Madrid rolls to wide win that could decide two places

In a game for which the outcome seemed clear early, but whose point difference would affect both teams, Real Madrid took a 81-55 home win Friday against visiting Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. The victory left Madrid tied with CSKA for first place in Top 16 Group F, both with 11-2 records, but enhanced its chances to win a tie-breaker if both teams win or lose next week. The exact opposite was true for Lokomotiv, which remains tied for the group's fourth and final playoff spot with Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul, both with 6-7 records. In both pairs, the teams are 1-1 against each other with identical head-to-head victory margins, so the next tie-breaker is overall point difference in the group. Due to CSKA's 86-85 victory over Galatasaray earlier Friday, Madrid now has a +23 tie-break advantage with one game left. Conversely, its big loss means that if Galatasaray wins at home against last-place Partizan NIS Belgrade next week, Lokomotiv must also win against FC Bayern Munich - but by at least 24 points more than Galatasaray wins. Madrid raced ahead by double digits in the first quarter on Friday then used a 16-0 second-quarter run to go ahead 40-14 and never look back on the way to victory. Felipe Reyes came off the bench to pace the winners with 15 points while Sergio Rodriguez and Sergio Llull added 13 each. Salah Mejri sparked that second-quarter run with 3 of his 5 blocks and scored 8 points. Richard Hendrix led Lokomotiv with 17 points and 9 rebounds, whilel Alecs Maric added 12 and 7, respectively. The Madrid defense held Derrick Brown to 4 points, matching his season low.