Real Madrid caps magical season with Spanish crown

Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion Real Madrid completed its magical season on Tuesday night by winning the Spanish League championship for the 34th time in club history. Madrid defeated KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz 85-96 in Game 4 of their best-of-five series to win the series 3-1. Rudy Fernandez turned back the clock to star with 27 points on 6-of-9 three-point shooting plus 5 assists and 2 steals to lead Los Blancos. Facu Campazzo tallied 17 points and 7 assists, Gustavo Ayon amassed 14 points and 7 rebounds and Luka Doncic posted 8 points and 8 boards for the winners. Rodrigue Beaubois led Baskonia with 19 points, Toko Shengelia added 16 and Matt Janning scored 15 on 5-of-7 three-point shooting in defeat.

Little separated the two teams early until back-to-back threes by Janning lifted the hosts to a 21-14 lead. Doncic trimmed the Madrid deficit to 3 after 10 minutes. Fernandez and Trey Thompkins led a 0-8 Madrid surge in the second quarter to take a 23-29 advantage. Every time Baskonia came close, Fernandez had an answer to send Madrid into the halftime break with a 38-42 lead. The teams traded baskets for much of the third quarter with Madrid keeping a slim lead until baskets by Fernandez and Ayon made it 57-65 through three quarters. Ayon took the margin to double figures at the start of the fourth quarter, but Beaubois assisted on or scored all the points in a 7-0 run that rallied the hosts within 71-75 with five minutes to play. Shengelia’s triple narrowed the gap to 76-79, however a clutch three by Doncic and free throws by Campazzo gave Madrid a healthy cushion and Fernandez free throws and a pair of late Campazzo triples iced the game, series and championship.