By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Sergio Llull scored 20 points and dropped 4 assists, Rudy Fernandez notched a 19 points season-high as Real Madrid beat Valencia 87 – 81 in Game 1 of the Spanish League title series.
The trio of Bojan Dubljevic (19 points, 5 rebounds), Fernando San Emeterio (14 points) and Luke Sikma (13 points) stood out for Valencia which stayed close until the very last minutes but fell short in two decisive sequences.
With less than 90 seconds left left and the score 85 – 81 Joan Sastre missed the opportunity to trim the deficit and make it a one-possession matter when he went 0/2 from the line.
Then Jeff Taylor (12 points), perhaps the unsung hero of Real, played some enormous defense on San Emeterio to keep his team at a distance. On the other end, Llull dropped the dagger and the match was over.