Real Madrid booked their place into next month’s EuroLeague Final Four with a deserving 89-78 win over Darussafaka Dogus in Istanbul.
The Liga Endesa side will now face Fenerbahce in the semi-finals on May 19 in a rematch of the 2015 encounter in Madrid, which Real emerged victorious.
Sergio Llull scored 17 points and dished out five assists to lead a balanced Madrid attack that featured five scorers in double figures. Trey Thompkins added 15 points, including eight in a 10-0 second quarter run that gave the visitors the lead for good.
“I think we controlled most of the situations against a team that is very difficult to control,” Real Madrid coach Pablo Laso said. “In the first half we were winning by seven points and the difference probably should have been higher. But in the third quarter we continued our way.
“We made some little mistakes, but we gained a great advantage. They came back, but we were able to keep our composure and win the game. If you look at the stats, we more or less dominate every single aspect and that means we did a great job as a team.”
Brad Wanamaker led Darussafaka with 25 points.
Olympiacos have set up a deciding game five after they recovered from a double-digit deficit to beat Anadolu Efes on the road 74-62 at the Abdi Ipecki Arena.
The Reds hits 12 three-pointers on the night, levelling the series at 2-2 despite trailing 27-14 in the second quarter. The visitors however erased the deficit by the half and then took the lead after the break by hitting five triples in the third quarter, before running away with victory with a defence that allowed only 4 points in the opening eight minutes of the fourth quarter.
Vassilis Spanoulis paced Olympiacos and hit a number of clutch shots to finish the game with 18 points.
“It was a big win for our team,” said Spanoulis. “Last two games we did not play like we know how to play. We struggled a little bit defensively and offensively. Today we played really good, we showed character we played our game and got a big win.
“But nothing is finished, the series is tied 2-2, we need one more game. In all the years I played basketball, I always said that basketball is a team sport, the team wins, not the person. Everybody is important for our team, and especially in the series, you need all the players to be at a high level.”
