Real Madrid cruises to another big win

Real Madrid continued a dominant start to its Turkish Airlines Euroleague campaign with a 93-74 win over visiting EA7 Emporio Armani Milan on Friday night. Madrid remained the lone unbeaten team atop Group B, while Milan dropped to 1-2 and a share of fourth place. The hosts never trailed, and behind triples from Sergio Rodriguez, finished the first half on a 22-5 spurt for a 52-31 halftime lead, and they never looked back. Nikola Mirotic scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter. Rudy Fernandez added 16 points, while Felipe Reyes had 14 points plus 9 rebounds in victory. Rodriguez scored all of his 13 points in the first half, and Sergio Llull chipped in with 10 in victory. For the visitors, Keith Langford finished with 17 points and 6 assists. Samardo Samuels had 13 points, Curtis Jerrells 12, while David Moss netted 11 in defeat.

First quarter: Mirotic scores 15 as Madrid surges ahead

Mirotic started the scoring in the game, before Samardo Samuels opened the visitors' account. After Sergio Llull and Curtis Jerrells traded jumpers for 6-5, Fernandez drove for a layup, however Moss sank a triple from the right corner for what turned out to be the only tie in the contest, 8-8. The hosts took the lead for good with a drive from Fernandez, and a basket in the low post from Mirotic. The latter followed it up with a triple from the left corner for 15-8, but Moss answered right back with another three-pointer of his own. Ioannis Bourousis had a fastbreak layup for Madrid, but Jerrells countered with a driving layup on the other end for 17-13. Mirotic increased his tally with another easy fastbreak layup, but Milan answered with 5 consecutive points, including a basket-plus-foul from Alessandro Gentile that made it 21-18. Before the quarter's end, Mirotic made a dunk in traffic, and Rodriguez sank a jumper, before David Chiotti rounded out the quarter with an easy layup, 25-20.

Second quarter: Rodriguez fuels Madrid's huge run

Reyes opened the second quarter with a put-back, but the only other field goal in the first three minutes of the quarter was a driving layup from Marquez Haynes. However, what followed was Jaycee Carroll and Haynes trading triples for 30-26, before Madrid went on a huge run. Reyes sparked things with a pair of free throws and a tip-in, and after Tremmell Darden hit a short turnaround jumper, Madrid continued running the floor as Rodriguez made a triple and a pull-up jumper for 41-26. After a visitors' timeout, Marcus Slaughter made a steal, then assisted on a fastbreak for Carroll's basket-plus-foul, capping a 14-0 spurt. Langford ended Milan's drought with a layup-plus-foul, but Bourousis scored inside and Rodriguez nailed couple more from behind the arc for 52-31 halftime lead.

Third quarter: Hosts' margin reaches 26 points

At the start of the third quarter, C.J. Wallace hit a long jumper and Gentile nailed a triple. In between those shots, Llull made a finger roll and Fernandez added a layup for Madrid, 58-36. Jerrells hit a jumper on the other end, and Milan tried to disrupt the hosts with a matchup zone defense, but Fernandez and Dontaye Draper hooked up for a baseline alley-oop reverse dunk, before Mirotic hit a mid-range jumper. Moss nailed a triple for Milan, but a couple more baskets from Fernandez helped extend it to 67-41. The two teams combined to go a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final minutes of the quarter, as Madrid entered the last 10 minutes leading 73-49.

Fourth quarter: Los Blancos cruise

Langford started the scoring in the fourth quarter, and after Llull hit from long range, Samuels made a monster dunk and Langford added a fastbreak basket for 76-57. Driving layups from Fernandez and Llull helped increase the margin, and after Langford made a put-back, Darden sank a jumper and Carroll nailed a three-pointer from the right side for 87-60. With game out of hand, Jerrells had a fastbreak layup, and Chiotti made an uncontested layup, but Salah Mejri answered in the same manner. Langford increased his tally with back-to-back drives, before Jerrells and Samuels helped cut it all the way to 91-74. The hosts closed it out in style, with Mejri’s alley-oop dunk.