By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Unicaja Malaga managed to beat Anadolu Efes in Istanbul for the 13th Top16 gameday, but the big winner of this game was CSKA Moscow. The Russians – after beating Real Madrid by 9 points – are the only team in group E with a 10-3 record and they can finish the Top16 on the first place of the standings even if they drop their last game in Athens against Panathinaikos by a 16 points difference. The Greeks secured their place in the play offs after beating Brose Baskets on the road, they are tied with Real and Efes at 9-4 and Unicaja with a 7-6 record has mathematically missed the play offs.
- CSKA Moscow needed to win this game and also to cover the point difference of its overtime defeat in Madrid. The Russians did it with a 81-72 triumph over Real Madrid. Rudy Fernandez with 24 points and 6/8 threes did his best, but he was alone. On the other hand, CSKA was a controlled, well oiled machine that produced incredible defense in the first half and then went on cruise control in order to end the game the way coach Messina wanted. Sonny Weems scored 21 points and Milos Teodosic had 17 points and 7 assists.
- Playing without Krunoslav Simon and Earl Calloway many expected from Unicaja Malaga to lay down and die in Istanbul. We did, but Marcus Williams had an other view on the subject. With one more big game by him and Luca Zoric, Unicaja beat Anadolu Efes (70-64) and kept its play offs hopes alive at least for some hours. The character that Unicaja displayed was unprecedented in the recent history of the team but it was not enough because…
- Panathinaikos got the road win in Bamberg against Brose Baskets and secured a place in the play offs, leaving Unicaja out. The Greens had a double digits lead since the first quarter (26-16) and despite the fact that this game was considered by the hosts their last chance for a Top16 win this season, they couldn’t keep up. The guests had a 21 points lead in the start of the second half (48-27) and the final 82-60 was the normal outcome, as five minutes before the game Panathinaikos was up 74-47 thanks to a three pointer by Jonas Maciulis who had 24 points (6/7 3p.).
- Maccabi Tel Aviv destroyed Besiktas in a one sided game. The half time score was 61-27 for the hosts who needed the win in order to stay in play offs course in group F against a team with a 1-11 record before the game. They finally got it with the scoreboard writing 101-58 after scoring just 10 points in the last quarter. Coach Blatt used all his available players and Nik Caner Medley had 15 points in 16,5 minutes of action in the first half.