Copa del Rey: Madrid reaches Semifinals

The Spanish Copa del Rey Final Eight weekend got underway tonight as Real Madrid crushed Herbalife Gran Canaria 83-60 to book a place in Saturday´s Semifinals.

Los Blancos continued where it left off in the Euroleague and Spanish Liga Endesa, and that was by showing why the team is one of the most feared on the continent this season. A dominant display from the first tip off to the final buzzer cemented Madrid´s status as favourites to lift the Copa del Rey this season.

Real has now won 33 from 34 games during this campaign will take some beating during the weekend as the club looks to reclaim the Copa trophy it last won in 2012.

First quarter

Madrid enjoyed a storming start to take an early 14-6 lead midway through the first. That advantage came mostly from a fantastic 9 point haul from Nikola Mirotic at the start of the game. The players eased off for the remainder of the 10 minutes but managed to restrict Gran Canaria at the other end. Mirotic ended the quarter on 11 points and Madrid held a nice ten point cushion at the end of the period, with the score at 19-9.

Second quarter

Los Blancos opened the second quarter with some Showtime Basketball courtesy of two alley hoops passes from the impressive Sergio Rodriguez. A three pointer from Jaycee Carroll gave Madrid a 7-0 start to the second as the team carved out a commanding 26-9 lead on the board. Gran Canaria was flopping in the offensive court and the team could only sport four scorers throughout the entire first half (Ben Hansbrough, Nacho Martin, Brad Newley and Samuel Tavares). While the Real players were not blitzing the Herbalife defense, the team did continue to carve out a wider lead and led 41-20 at halftime.

Third quarter

With 21 points the difference after the first half, the game was well beyond Gran Canaria, while Real Madrid had the luxury of cruising through the second half. Indeed, the relaxed nature of Madrid´s game in the third quarter meant that Herbalife notched more points in the 10 minutes than they did in the whole of the first half. However, Los Blancos still held the initiative by keeping in touch with 20 points of their own. After 30 minutes of play the scoreboard read 61-43.

Fourth quarter

Any faint hopes of a Gran Canaria comeback were quickly dashed early in the fourth after Madrid put together a 10-3 run to end the team´s mini rally. Madrid continued the showbiz Basketball by securing another 10-0 run later in the fourth stanza to open a 31 point lead going down the final stretch. Real again eased off and Canaria had its best run of the game by scoring 10 points in the last two minutes to put a bit more respect into the final score.

Mirotic joined Rudy Fernandez on 17 points to lead Madrid in scoring. Felipe Reyes had a solid game by collecting 13 points and 7 boards for the winners, while Sergio Rodriguez lay on eight scores and Ioannis Bourousis grabbed 11 rebounds.

Walter Tavares impressed for the defeated Gran Canaria with a double-double 16 points and 12 rebounds.