By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
There can be only one and that one is Real Madrid. After Thursday’s games, the Spanish club is the only team left with a 6-0 record in Euroleague’s Top16 after beating its big opponent, fellow title contender CSKA Moscow.
- The game of the week was decided in overtime with Real Madrid getting the 86-78 win thanks to a big game by Jaycee Carroll. He was the star of the night with 31 points and stole the show even from Rudy Fernandez who scored 20 and also had 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. CSKA had the chance to win the game, but Milos Teodosic missed the three point shot that he attemped at the end of regulation with the score tied 66-66.
- Siena went undefeated in Spain, but couldn’t compete with Barcelona. Despite missing Juan Carlos Navarro, the Catalans were led in offense by center Ante Tomic (20 p.) who couldn’t be stopped by the Italians’ front line and had an early lead (20-13 in the end of the first quarter) that got bigger and bigger during the game until the final 85-66. Every one expected a reaction from Siena, but Barcelona had the total control of the match.
- It was a heated game with Acie Law and Romein Sato getting ejected in the first half. However, Olympiacos got the 82-71 win over Fenerbahce/ Ulker. The final score is almost flattering for the guests who were down by 21 points in the start of the last quarter (70-49) and scored when everything was decided. Spanoulis was the top scorer for the winners with 15 points, while Andersen (18 p.), Bogdanovic (20 p.) and McCalebb (20 p.) had better numbers, but Fenerbahce was not playing like a team, as its total of 7 assists prove.
- In Istanbul, Maccabi Tel Aviv was eager for the win and got it without any real pressure by Besiktas (77-55). Coach Blatt had the chance to use his full rotation, Lior Eliyahu with 14 points was the best among equals and the host team scored just 22 points in the first half compared to Maccabi‘s 43. It was just the second Top16 win of the Israelis against the win-less after six games Turks.
- Zalgiris demolished Alba Berlin (92-56) with Marko Popovic scoring 22 points and dishing 5 assists in 21 minutes. The Germans were into the game in the first half, trailing just by 7 points after 20 minutes of action (44-37), but in the third quarter everything changed. With a partial score 26-9 Zalgiris got a +20 points lead (72-46) and Alba just stopped playing.