Deck delivers last-second win to cap a historic Regular Season

A night to remember for madridismo at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas. We lifted the Undécima there last year with Llull's unforgettable basket and 10 months later we are back to finish the best Regular Season in the history of the Euroleague with our 27th victory, establishing the biggest gap with the second-placed team in the current format and equalling the record for away wins (13). Chus Mateo's team won again in a heart-stopping finish, as they did against Olympiacos, this time with Deck's shot with three tenths of a second left. Musa (17 points and 19 PIR) and Hezonja (16 and 14), decisive in the last quarter. Our playoff opponent will be one of the four teams that will feature in the play-in: Maccabi, Baskonia, Virtus Bologna and a fourth to be decided between Anadolu Efes, Partizan and Milan.
The leaders arrived in Kaunas with Campazzo and Rudy significantly absent, but with the desire to end this spectacular first phase on a high note. Zalgiris, under no pressure either, but with the support of more than 15,000 fans. With Tavares distributing play from the paint, Musa scoring points (8) and rebounds (3), and a good level of team defence, Madrid dominated the first quarter, which ended with the maximum in our favour (9-16, min-10) after two consecutive three-pointers, by Hezonja and Llull, who came within one of equalling the record.
Madrid were solid at the back
Madrid's defence made few concessions to a Zalgiris team that went almost six minutes without scoring, with Causeur doing a great job on his benchmark Evans (only 6 points at half-time). Madrid, without much pace in attack, gave the sensation of control through their superiority in offensive rebounding, where Poirier shone with 4 and 8 points without a miss, to end the first half 6 up (25-31).
The pace of the game continued to slow at the restart. Madrid adapted to this and did not rush when trying to break it up. They held firm on rebounding and defence, turning their offensive play back to Tavares. Between the Cape Verdean centre and Musa, they countered Zalgiris' outbursts. The leader was up by nine, but a good last minute of the third quarter by the Lithuanians left the score at 42-44.
Déja vu
With a three-pointer from Manek on the first play of the final period, Zalgiris completed the comeback at 45-44 after a 9-0 run. It was a warning for the Madrid players, who would have to put in more intensity if they wanted to win the game. The reaction came from Hezonja. Two three-pointers and a basket gave Madrid the lead back. But the game was set for a thrilling finish. The emergence of Manek and Evans allowed the home side to put up a fight until the end.
The score was tied at 69 and Musa carried the team with five points, but a three-pointer by Evans and another by Hayes levelled the score at 62 with 7.9 seconds left. Then the image of Llull's basket over Fall in May last year came to mind. It was the captain who took the ball and went halfway down the court, giving an unlikely assist to Deck who, stepping to the 6.75m line, made the winning basket with the clock running down to three-tenths of a second. Another incredible finish from our team, who ended up winning 62-64. With this win, Madrid will be at least four wins ahead of the second-placed team, a difference never seen before in this format, no matter what happens in the rest of the day's play.     
ZALGIRIS-REAL MADRID STATISTICS