Unicaja shocked Real Madrid

 By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net

The 11th Top16 gameday ended with a bang. The road win of Unicaja in Madrid gave new interest in the play offs race of group E, as now only Anadolu Efes and Real can feel kind of safe, without having “locked” the home court advantage. To be exact the Spaniards and the Turks are tied at 9-2, followed by CSKA Moscow (8-3), Panathinaikos (7-4) and in the fifth place Unicaja (6-5) can still hope. On the contrary Zalgiris Kaunas (4-7), Alba Berlin (1-10) and Brose Baskets (0-11) are out of the play offs picture.

In group F, Barcelona is the top dog (10-1), Siena and Olympiacos (7-4) are tied in the second place and three more teams Khimki, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Caja Laboral (6-5) are still on the race. Only Fenerbahce/ Ulker (2-9) and Besiktas (0-11) are left without any hope. So, here’s what happened on Thursday and Friday.

Eurohoops ΜVP

Ricky Hickman

Maccabi Tel Aviv was in need of a hero and he was the man for the job. His dunk (video) will transform into a part of Maccabi’s lore as his team beat Khimki by a point (80-79) and stayed alive in the play offs race. Hickman had 30 points on 8/16 FG and 10/14 FT, functioning mainly as a shooting guard and he was the locomotive of the hosts’ offense.

Best five

1. Jordan Farmar: Anadolu Efes needed an overtime in order to beat Brose Baskets (89-86), but the result counts and Farmar was once more a beast with 29 points on 12/20 FG, 7 rebounds, 3 assist and also 6 turnovers
2. Ricky Hickman: Thursday was his night…
3. Kostas Papanikolaou: He was on the court for 37 minutes in the win over Siena and he contributed everywhere with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks
4. Victor Khryapa: He returned to Euroleague action with style, as he had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in CSKA’s win over Zalgiris
5. Luka Zoric: He had 21 points and 12 rebounds in a dominating performance as Unicaja managed to beat Real Madrid on the road in its biggest triumph so far in the season.

Best losing performance: Bostjan Nachbar

Once more the Slovenian forward did the best he could for Brose Baskets with 24 points in 23 minutes of action, but it was not enough for the Germans who are still searching for their first win in Top16 after 11 gamedays. Nachbar against his old team was at times unstoppable and the only thing missing from his performance was that he couldn’t score in the last possession of the regulation. He didn’t and Bamberg lost.

The biggest win: Maccabi Tel Aviv

Can Maccabi make it to the play offs? Well, after beating Khimki the team of David Blatt has gained new life in the race after its fourth win in a row and the mediocre 2-5 start of Top16 now seems like distant past. However, at this point Maccabi has restored only its pride and the play off spot is still for grabs.

The upset: Unicaja Malaga

Real Madrid played without Rudy Fernandez and Unicaja didn’t let the chance sleep away. The team from Malaga got the road win against the big favorite for the top spot of its group and the plot thickens in the play offs race of group as the Spaniards are hunting Panathinaikos and the fourth place of the standings.

The underachiever: Real Madrid

It’s the other side of the coin. Of course, Rudy is the team leader, but Real Madrid has a lot of quality players and should get the home win that would be valuable in order to get the top spot of group E. They didn’t, they are tied now with Anadolu Efes and anything can happen until the end of Top16.

The disappointment: Fenerbahce/ Ulker

Yes, they lost to Caja and what else would you expect? And what else can you say?

The last word: The twins

Euroleague decided to ban for life the Macius twins and even wants this ban to include every basketball event. However, just hours after the announcement of the ban, the twins were inside the arena in Moscow for the game of CSKA vs Zalgiris, as their photo proves.

Euroleague 2012-2013 – Last16, 11th Day