Real storms through Vitoria-Gasteiz for 10th straight win

Real Madrid led from start to finish on the road to blow past fellow Spanish League rival KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 55-77 on Thursday night at Buesa Arena. Real extended its winning streak to 10 games and improved to 12-3, while Baskonia dropped to 6-9 on the season. Real used a 0-13 run to open the second quarter and pull away to 13-28 and the hosts never cut the margin into single digits again. Jordan Mickey paced the winners with 15 points and 8 rebounds, while Rudy Fernandez collected 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals for Real. Shavon Shields led Baskonia with 14 points and Tornike Shengelia had 10 points in a losing effort.

The visitors jumped in front with Gabriel Deck scoring the first 6 points of the game to open a 0-8 lead. Pierria Henry got the hosts going, with his triple helping cut it to 9-10. But Fabien Causeur hit a three-pointer and Mickey had a dunk to make it 13-15 after 10 minutes. Real unlocked its offense in the second quarter. Nicolas Laprovittola hit a pair of triples and Trey Thompkins scored a pair of layups and a three-pointer to make it 13-28. Baskonia needed more than 3 minutes to score as Luca Vildoza snapped a 0-13 run and Shields scored twice, but Fernandez scored 9 points, including a pair of triples of his own to extend it to 24-41. The visitors took a 29-45 cushion into halftime and not much changed after the break. Shields knocked down a baseline jumper and a three-pointer, but Anthony Randolph nailed 2 triples to help extend it to 36-54. The scoring slowed down and even though Shields and Vildoza scored from close range, the visitors kept Baskonia at bay. Real held a 44-57 advantage going into the fourth quarter and then used a 0-9 run with a pair of Mickey dunks and a triple from Fernandez to open a 46-66 lead with 7 minutes to go and Real cruised the rest of the way.

Second quarter surge

Real did not have its best offensive performance, but had a fantastic second quarter during which it scored 30 points. Real scored 5 triples on its first 6 attempts in that quarter and scored more points in the third quarter alone than it did in the first (15 points) and third (12) quarters combined.

Impressive streak

Real's streak is 10 wins and during this stretch, Real has won nine games by double-digit margins. This marks the third-longest run of consecutive wins for the club behind a pair of 13-game winning streaks Real had in the past: The first one was to start the 2013-14 season and the second time to end the 2017-18 campaign and starting the following season.

Legends recognized

As a part of the pre-game festivities, Baskonia retired the numbers of two of its legends: Sergi Vidal and Igor Rakocevic. No Baskonia player will ever wear Vidal's No.9 or Rakocevic's No.8 again.

Baskonia lows

Baskonia managed only 55 points, the lowest points it has scored in a EuroLeague game this century. Baskonia also had just 4 assists, the fewest in any game in more than a decade.

Next up

Both teams will be on the road next week in Round 16 and both will play on Thursday. Baskonia will visit ALBA Berlin, while Real travels to face Panathinaikos OPAP Athens.