Euroleague newcomers Panionios and Air Avellino celebrated their first wins 78-69 against Efes Pilsen and 72-70 against Unicaja respectively. Lonny Baxter led the Greek side in Istanbul with 18 points and 4 rebounds in 30 minutes. Meanwhile Chris Warren was the top scorer with 24 points in Italy.
Greek champions Panathinaikos had an unexpectedly tough game against Nancy. The Greens won by 10 points thanks to a nice performance from Mike Batiste who had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Ricardo Greer had 26 points for Nancy hitting 4/7 three-pointers. PAO wins 80-70.
Zalgiris suffered their third straight loss in Poland against Asseco Prokom. Lithuanian champions had the lead for several times but Daniel Ewing didn’t let the win to slip from his team’s hands. Willie Deane and Ratko Varda missed the game for Zalgiris due to injuries. Zalgiris had troubles hitting free-throws as they made only 8/19. Asseco Prokom recorded second win 65-60.
There was only one thrashing on Wednesday but a big one. TAU Ceramica destroyed German champions Alba Berlin 106-65. Igor Rakocevic had 27 points for the hosts. He was perfect from beyond the arc 6/6 and from the free-throw line 7/7. German side made only 5 out of 22 three-point shots.
Partizan showed an amazing spirit in Belgrade as they managed to erase 23-point deficit against visitors from Italy Armani Jeans Milano. Six players finished the game in double digits for the Serbian giants. Stephane Lasme was the most notable with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jobey Thomas tried to drag Armani Jeans with 27 points but that wasn’t enough as Partizan won 81-76.