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A step back jumper on the buzzer from Sergio Llull handed Real Madrid a 76-75 win at Unics Kazan in a Euroleague Group A thriller.

A corner three from James White with 7.7 seconds left looked to have given Unics a huge win over the Euroleague giants, but after a quick timeout, Llull was given the perfect final play; a mismatch isolation play against D’Or Fischer and the Spanish international made no mistake.

For the majority of this absorbing contest, the two teams could hardly be separated. Real Madrid built a 31-20 lead in the second quarter, but Zisis fueled an 11-2 run that cut the deficit to 35-31 at the break.

From there, the game went back-and-forth. Keith Langford, who led Unics with 23 points almost single-handedly gave them hope, but Llull’s heroics ensured that not to be the case. It was harsh on Unics, who fall to 0-2. Real Madrid improves to 2-0.

Gustavo Ayon and Rudy Fernandez led Real with 10 points as every Madrid player that stepped onto the court scored.

“It was a very good basketball game,” admitted Real Madrid’s coach Pablo Laso. “We did a lot of good things, but everybody talks about our offence, and today we missed a lot of easy shots, open threes, under the basket, everywhere.

“That percentage didn’t help when we were winning by four or five points, we were not able to make that advantage bigger. So I am not happy with those missed shots, but I am happy that we won, of course. We have to be happy with our defense, too. It’s nervous when you play a close game like today, but I think we handled it well when we were down by five points late. We got two by Gustavo under the basket, three by Andres [Nocioni] and finally the big shot by Sergio.”

The other games in Group A saw Zalgiris record their first win of the Euroleague season with a dominating 97-63 win over newcomers Nizhny Novgorod in Kaunas.

The 97 points totaled by Zalgiris was the highest in Euroleague history by the Lithuanian champions.

The game was over as a contest in the second quarter, when the hosts blitzed their Russian counterparts with a 12-2 spurt, and holding Novgorod scoreless for a five-minute period in the period. Zalgiris were home and dry.

“I think I am happy; our game plan was great, we did really well, especially on defence,” Zalgiris coach Gintaras Krapikas said. “After all, we had more freedom to play offense, as the final result shows. It is a real dream for a coach when you are playing a Euroleague game, in front of so many spectators, and you can let all 12 players step on court.”

All twelve Zalgiris scored on the night, with six of them reaching double figures. Veteran Paulius Jankunas led the winners with 13. Taylor Rochestie led all scorers with 16 for Nizhny as both teams go to 1-1 in the group.

Anadolu Efes continued their good start to the Euroleague season with an 82-75 win at Dinamo Sassari.

The Turkish team led for the majority of the contest but was troubled regularly by a Sassari team who will be difficult opposition this season, especially at home. For now though, the Italians drop to 0-2, while Anadolu is 2-0.

Nenad Krstic led the victors with 15 points, going 6/8 from the field.

Kostas Vasileiadis became Unicaja Malaga’s hero by hitting the game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer to give his side an 87-84 win over Alba Berlin to improve to 2-0 in Group B.

It was harsh on the German side, as they enjoyed great spells of basketball and did not deserve to lose the game, but basketball can be cruel, Malaga stayed in it, and stepped up at the vital time.

“We had to keep faith,” Malaga coach Joan Plaza admitted afterwards. “There were moments in the last minutes when it seemed like we don’t have the tempo to keep up with them. I tried to look on the bench for people from last year, who knew the situation we were in last year. Finally, we had a lucky option to win the game.”

Ryan Toolson led the winners with 13 points. Marko Banic replied with a game-high 16 points for Alba.

Fans all decked in yellow witnessed their side Limoges get their first win of the Euroleague season and first home victory in this competition since 1998 as the French side beat Cedevita 71-60.

Limoges goes to 1-1 in Group B, while the injury-hit Croatian side, still without Roko Leni-Ukic and now without Marko Tomas slip to 0-2.

Nobel Boungou-Colo led Limoges with 17 points in what was a comfortable victory. Luka Babic amassed 14 for Cedevita.

“I’m satisfied with the defensive reaction of my players,” said Limoges coach Jean-Marc Dupraz. “They played a good game. The work was done on the court and the players can be proud.”

Olympiacos improved to 2-0 in Group D following a 63-57 success over Laboral Kutxa in Piraeus.

With star guard Vassilis Spanoulis struggling from the field; the Greeks displayed their depth as Matthew Lojeski had a solid shooting night on his way to 15 points as they handed the Liga Endesa side their first loss of the Euroleague campaign.

“It is a very important win after a tough game,” Lojeski said afterwards. “We had a lot of ups and down, due to the turnovers and the missed defensive boards, but we improved our performance in the crucial moments.”

Fernando San Emeterio led Laboral Kutxa with 14 points.