Overview
- On Thursday, Real Madrid beat La Laguna Tenerife 118-83 and UCAM Murcia beat FC Barcelona 90-87 to square both quarterfinal series at 1-1.
- Real Madrid answered pressure from a poor run of form with a dominant road performance that balanced scoring across the roster and featured Mario Hezonja and Ömer Yurtseven among the leaders to avoid elimination.
- UCAM Murcia pulled off a historic road win at the Palau led by David DeJulius (22 points) and Kelan Martin (18 points), using a zone defense and a 16-of-38 three-point mark to force a decider.
- Barcelona coaches and players criticised late refereeing decisions after Jan Vesely was called for multiple fouls in the final minute, a sequence that several reports said helped seal Murcia’s victory.
- The short, best-of-three format magnifies each result: Madrid’s win halts a slide worsened by interior absences, Murcia’s comeback continues a season-long pattern of resilience, and Saturday’s deciding games will determine who advances to the semifinals.