Tavares helps Real Madrid win fifth straight Super Cup title with overtime win over Barcelona / News - Basketnews.com

Real Madrid celebrated their fifth consecutive Spanish Super Cup title after beating FC Barcelona 89-83 in overtime. Walter Tavares racked up a double-double, while making a decisive block.

Credit: ACB Credit ACB

In a game that was decided in overtime, Real Madrid downed FC Barcelona 89-83 (17-15, 12-22, 26-12, 16-22) in the Spanish Super Cup final held in Seville.

Walter Tavares excelled with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks, including a crucial one on Sertac Sanli, who was Barca's first scorer with 21 points. The big man from Cape Verde won the MVP trophy.

That was Chus Mateo's first title as Real Madrid's head coach, as the former Pablo Laso's assistant led the squad to the Spanish league title last season following Laso's health issues.

Sergio Llull and Dzanan Musa combined for 15 points in the third period, where Real Madrid made a 15-0 run that canceled Barcelona's 12-point lead early in the game.

Jasikevicius' decision was to register Kyle Kuric for the final, while Cory Higgins was left out along with Oscar Da Silva, who didn't make the semifinal squad either. Nikola Mirotic remains unavailable for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, Carlos Alocen (set to return in December) and Adam Hanga (got injured while playing with Hungary in the EuroBasket).

Before tipoff, Rudy Fernandez entered the court carrying the EuroBasket trophy that Spain won in Berlin a week ago. The captain of the Spanish NT was welcomed by the federation's president, Jorge Garbajosa.

Madrid's absolute dominance of the offensive boards allowed them to gain a slight edge at the beginning. Chus Mateo saw his players get 8 offensive rebounds and 13 overall, which counterbalanced their poor (1/7) two-point percentage.

On the other end, Sertac Sanli scored 11 points in the first eight minutes, although he had a hard time against Eddy Tavares and Gaby Deck.

Barca broke the game open in the second quarter, when the Catalans kept their rivals scoreless for almost five minutes. At the same time, Kyle Kuric hit a couple of three-pointers, assisted another basket by Jan Vesely, and gave his side an eight-point (31-23) lead. If it hadn't been for Dzanan Musa, who scored 10 points in the first half, los Blancos would have been in big trouble.

Sanli kept scoring from every distance, leading Barcelona to their biggest (45-33) lead in the contest. The Turkish big man also managed to contain Tavares' action in the paint and gave the chance to Tavares to get the best out of his mismatch against Guerschon Yabusele.

Musa finished a couple of plays in transition, helping Real Madrid make up for some of their lost ground. However, it was Sergio Llull who took matters into his own hands, hitting two straight three-pointers and completing a 0-10 run that brought Real Madrid up (50-49) for the first time after the first quarter.

Despite Saras' timeout, Madrid were unstoppable and further increased their advantage to six (55-49) by the time the buzzer sounded. Barcelona were up against the wall for good.

Last year's EuroLeague finalists paid a heavy price for their inability to defend without fouling their opponents, but big shots kept falling for them. Barca pressed full-court, forcing turnovers which then converted to easy baskets. Jasikevicius kept Tomas Satoransky on the bench in that span, as Laprovittola was dishing out assists at will.

With less than seven minutes left, Rudy Fernandez had a nasty fall, where he hurt his right wrist. The 37-year-old forward went straight to the bench, from which he never returned.

But the game was far from over. Jan Vesely's fifth foul brought back Mike Tobey, who hit an important shot from long distance (63-65). With the score 71-69 for Madrid, Tobey evened the contest at 71 apiece.

With 15 seconds left, Deck missed from the top of the key in a broken play and the match went to overtime.

The two teams kept being close in the extra time. Yabusele sank two free throws (85-83), while Tavares made a huge block on Sanli and Laprovittola couldn't score from distance.

Barcelona were late to foul Gabriel Deck, who made both free throws (87-83).

After Saras' timeout, Sanli hesitated to execute from behind the arc, and when he received the ball in the low post, he missed. There was no way Barca could recover after that.

Real Madrid: Walter Tavares 24 (7/11 FG, 10/11 FT, 12 REB, 2 AST, 5 BS), Dzanan Musa 19 (7/12 FG, 5/6 FT, 3 AST, 3 TO), Gabriel Deck 15 (3/6 FG, 9/10 FT, 8 REB, 3 AST), Sergio Llull 14 (5/16 FG, 1/1 FT), Guerschon Yabusele 9 (7 REB).

FC Barcelona: Sertac Sanli 21 (8/13 FG, 2/2 FT, 5 REB), Nicolas Laprovittola 12 (4/12 FG, 3/4 FT, 14 AST, 3 TO, 3 ST), Rokas Jokubaitis 11 (5 REB, 3 AST), Kyle Kuric 10, Jan Vesely 8.

Full game highlights:

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