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Photo: EuroLeague Basketball

EuroLeague Round 5 came to a close as FC Barcelona remained unbeaten in the first five games of the season, with the Catalans claiming an easy win over Zenit.

At the same time, CSKA withstood Tyler Dorsey’s career night to defeat Olympiacos Friday, in Kenneth Farried’s first appearance with the EuroLeague giants.

Tyle Dorsey’s career night

Olympiacos could not prevail in Moscow over CSKA, despite Tyler Dorsey’s fantastic performance. Dorsey came out of the gates hot and finished the game with seven made threes in 10 attempts.

He finished Friday’s contest with a career-high 32 points, along with four rebounds and two assists. He matched the club record for threes in a EuroLeague game.

Olympiacos legend Milan Tomic previously buried 7 three-point shots against Union Olimpija Ljubljana on February 27, 2003. Dorsey also came close to surpass another Olympiacos’ legend.

His 32 points are also the highest-scoring night by an Olympiacos player in almost seven years. The last player to score more than 32 points was Vassilis Spanoulis, who had a career-high 34 points against Neptunas on October 31, 2014.

FC Barcelona wins against former head coach in 10-year EuroLeague title celebration

FC Barcelona was unstoppable in Friday’s game vs. Zenit as they prevailed in a one-sided contest to remain unbeaten in the EuroLeague.

Mirotic was once again the spearhead of FC Barcelona’s offense with another remarkable performance, which included 20 points in just 15 minutes of play.

FC Barcelona celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the last EuroLeague title took place with Xavi Pascual as an opponent. The veteran head coach led the Catalans to the title back in 2010.

The celebration was belated due to COVID-19 pandemic, as the Catalans celebrated a very special night in front of 4,500 fans.

All-around Luke Sikma

ALBA Berlin achieved its second EuroLeague victory after winning away from home vs. Crvena Zvezda. The German champions based their performance in teamwork as they had many contributors during the game.

However, the team’s leader Luke Sikma was once again great in his role as all-around performer. Sikma helped make up for ALBA’s ongoing frontcourt injury issues by grabbing 7 rebounds, while he added 11 points along with three assists.

He also had two steals and just one turnover in 30 minutes. The veteran big has been amazing for ALBA at the start of the season, averaging a EuroLeague leading 8.4 rebounds per contest, while he puts up 13 points per game.

“We’re really happy with the win. We played a pretty complete game. I really liked our defense. I really liked our offense.

We didn’t let the pressure really get to us. We shared the ball. We were secure with the ball. That’s what you have to do to win on the road. So, we’re really happy to win in this environment,” Sikma said after the game.

The Will Clyburn show

CSKA Moscow prevailed over a slow start in Round 5 matchup against Olympiacos and they have to thank Will Clyburn for its fourth win in the first five EuroLeague games.

Clyburn finished the contest with a season-high 29 points to navigate his team to another win. Clyburn was a steady force throughout the game, leading a 13-0 run that allowed CSKA to get the lead, pushing his team’s margin to 17 points.

The veteran forward added three rebounds, four assists and seven fouls drawn for an index rating of 32, which will probably bring him the MVP award for EuroLeague’s round 5.

The American forward is instrumental for CSKA’s success so far, scoring in double-digits in all of five EuroLeague contests so far.

“The key of the game tonight was that everybody was on the same page defensively, especially in the second and third quarter, for sure.

We were all together, we were fighting and we just took advantage of the game plan that we had. I am glad we got the win. It was a tough game, a long game, and I am glad we got the win,” said Clyburn on CSKA’s performance.