Fenerbahce were forced to endure a tense last ten seconds but ultimately came away with a narrow 78-77 win over Real Madrid at the Ulker Sports Arena.
With the score locked at 77-77, Fenerbahce supporters had their hearts in their mouths as Sergio Llull pulled up for an open mid-range jumper with three seconds left. Fortunately for the hosts, his shot was long and James Nunnally collected the loose ball with 1.7 seconds left.
Nunnally still had work to do, but hit one free throw to ice the game. He ended his best game for Fenerbahce with 18 points.
“It feels good to win,” Nunnally said. “We always gotta win at home and that’s the goal of every game. Win at home, protect the home court. My teammates found me in the right spot; I just knocked down the shot. That’s it.”
Anthony Randolph had 16 for Real Madrid as both sides now move to 7-3.
The EuroLeague’s unluckiest team, Brose Baskets were once again left heartbroken as a Vitaly Fridzon baseline jumper handed champions and league leaders CSKA Moscow a 90-88 win in Bamberg.
CSKA improves to a league-best 9-1 record, while Bamberg remains in the cellar at 2-8 after a fantastic game that saw Bamberg rally from a 19-point third quarter deficit and take a slim lead in the fourth quarter, only for CSKA to rally behind its magician Milos Teodosic, as he hit seven three-pointers and finish with 31 points along with eight assists to lead them to victory.
“We had control of the game,” CSKA center Kyle Hines said. “Maybe we allowed them to score too much, but Bamberg, they came back and made some shots. They capitalized on some of our mistakes. But we made enough plays; Vitaly had a big play at the end. Milos played really big down the stretch. We just made enough plays to win the game.”
A double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds by Derrick Brown was enough for Anadolu Efes to take a surprise 86-77 road win over Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.
The Istanbul side improves to 5-5, while Maccabi has the same record a week after going to Olympiacos and winning there.
Unics Kazan secured a big 100-79 home win over EA7 Milano as the EuroLeague’s leading scorer Keith Langford once again stood out with 25 points.
The victory that broke Unics’s three-game losing streak and improved its record to 3-7. Milan dropped to 4-6. Unics took control of the scoreboard with a 16-2 first-quarter and never trailed again.
