FC Barcelona has returned to its winning ways after an unexpected loss at the hands of UNICS. The Catalans cruised past LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne to a wire-to-wire 84-71 win at Palau Blaugrana.
Barca led with as many as 25 points en route to a comfortable victory. Nicolas Laprovittola had an outstanding game registering 20 points (12 of them in the third quarter) to help his team pull away early in the second half. Nikola Mirotic added 16 points and seven rebounds and Brandon Davies scored 11 for Barcelona, which improved to 17-5 on the season. ASVEL dropped to 9-13.
Crvena Zvezda return to its winning ways as the Serbian club succumbed Olympiacos to its first loss at Peace and Friendship Stadium in the ‘Red and White’ derby. The visitors built a 10-point margin in the first quarter, but most of it evaporated before the break and the lead was 36-37 at halftime.
Zvezda took a decisive step towards the victory thanks to 0-6 run during that convert a 67-68 lead to 67-74 lead for the visitors entering the last minute of the game. Ognjen Dobric was the leading scorer for the winners with 14 points, followed by Nikola Kalinic, who provided 12. The Serbian side snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 8-12. Olympiacos dropped its third game in the row, but remained in the playoff picture having a 12-8 record.
Zenit St. Petersburg continued their impressive run of winning basketball in the last six games as they downed reigning champion Anadolu Efes with 76-67.
Xavi Pascual and his team needed a huge 15-6 run in the third quarter and a career-night from Alex Poythress to held Efes down and improve to 13-7, tied with Armani Milano for third place in the EuroLeague standings. Poythress had an incredible night in Sibur Arena with 21 points and nine rebounds, while Billy Barron added 13 points and five assists. Vasilje Micic led Efes with 22 points, but he also had seven turnovers. With that loss, Efes dropped to 10-11.