Olympiacos survived a scare in Tel Aviv to record a 78-77 win over Maccabi Electra in the Top 16 of the Euroleague.
The win, which came without Acie Law and Josh Powell improved the reigning Euroleague holders to 2-3 in Group F while the Israeli champions drop to 1-4. Olympiacos though had to withstand a flurry of pressure from the hosts in the final minute but they held on to record a vital road victory.
Vassilis Spanoulis led all scorers for the Reds with 24 points, supported by Georgios Printezis’ 16. Devon Smith had 17 for Maccabi.
“It was a great win for us,” Spanoulis said afterwards. “We lost our last home game, everyone knows how, and we did not want to leave here with four losses. We gave everything and fought hard.
“I think we controlled the game in the first half, but in the third quarter we were not concentrated and did not execute well on our offense so we gave up some transition points. But, in the end we were there, we were tough, we made some important stops and hit some big buckets to win the game. I tried to play aggressive, try to find my teammates. We tried to keep good spacing because that was our problem in last games.”
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Fenerbahce claimed there first win in the Top 16 with a narrow 85-82 win over BC Khimki in Istanbul.
Bojan Bogdanovic was inspired as he led the victors with 26 points, which improves them to 1-4 in Group F while Khimki, led by Zoran Planinic’s 25 points go to 3-2.
“This is a good victory for us. For my players, the most important things was to find their confidence one more time. We overcame difficult moments in the beginning of the season to get to the Top 16,” Fenerbahce coach Simone Piangiani said.
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Despite a solid start, Caja Laboral fell 90-79 to Barcelona in an all-Liga Endesa clash at the Fernando Buesa Arena.
Barcelona became the first team to defeat Caja Laboral in the Top 16 and both sides now have 4-1 records in Group F, second only to Montepaschi Siena, who are 4-0.
The 2010 winners were led by Pete Mickeal with 23 points, off 10/11 shooting. Juan Carlos Navarro became the first player to surpass 3,000 Euroleague points in this game.
Maciej Lampe had a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds in vain.
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In the only Group E game, and the first ever all-German Euroleague game, Alba Berlin triumphed 82-63 over Brose Baskets in the German capital.This is Alba’s first Top 16 victory and it leaves Bamberg stranded on 0-5. Nihad Djedovic led the winners with 20 points and eight rebounds. Bostjan Nachbar led the German champions with 15 points.
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