By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Status, dynamics, form and the significance of results were the criteria for ranking the 18 teams.
#18 KHIMKI MOSCOW REGION
Previous ranking: 16 (-2)
Record: 2-11
At home: 1-6
Away: 1-5
Offense-Defense: 79.5-88.3
Even though Khimki Moscow Region are now complete, they became the first team to reach a double-digit number of defeats and are unable to break free from the bottom of the rankings. It’s going to be hard to change this situation if they don’t change their attitude on defense, of which theirs is the worst in the competition. How much worse would it be if they weren’t second in defensive rebounds? Until then, the seventh-best offense will be insufficient to make up for much.
#17 CRVENA ZVEZDA MTS BELGRADE
Previous ranking: 15 (-2)
Record: 4-9
At home: 2-4
Away: 2-5
Offense-Defense: 74.7-76.8
One (Jordan Loyd with 18.4 points, though with 29.4% in 3PT%) equals none for Zvezda, who have the fourth-worst offense in the competition (last in FG% with 43.5%). As long as consistency in scoring is missing from their game, so will the victories be missing, too. The sixth-best defense is not enough for anything more than four wins so far.
#16 LDLC ASVEL VILLEURBANNE
Previous ranking: 18 (+2)
Record: 3-9
At home: 2-3
Away: 1-6
Offense-Defense: 73.8-77.7
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne were shooting exceptionally well from the three-point line in some of their last games and they even managed to beat top-ranked Barcelona (80-68 with 61.9% in 3PT%) and took it to the next level against Panathinaikos (97-73 with 70.8% in 3PT%). Other than that, they have the second-worst offense (first in turnovers with 15.9), which takes away a lot from the eighth-best defense and is responsible for most of their nine defeats.
#15 PANATHINAIKOS OPAP ATHENS
Previous ranking: 12 (-3)
Record: 4-8
At home: 2-4
Away: 2-4
Offense-Defense: 78.3-83.9
Performances like the last one in the defeat by Zalgiris (69-81) are tending to become the norm for Panathinaikos, who still haven’t won consecutive games. They have one of the most mediocre offenses (last in FT% with 71.4%) and the second-worst defense (second to last in steals with 5.6), which explains a lot about their course so far.
#14 FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL
Previous ranking: 6 (-8)
Record: 5-8
At home: 2-3
Away: 3-5
Offense-Defense: 73.1-78.9
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul are in a really bad phase and not even the return of Nando De Colo was enough to turn the situation around. The defeat by ALBA (89-63) was the fifth in the last six games, four of which were with deficits that ranged from 18 to 42 points! They now have the league’s worst offense, while their defense is the eighth best, though in constant decline.