As another week goes by in the ACB we are now left with one unbeaten team, with Real Madrid perched on the top spot with a 6-0 record, after they beat a previously unbeaten Gran Canaria team, 75-70. Madrid were led by Nikola Mirotic, who scored 19 point to go along with his 7 rebounds. Granca were left to rue their shooting performance from behind the three point line, as they made just 4/25. Were it not for Albert Oliver, the scoreline could have been a lot worse for them, as the veteran guard scored 20 points in less than 21 minutes.
The other previously unbeaten team, Barcelona, lost their unbeaten record to the previously winless Bilbao Basket, the same team that came within minutes of knocking them out of last years playoffs. The Catalan team attempted almost twice as many three pointers as two pointers as they lost 80-72, with Kostas Papanikolaou being the only player to make more than a third of his three point attempts with 5/9. Bilbao were led by a strong team effort with Dairis Bertans (16), German Gabriel (15), Raul Lopez (14) and Alex Mumbru (11) combining to score 56 of their 80 points.
The losses for Barcelona and Granca move the teams into a three way tie for second position with Valencia, after they completed a comprehensive 102-70 win over Obradoiro. Mike Muscala once again had a fantastic line despite the loss with 16 points and 7 rebounds, but it was the trio of Justin Doellman, Romain Sato and Sam Van Rossum with 56 points on 33 shots for Valencia that pushed them to victory.
Unicaja moved out of this tie with a loss in the Fernando Buesa Arena to Laboral Kutxa, 82-75. It was a poor performance for Malaga, as only Nik Caner-Medley provided anything of note with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but Tibor Pleiss of Baskonia took advantage of his size inside to score 16 points on just 8 shots, to go along with 6 rebounds.
Joseph Devoe on Joventut Badalona was the week’s top scorer as he poured in 26 in a high scoring 103-95 victory over Canarias. Once again Montenegrin big man Blagota Sekulic came up big for Canaria, but his 18 points and 6 rebounds were not enough for them.
Manresa youngster Marcus Eriksson had another huge performance with 21 points and 7 rebounds to lead his team to victory over Valladolid, 75-72. Valladolid struggled to rebound against them, grabbing just 31 rebounds in comparison to 46 for Manresa.
Laboral Kutxa cast-off Carlos Cabezas led Fuenlabrada to a 82-72 victory over Estudiantes, the guard was perfect from the field as he scored 23 points, making 4/4 from two point range, and 5/5 from three point range to go along with 5 assists.
Cajasol defeated Zaragoza, 74-66, with Czech point guard Tomas Satoransky scoring 16 points and 6 assists and Marcos Mata joining him on 16 points. It was a disappointing performance from Zaragoza, as they shot just 40% from two point range and 27% from three point range.
Finally Gipuzkoa defeated Murcia 85-67 with Jason Robinson and David Doblas combining to score 38 points on 25 shots. For Murcia Jose Angel Antelo scored 18 points on 9 shots to go with 6 rebounds in the loss.
