Olympiacos stayed unbeaten in Group D of the Euroleague by beating Red Star 62-57, but the 2013 champions were made to work hard by the Serbians in Belgrade.
In front of 18,000 raucous Serbians at the Kombank Arena, Olympiacos dominated the game from the second quarter until the end of the third, as they led 50-36 and looked out of reach.
Red Star hit back in the fourth though and a score from Jaka Blazic cut the lead to 59-57 with 25 seconds remaining. But Vassilis Spanoulis iced the game from the foul line to ensure Olympiacos’ unbeaten streak remained alive.
“Our focus was on defence and that is the key for our win,” said Olympiacos coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos. “In the fourth period, the hosts made a last effort to be back in the game, but we were concentrated. We had great periods during the game, but there were empty minutes too. I hope we can play without empty minutes in future games. ”
Spanoulis, might have had 6 turnovers, but he led the Reds with 14 points. Bryant Dunston added 11.
Boban Marjanovic had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Red Star, who drop to 2-2.
Valencia got their first win of the Euroleague season by beating Laboral Kutxa 79-69 in the all-LIga Endesa affair.
Luke Harangody top scored for Valencia with 21 points as they erased a double-digit deficit in the second quarter to finish on a 12-0 run that put the hosts ahead 36-34 at half-time.
From there, Valencia took control and the Vitoria side were unable to match Valencia’s intensity.
“After three losses in the Euroleague, this win was important for us,” Valencia coach Velimir Perasovic said. “We knew that we could have trouble in this game, but the team worked really hard and we were the fair winners.”
Tornike Shengelia led Laboral Kutxa with 20 points as they drop to 2-2.
The other Group D clash saw Galatasaray comfortably see-off Neptunas 94-68 in Istanbul.
With the hosts already up by double-digits at the half, they further extended it to 77-44 after three quarters, leaving Neptunas with no hope of a comeback.
Sinan Guler led five Galatasaray players in double figures with 18 points.
CSKA Moscow has more breathing space at the top of Group B after they beat Unicaja Malaga 95-85 in the Russian capital to go 4-0.
With Maccabi’s shock defeat to Cedevita providing the perfect gateway to go clear at the top, CSKA displayed sublime, transition basketball to race to a 52-39 lead at the half before managing to hang on near the end.
Milos Teodosic led CSKA with 27 points and 10 assists.
“It was a tough game for us,” Teodosic said. “Malaga is a really good team and it’s their first loss in the season. We played good basketball, maybe at some moments we did not play defence well enough and let Malaga come back. I’m happy with the way we played.”
Malaga, led by both Jayson Granger and Mindaugas Kuzminskas with 20, fall to their first defeat of the season.
Alba Berlin grabbed their first win of the Euroleague in the other Group B clash, as he easily beat Limoges 89-66 in the German capital.
The Germans set the tone early by leading 21-12 after the first ten minutes and unfortunately for the French, the lead kept growing, as Alba stormed to victory. Both sides own 1-3 records in the group.
In Group C, Panathinaikos easily overcame EA7 Milano 90-63 in Athens, as the Greens were the stronger team for three quarters before stepping down a few gears to begin the fourth with the score at 71-43.
Estaban Batista finished with 15 points to lead the Greeks, as they move to 3-1, while the Italian champions look a shadow of what they were in the latter stages last season, dropping to 1-3.
