia hope, but Poirier at the rim, Deck in transition and Sergio Rodriguez from deep made it 39-25. Rudy Fernandez added another triple for a 10-0 run, ended by Rogkavopoulus from distance. Miller-McIntyre and Vanja Marinkovic completed a 0-7 run, but Walter Tavares and Musa scored inside for a 48-37 halftime score.
Tavares’s dunk opened the third quarter scoring before Campazzo and Musa added triples for a 56-37 lead, the biggest so far. Costello and Musa traded threes before Yabusele struck from deep for a 64-42 margin. Rogkavopoulos answered with a pair of long-range strikes, but Alberto Abalde and Poirier scored at the rim to push Real’s lead to 70-53 with 10 minutes remaining despite a buzzer-beating three from Chris Chiozza.
Poirier and Abalde were again on target early in the fourth as Baskonia’s comeback hopes disappeared, with the margin growing to 76-53. Llull’s trademark triple got the fans on their feet, as did Poirier’s fierce putback slam. Marinkovic and Tadas Sedekerskis netted inside, before Llull got an ovation with another triple to become the competition’s all-time leader in three-pointers. Miller-McIntyre scored twice in a row, but deep strikes from Fernandez and Abalde ensured a comfortable winning margin.