Real Madrid grabbed its fifth straight victory by racing past Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in a historic offensive spectacle at home. Real could not be stopped all game and a big push to start the fourth quarter provided a big enough cushion for a 105-97 win to improve to 7-2.
Real prevails, 105-97, in historic offensive spectacle over Partizan
Sergio Llull poured in 20 points, Walter Tavares tallied 17 points and 8 rebounds and both Mario Hezonja and Gabriel Deck added 15 points in the win. Partizan suffered another road loss against a top team - after falling at Olympiacos Piraeus and FC Barcelona in the last four rounds - to drop to 4-6. Zach LeDay tallied 20 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the loss and Dante Exum added 17 points.
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Both teams started the game on fire with Tavares dominating inside with 10 points and Partizan lighting it up from outside. The visitors nailed 8 of 12 three-pointers in the first 10 minutes and led 32-40. The 72 combined points set a new mark for most points in a first quarter and the second most in any quarter. Real’s offense continued in the second quarter with a 20-2 run as Hezonja scored 10 points for a 52-42 lead. But the cushion was just 54-51 at the break.
Partizan was staying close in the third quarter until Real got triples from Dzanan Musa and Nigel Williams-Goss in a 14-5 close and an 86-74 lead. The hosts tried to deliver the knockout punch with 3 straight triples from Hezonja, Musa and Williams-Goss and the lead was 95-80. Mathias Lessort and Exum helped get the deficit down to 99-92, but Partizan committed back-to-back turnovers to end its hopes.