By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With Real Madrid and EA7 Emporio Armani Milano at 2-5 and also Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv at 1-6, three traditional Euroleague powers are in danger of missing the Top16. Yes, it’s time for them to step up, however in the case of Real Madrid nothing is lost yet, Milano has its chances and Maccabi is really flirting with disaster.
Real Madrid (2-5) is last for the moment in Group A, behind the trio of FC Bayern Munich, SIG Strasbourg and Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade. Those three teams have a 3-4 record and together with Real they are essentially fighting for two spots. The best case scenario for Real Madrid would be three wins in the three remaining games against Fenerbahce and Strasbourg at home and against Bayern on the road. Still with the duo of Strasbourg and Bayern facing each other in the next round and Crvena Zvezda hosting Bayern in the last regular season round, even two wins against Strasbourg and Bayern may prove to be enough for the Spaniards. Real already has the tie breaking advantage over Zvezda, a win over Bayern and needs to beat Strasbourg by eight of more points in order to advance in any possible tie.
The situation is much worst for EA7 Milano (2-5) in Group B, first of all because they are on the hunt of Anadolu Efes (3-4) which in theory is a much better team, while Cedevita Zagreb and Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz have a two wins advantage (4-3). The Italians have to play Olympiacos and Cedevita on the road and they are hosting CSP Limoges on the last round. They have lost the tie breaking advantage both to Anadolu Efes and to Laboral Kutxa and they need to beat Cedevita by 1o or more points in order to gain it against the Croatian club. The most favorable scenario for them in order to qualify is to get two more wins than Anadolu Efes in the final three games and in theory this can be achieved. The Turks are facing Cedevita and Olympiacos on the road and also Laboral Kutxa at home. However if Anadolu Efes gets the road win next round against Cedevita and Olympiacos beats Milano, then the Italians will hope to catch Cedevita by getting a 10 points win over them. Then all will be decided in the last game with Cedevita playing on the road against Laboral Kutxa and Milano hosting Limoges.
For Maccabi Tel Aviv (1-6) the situation is very simple. They will try to catch Dogus Darussafaka (3-4) in the race for the last Top16 ticket of Group D. The Israelis are playing against Sassari in Italy, Brose Baskets at Tel Aviv and against Darussafaka on the road in their last regular game. The Turks are also hosting Unicaja Malaga and play on the road against CSKA Moscow. Maccabi must get within one win distance until the last game and then beat Dogus by 12 or more points in order to qualify. If the Turks lose both to Unicaja and CSKA, then Maccabi needs one win over Sassari or Brose Baskets for a qualifying chance in the last game. However with both Unicaja and CSKA having secured their Top16 ticket, Darussafaka being motivated in oder to qualify and Maccabi having huge on court woes, things may be decided before the final game.