By Lefteris Moutis / moutis@eurohoops.net
The power rankings have several differences in relation to the image teams showed after the completion of Round 20.
Eurohoops offers in detail the dynamics of every team, the overall record at home and away, but also their averages on offense and defense.
The criteria have to do with the status of each team, their dynamics, and their performance in the first 25 rounds based on expectations, as well as unexpected wins or defeats.
Read here the previous power rankings, after Round 20.
1. Real Madrid
Previous ranking: 1 (-)
Record: 19-6
At home: 11-1
Away: 8-5
Offense-Defense: 87.2 ppg-79.5 ppg
Madrid remains on top and in the final stretch of the regular season they can finish in first place in the standings. They produced the biggest winning streak in this year’s EuroLeague with nine consecutive victories and its defeat on Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul’s court was Madrid’s only one in the last 11 games. The Madrileños are lucky enough to have Sergio Llull and Luka Doncic in excellent form, and through them to lead the league in assists. Madrid is also the best team in two-point shooting accuracy and has the second-best offense.
2. CSKA Moscow
Previous ranking: 2 (-)
Record: 19-6
At home: 12-1
Away: 7-5
Offense-Defense: 87.6 ppg -79.1 ppg
After a defeat in Istanbul to Fenerbahce Istanbul, CSKA produced a run of four consecutive wins, with Nando De Colo and Milos Teodosic both back healthy again. The defending EuroLeague champions have improved their defense considerably, they remain the best offense in the competition and the team that shoots with the best percentages behind the three-point line. The Muscovites also have the highest aggregate point difference in the EuroLeague, too, winning the most games by the greatest margins.
3. Olympiacos Piraeus
Previous ranking: 3 (-)
Record: 18-7
At home: 11-2
Away: 7-5
Offense-Defense: 78.9 ppg -73.5 ppg
Thanks to consistency and defensive performance, Olympiacos has secured its qualification for the top eight of the playoffs five rounds before the end of the regular season. They concede 73.5 points per game, 6 fewer than the 79.5 that is the average in the competition. The Red-and-Whites pull down their opponents’ performance index ratings (PIR) lower than any other team, they make them dish the fewest assists, they get the most rebounds and, in this way, they make up for their bad percentages in three-point shooting (they are in 14th place) and their low output in assists (15th). Vassilis Spanoulis was absent from three games in the last month and a half, but Georgios Printezis and Erick Green have filled the gap exceptionally well.
4. Fenerbahce Istanbul
Previous ranking: 4 (-)
Record: 16-9
At home: 10-3
Away: 6-6
Offense-Defense: 76.9 ppg -75.2 ppg
After Bogdan Bogdanovic’s return to action and the spike in his performance levels, Fenerbahce have been hurt by consecutive minor injuries of some of their starting players (Kostas Sloukas, Ekpe Udoh, Jan Vesely) but have suffered few losses (two defeats in the last eight games) and have retained a significant edge for the home-court advantage. The Turkish team has the third-best defense in the competition and therefore have the ability to limit opponents and win despite injuries.
5. Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens
Previous ranking: 6 (+1)
Record: 14-11
At home: 11-1
Away: 3-10
Offense-Defense: 77 ppg -75.5 ppg
Panathinaikos has a good edge to make the top eight, but the Greens continue to have the same exact attitude at home and away. In the Olympic Sports Center Athens they’ve been defeated only once (besides them, just Madrid and CSKA have one defeat at home). But away from home, they’ve managed to win just three times: only Unics Kazan, Galatasaray and EA7 Emporio Armani Milan have fewer wins away from home, and those are the three last teams in the standings. The Greens, however, are still high up in the standings mainly thanks to their defense (fourth-best in the EuroLeague), their low turnovers (fewer than any other team) and their control of rebounds. Alessandro Gentile has left the team, but James Gist is ready to come back after his long absence and Chris Singleton is still the best and most consistent player of his team.
6. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Previous ranking: 9 (+3)
Record: 13-12
At home: 8-4
Away: 5-8
Offense-Defense: 84.6 ppg -84.6 ppg
Efes was the pleasant surprise of the last five games. They produced a run of four consecutive wins; they improved even further their offensive production, which is now the third-best in the EuroLeague; and if they hadn’t lost to Brose Bamberg at home, they’d be less worried about making the playoffs. The Turkish team is perhaps the most effective team in transition, the second-best in steals, fourth-best in assists per game, and their only “dark” spots are defense (second-worst in the competition) and poor two-point shooting percentage (15th on the relevant list). The trio of Thomas Heurtel, Bryant Dunston and Derrick Brown stands out and can lead Efes down the final stretch.
7. Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz
Previous ranking: 5 (-2)
Record: 14-11
At home: 9-3
Away: 5-8
Offense-Defense: 81 ppg -79.6 ppg
Baskonia have managed to stay in the top seven after its consecutive wins against Milan and Fenerbahce, balancing out the bad period of one win in seven games that came before that. This team, however, has many solutions aside from the consistent Shane Larkin in the backcourt. Lately, they’ve been lucky enough to have Adam Hanga and Rodrigue Beaubois in form, both filling the gap left by Tornike Shengelia, who returned recently after an absence of a month and a half. Baskonia is one of the most athletic teams in the competition, they are the second-best in rebounds, and they have one of the best home courts in the EuroLeague.
8. Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
Previous ranking: 7 (-1)
Record: 14-11
At home: 9-4
Away: 5-7
Offense-Defense: 74.7 ppg -74.3 ppg
Zvezda doesn’t have the same momentum that it had when starting the second half of the regular season, but they still have the upper hand to reach the top eight and the playoffs. The Serbian team has the second-best defense in the competition, they are the best in steals and allow the fewest possible offensive rebounds to their opponents.
9. Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul
Previous ranking: 8 (-1)
Record: 12-13
At home: 8-4
Away: 4-9
Offense-Defense: 78.8 ppg -79.6 ppg
Darussafaka continue to be on the verge of getting in the playoffs and, as they enter the final stretch, they have to be more consistent in order to be able to cover ground. The Turkish team commits few turnovers even though they rely a lot on the individual talent of their players and on one-on-one plays (they dish the fewest assists than any other team) and they have the worst numbers in two-point shooting. Brad Wanamaker, however, is the hottest guard in the EuroLeague right now, and the wonder boy, Ante Zizic, continues to impress.
10. Zalgiris Kaunas
Previous ranking: 11 (+1)
Record: 11-14
At home: 6-7
Away: 5-7
Offense-Defense: 77.6 ppg -79.6 ppg
Zalgiris launched a big counteroffensive with four wins in the last seven games, with the victories against CSKA, FC Barcelona Lassa and Panathinaikos standing out. But they need an even better finish in order to achieve the triumph of getting into the top eight. The team that Sarunas Jasikevicius has created is constantly improving defensively; they rely on teamwork and know how to play games to a tempo at which opponents have a hard time showing their quality on the court. Regardless of how it ends, Zalgiris is aready a big success thus far.
11. FC Barcelona Lassa
Previous ranking: 10 (-1)
Record: 10-15
At home: 7-6
Away: 3-9
Offense-Defense: 72.3 ppg -75.9 ppg
Barcelona now maintains only mathematical hopes for making the playoffs, paying for their many injuries and their inconsistency. The latest casualties on the long list of absentees were Justin Doellman, Juan Carlos Navarro and Brad Oleson (he returned three rounds ago). The Blaugrana, though, are still last in terms of offensive productivity and first in turnovers, being unable to sustain their rhythm even in the course of the same game. After all, they’ve managed to win two games in a row only twice throughout the season.
12. Brose Bamberg
Previous ranking: 12 (-)
Record: 9-16
At home: 6-5
Away: 3-11
Offense-Defense: 79.5 ppg -79.7 ppg
Bamberg are coming off a bad run of games with only two wins in the last nine. In this way, the German team diminished the excellent impressions they had created in the first half of the regular season, when they either won games or lost them very late. Bamberg is one of the best teams in the EuroLeague in terms of accuracy (second in three-point shooting and third in two-point shooting), but they’re last in rebounds.
13. Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
Previous ranking: 13 (-)
Record: 9-16
At home: 6-7
Away: 3-9
Offense-Defense: 78.6 ppg -83.5 ppg
Maccabi‘s season in the EuroLeague has been unsuccessful and was decided well before the end of the regular season. The Israeli team only managed to play well in bursts, and after one-third of the season had passed, couldn’t be competitive in most of their games. They have the third-worst defense in the EuroLeague, they are third on the list of teams with the most turnovers, and they’ve lost any hopes of qualifying long ago. After the departure of Sonny Weems and Maik Zirbes came Andrew Goudelock’s injury and now Maccabi will be forced to close out the season without their top scorer and one of the last stars on the roster.
14. Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul
Previous ranking: 16 (+2)
Record: 8-17
At home: 7-6
Away: 1-11
Offense-Defense: 78.4 ppg -83.3 ppg
Galatasaray is one of the most unpredictable teams in the competition. After having done so to Olympiacos earlier in the season, now they have also defeated Madrid at home, while they overpowered Barcelona twice. The Turkish team has improved in recent games, often appearing more competitive despite the constant changes to their roster, with the latest absences being those of Emir Preldzic and Blake Schilb. The paradox of being third in assists despite ranking 10th in offensive production isn’t especially helpful to Galatasaray since, at the same time, they have the fourth-worst defense in the EuroLeague.
15. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Previous ranking: 15 (-)
Record: 7-18
At home: 6-6
Away: 1-12
Offense-Defense: 82.3 ppg -88.4 ppg
Milan have returned to the long negative streaks, counting four defeats in a row now, though that’s clearly a smaller streak than the 10 defeats that ran until the beginning of the second leg of the regular season, which was also the biggest in club history. The Italian team has the worst defense in the competition, but drive most of their games to a high score and so it’s to be expected that they also have the fourth-best offense. Krunoslav Simon‘s injury hurt them badly, though. Now they will simply try to avoid last place.
16. Unics Kazan
Previous ranking: 14 (-2)
Record: 7-18
At home: 5-8
Away: 2-10
Offense-Defense: 76.8 ppg -81.3 ppg
Unics count eight defeats in a row and has the EuroLeague’s worst home record, with only five wins in front of their own crowd. The Russian team has lost several games at the finish line, games that could have changed their position for the better. But now they are in last place of the standings, with Keith Langford and Quino Colom being consistently good, but not enough to reverse the team’s fortunes.