The four powerhouses setting the pace in this season’s Liga Endesa made no mistakes in round 15 of the regular season.
Top ranked Valencia remain perfect and improved to 15-0 with an 86-78 success at seventh-placed Andorra, who slip to 7-8 in the penultimate play-off berth.
Valencia, now tied for the second-best start in league history (Real Madrid went 27-0 in 2013-14), shot the ball rock solidly and hit 53 per cent from the three-point arc and 90 per cent from the foul line.
Forward Bojan Dubljevic led Valencia’s offence with 17 points supported by guard Antoine Diot, who had 16 points.
Their closest rivals, FC Barcelona go 14-1 following a comfortable, 83-64 road victory at fifth-ranked Gran Canaria, who slide to 9-6.
Barcelona killed their opponents on the glass, outmuscling them 28-16 in offensive rebounds, while wing-man Alex Abrines had a team-high 17 points for the victors, drilling a deadly 5-5 threes.
Real Madrid and Laboral Kutxa both improved their records to 12-3 in third and fourth place in the standings respectively.
Así está la clasificación de la #LigaEndesa tras la Jornada 15.
¡Encendida lucha por la #CopaACB!pic.twitter.com/qZEqyfavj9— Liga Endesa (@ACBCOM) January 11, 2016
Real dominated Sevilla (5-10) 107-83 at home, shooting 64 per cent from the field and only dropping to 61 per cent marksmanship from the perimeter.
The reigning champions dished out a selfless 27 assists during the contest and emphatically outrebounded Sevilla 32-20.
Laboral Kutxa won 85-76 at Manresa (6-9), who are 10th and remain outside the play-off spots. Laboral Kutxa led by 12 points at half-time and by as many as 16 after the third frame.
At the foot of the league, bottom and 18th-ranked Gipuzkoa won their second straight game to improve to 3-12 and lift their record into a tie with second-bottom Estudiantes, who they defeated 90-85 on the road.
Gipuzkoa, in part, got it done from the perimeter, burying 62 per cent from outside.
Elsewhere, fifth-placed Gran Canaria (9-6) defeated 11th-placed Joventut (6-9) by 15 points, 82-67; Unicaja (7-8) beat Rio Monbus (6-9) 73-65; Murcia (6-9) put 24 points on Fuenlabrada (7-8) at home, 99-75 with guard Marko Popovic scoring 33 points for the visitors in vain; and Zaragoza (5-10) frustratingly lost a tight one at home, 71-69 to Dominion (7-8).
