The second leg of the regular season starts with the first possibility for a team to qualify mathematically to the Top 16. That would be Unicaja Malaga, which is also the sole unbeaten team left in the competition. The action is spread over three days this week, with one game on Wednesday, seven on Thursday and four on Friday.
Group A
In a rare Wednesday tip off, Khimki Moscow Region defeated Real Madrid 82-85 at Barclaycard Center in the Spanish Capital. Tyrese Rice paced Khimki with 18 points and a career-high 8 assists as Khimki improved to 4-2 in Group A. The result also ended the champs’ winning streak on their home court at 14. Alexey Shved added 13 points, including 2 clutch free throws with 20 seconds to play, while Sergey Monya nailed a pair of big three-pointers in the fourth quarter in scoring 11 points. Madrid’s nightmare start to the season continued as it dropped to 2-4. Madrid lost despite Gustavo Ayon’s 14 points and 15 rebounds.
In the Game of the Week on Thursday, Fenerbahce Istanbul led from start to finish in throttling Bayern Munich 67-84 to remain in first place in Group A. Fenerbahce scored the first 11 points at Munich and never looked back as Bobby Dixon led the way with 25 points – 16 of those in the first quarter as the visitors built an early 20-point lead. Luigi Datome added 17 points and 6 assists.
Strasbourg rallied from a 21-point second-half deficit and pulled out a dramatic 78-75 win over the visiting Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade. This is third win in as many home games for Strasbourg, which improved to 3-3, while Zvezda dropped to 2-4. Quincy Miller scored 14 of his 23 points in the first quarter, and Zvezda hit 10 triples before halftime to lead 34-52 at the break. Margin reached 21 points in the third, but a 15-0 run bridging third and fourth quarters got Strasbourg within 63-64, and Rodrigue Beaubois came up big in the final quarter as the hosts completed their comeback. Strasbourg did not allow a single field goal in the final 12 minutes and 20 seconds of the contest as Jeremy Leloup netted 24 points with 8 rebounds and Rodrigue Beaubois finished with 17 in victory.
Group B
Olympiacos Piraeus survived major absences to its lineup to beat Cedevita Zagreb 70-83 in the Croatian capital on Thursday. The Reds improved to 5-1 atop of Group B and will reach the Top 16 with its next win, while Cedevita dropped to 3-3. The visitors pulled away for good with a 0-11 third quarter run, and escaped the drama in the final minutes as Othello Hunter led the winners with 19 points on 9-of-12 two-point shooting, while Ioannis Papapetrou added 16 points for Olympiacos which was without Vassilis Spanoulis, Georgios Printezis and Patric Young.
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz got back to the winning ways holding off the visiting EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 94-82. The hosts hit 13 three-pointers to improve their record to 4-2, while Milan dropped its fifth consecutive decision. The hosts control the game from the start, and kept increasing the margin which reached 20 points several times in the third quarter. Milan got back within 77-72 with 6 minutes to go, but never closer than that as Causeur finished 22 points on 4-for-5 from three-point land, Darius Adams scored 20, and Ioannis Bourousis amassed 14 points plus 13 rebounds.
On Friday, slumping Anadolu Efes Istanbul (2-3) desperately needs to protect its home floor against Limoges CSP (2-3), which has one of its victories on the road. Efes averages more points on the road (89.5) than at home (83.7), while both teams rank among the Euroleague’s best three in three-point shooting accuracy.
Group C
In a high-scoring and fun-to-watch showdown at Palau Blaugrana, FC Barcelona routed the visiting Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir 107-79 on Thursday night, and in the process broke its scoring record in the competition. The hosts pushed the pedal throughout the game, as Shane Lawal led the way with 19 points, while Carlos Arroyo had 18 on 6-of-7 three-point shooting. Karsiyaka’s Joe Ragland led all scorers with 26 points.
Zalgiris Kaunas used its defense to down the visiting Stelmet Zielona Gora 67-56 and register its first home win of the season at the Zalgirio Arena. The hosts pulled away to a double-digit lead in the third, then again early in the fourth quarter, allowing only 7 points in the final 10 minutes. Paulius Jankunas paced Zalgiris with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
On Friday, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (4-1) travels to Panathinaikos (2-3) at the Olympic Sports Center Athens (OAKA). To retain its perfect home record and keep in touch with the leaders, Panathinaikos must protect the ball against the team with the most steals in the competition (10 spg.).
Group D
In group opener on Thursday, in a classic Euroleague showdown, CSKA Moscow went on the road to beat Maccbi FOX Tel Aviv 82-88, spoiling the debut of new Maccabi head coach Zan Tabak. CSKA pulled away for good with a 2-11 spurt to start the fourth quarter, and stroll to a 5-1 record, which is good for at least second place. Milos Teodosic scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. Nando De Colo added 15 points in victory, while Taylor Rochestie had 20 points to pace Maccabi which dropped to 1-5 record.
Knowing that a win would make it the first team in the Top 16, undefeated Unicaja Malaga (5-0) hits the road to face its first victim of the season, on-the-rise Brose Baskets Bamberg (3-2) on Friday. The hosts must find a way to limit the visitors league-leading averages in assists (22.2) and offensive rebounds (13.8), numbers that are higher when it plays on the road. And perhaps a last chance to rejoin the Top 16 race presents itself to the last winless team in the competition, Dinamo Banco Di Sardegna Sassari (0-5), as it welcomes Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul (2-3) to the island. Sassari lets opponents score a league-high 87.8 points per game, while Darussafaka comes off a big road win wanting more.
