The aftermath (EL 8th gameday)

By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net

Only three Top16 spots are still open two weeks before the end of the regular season with Panathinaikos, Khimki, Siena, Alba Berlin, Maccabi TA, Olympiacos and Anadolu Efes sealing their qualification on the 8th gameday.

Real Madrid, Unicaja Malaga, Zalgiris Kaunas, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas and the unbeaten Barcelona had already booked their tickets and in group B, Chalon and Prokom already know that their Euroleague season will be completed after two games. In group A, Fenerbahce/ Ulker (4-4) is the favorite for the last qualifying place against Union Olimpija (2-6) and Cantu (2-6), in group C, EA7 Milano (3-5) has a slight advantage over Caja Laboral (2-6) and Cedevita (2-6) and in group D Partizan (2-6) and Brose Baskets (2-6) can still dream, while Lietuvos Rytas (1-7) is one step behind them.

Eurohoops MVP

Nikola Mirotic

Real Madrid’s forward took upon himself the offense and scored 18 points. He also added 6 rebounds, two assists and one steal in the win over Fenerbahce/ Ulker that kept the Spanish team alone (6-2) on the top of the standings in group A. His last points were marked by a three pointer which made the score 59-52 in the start of the last quarter and paved the way for a 23-5 run after the collapse of the guests.

Best five

1. Milos Teodosic: Welcome back! The star point guard of CSKA Moscow finally produced a game worthy of his talent with 19 points on 6/11 shots, 9 assists and 1 rebounds in the 97-89 win at Bamberg.
2. Vasilis Spanoulis: He had better nights than his 16 points on 5/9 shots, along with 6 assists and 4 turnovers, but he was the leader of Olympiacos in the road win against Zalgiris and made two big three pointers in the closing minutes.
3. Joe Ingles: He had 22 points on just 7 shots without missing anything (3/3 2 p., 4/4 3 p., 4/4 1p.) in the 30 points road win of Barcelona against Besiktas (78-48)
4. Νicola Mirotic: Νο further explanation needed…
5. Stephane Lasme: In the absence of Sofoklis Shortsanitis he proves himself over and over again as a force in the paint. That happened also in Panathinaikos’ win over Olimpija with him having 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks.

The best losing performance: Bracey Wright

Wright had an impressive stat line (24 p., 5 r. 3 as. 2 st. 9/13 shots), but it was not enough for Cedevita against Anadolu Efes (81-73). The Croatian club lost a lot of its punch after the Maljkovic resignation in the most crucial junction of its Top16 qualification effort. Still Cedevita will have a fighting chance if they beat next week Olympiacos, but this was never an easy task for them. Luka Zoric was also impressive with 29 points for Unicaja at Siena, but his performance didn’t have any effect in the outcome of the game, which was a total Italian domination.

The biggest win: Olympiacos

The champions took their vengeance in Kaunas against Zalgiris with a 77-63 win. The Reds even had the chance to cover the 18 points difference from their defeat in Greece and if that happened, they will have the advantage in the race for the top spot of the standings in group C. However, it was an impressive road win for the team of coach Bartzokas, the fifth consecutive since the previous game against Zalgiris.

Τhe barnburner: Caja Laboral – EA7 Milano

Welcome to Euroleague, Tomas Huertel. His game winning shot concluded an epic come back by Caja Laboral which stayed alive in the Top16 race after its 64-62 win over EA7 Milano. It was a game that brought out the character of the host team that seemed lost in the start of the season. Νow anything seems possible, even if Milano still have a better chance of qualification, but not the tie breaker advantage over Caja.

The disappointment: Fenerbahce/ Ulker

After closing the first half at Madrid leading by 3 points (39-36) the Turkish team finished the game by scoring just 22 points in the last 20 minutes against and losing to Real 77-61. The bottom line is that a team with one of the most expensive budgets in Euroleague, which is still considered a favorite in order to get even to the Final Four, can miss – at least mathematically – the Top16.

The underachiever: Cantu

After its last season performance in Euroleague, everybody expected that Cantu somehow will find a way to play at Top16. That possibility is a longshot after what happened in Moscow where Khimki got the 77-53 win. As coach Trinchieri said the team missed “key players Aradori, Smith and Scekic because of injures” and the talent of its roster was just not up to the task.

The last word: Alba Berlin

According to eye witnesses the 67-64 win of Alba over Prokom could win the award for the ugliest game of the season, even if we are just entering December. That been said, one should congratulated the Germans who created quite an uproar last summer when they got the Euroleague wildcard and managed to qualify to Top16. And also they got 8.220 fans on the stands on Thursday.

Euroleague 2012-2013 – 8th Day