By Stefan Djordjevic / sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
The fifth week of the Basketball Champions League playoffs featured a bit more action than usual as three extra games were played out on Thursday in addition to the usual eight on Tuesday and Wednesday.
When all was settled, five more teams joined the already-qualified Nizhny Novgorod as the Final Eight participants. All three Spanish teams qualified plus ERA Nymburk and Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon.
Hereda San Pablo Burgos had some trouble in the first game against Igokea which they lost by two points but they responded two days later in a convincing fashion.
Lenovo Tenerife and Casademont Zaragoza were also impressive in their wins over VEF Riga and Nymburk with the Czech getting a ticket as well due to Brose Bamberg completing the comeback against Dinamo Sassari.
Hapoel Holon had to take down Happy Casa Brindisi in order to seal the ticket and they managed to do it after an overtime thriller in Group I where one more spot is left and it will belong to the Italians or Pinar Karsiyaka which suffered a tough loss against already-eliminated Tofas Bursa.
The last ticket will go to either Turk Telekom or SIG Strasbourg in Group K. The former succeeded in eliminating AEK while the French managed to make a big late comeback against Nizhny to stay in the race.
Group I
Tofas Bursa – Pinar Karsiyaka 90-79
Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon – Happy Casa Brindisi 81-79
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon * | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80.0 |
|
401 | 393 | 8 | 80.2 | 78.6 | 9 |
| 2 | Happy Casa Brindisi | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60.0 |
|
415 | 394 | 21 | 83 | 78.8 | 8 |
| 3 | Pinar Karsiyaka | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 |
|
384 | 383 | 1 | 76.8 | 76.6 | 7 |
| 4 | Tofas Bursa | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20.0 |
|
388 | 418 | -30 | 77.6 | 83.6 | 6 |
Group J
Igokea – Hereda San Pablo Burgos 77-75
VEF Riga – Lenovo Tenerife 64-77
Hereda San Pablo Burgos – Igokea 83-71
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Hereda San Pablo Burgos * | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80.0 |
|
402 | 347 | 55 | 80.4 | 69.4 | 9 |
| 2 | Lenovo Tenerife * | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80.0 |
|
395 | 366 | 29 | 79 | 73.2 | 9 |
| 3 | Igokea | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 |
|
376 | 395 | -19 | 75.2 | 79 | 7 |
| 4 | VEF Riga | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
|
323 | 388 | -65 | 64.6 | 77.6 | 5 |
Group K
Turk Telekom – AEK 78-66
Nizhny Novgorod – SIG Strasbourg 87-97
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Nizhny Novgorod * | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80.0 |
|
428 | 378 | 50 | 85.6 | 75.6 | 9 |
| 2 | AEK | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 |
|
350 | 390 | -40 | 70 | 78 | 7 |
| 3 | Türk Telekom | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 |
|
379 | 396 | -17 | 75.8 | 79.2 | 7 |
| 4 | SIG Strasbourg | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 |
|
400 | 393 | 7 | 80 | 78.6 | 7 |
Group L
Casademont Zaragoza – Dinamo Sassari 105-88
Brose Bamberg – ERA Nymburk 80-91
Casademont Zaragoza – ERA Nymburk 90-71
Brose Bamberg – Dinamo Sassari 92-86
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Casademont Zaragoza * | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80.0 |
|
443 | 424 | 19 | 88.6 | 84.8 | 9 |
| 2 | ERA Nymburk * | 4 | 3 | 1 | 75.0 |
|
343 | 346 | -3 | 85.8 | 86.5 | 7 |
| 3 | Brose Bamberg | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40.0 |
|
441 | 421 | 20 | 88.2 | 84.2 | 7 |
| 4 | Dinamo Sassari | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
|
346 | 382 | -36 | 86.5 | 95.5 | 4 |
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League