By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid tripled its victories in the 2018-2019 Spanish League by beating Unicaja Malaga 89 – 82 at home. It certainly wasn’t easy for the reigning EuroLeague and ACB champions that were down 77 – 81 with two minutes left.
It was in that moment that Walter Tavares entered the game and completed changed the balance of powers on both ends. The Cape Verdean big pulled of some huge defenses (including consecutive blocks on Matthias Lessort) and scored four points via free throws to put Real up. Facu Campazzo then scored an acrobatic basket plus 1 and then dished out the assist on Sergio Llull for a 3-pointer that made the 87 – 82 with 22 seconds remaining. Game over.
Malaga had come back from a 15-point deficit (51 – 36) but was out juice near the end, made consecutive errors and couldn’t find solutions against Tavares who finished the game with 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Facu Campazzo added 13 points plus five assists for Real.
Dragan Milosavljevic scored 15 and Giorgi Shermadini 13 for Malaga.
Liga Endesa Day 3:
Real Madrid – Unicaja 89 – 82 (Walter Tavares 14 points, 11 rebounds)
KIROLBET Baskonia – Delteco GBC 85 – 66 (Johannes Voigtmann 15 points, five rebounds)
Barça Lassa – MoraBanc Andorra 67 – 63 (Chris Singleton 16 points, five rebounds)
Herbalife Gran Canaria – Cafés Candelas Breogán 96 – 72 (Clevin Hannah 19 points)
Iberostar Tenerife – Monbus Obradoiro 78 – 52 (Thaddus McFadden 25 points)
Movistar Estudiantes – Montakit Fuenlabrada 77 – 75 (Dario Brizuela 25 points)
UCAM Murcia CB – Valencia Basket Club 68 – 81 (Will Thomas 25 points, eight rebounds)
BAXI Manresa – Divina Seguros Joventut 66 – 67 (Nicolas Laprotivottola 16 points, 10 assists)
San Pablo Burgos – Tecnyconta Zaragoza 79 – 93 (Bo McCalleb 12 points, six assists)