By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Two buzzer beaters, a big game in Israel, the first win of Siena, the unbeaten Fenerbahce/ Ulker and the road warriors of Barcelona gave thrills and chills in Euroleague on Thursday night.
The night started with a game decided by a three pointer made by Krunoslav Simon. Like he did against Panathinaikos, he was the man of the match in the 85-84 win of Lokomotiv Kuban over Laboral Kutxa, however this time things were even more dramatic. The hosts were trailing by 8 points 2,5 minutes before the end, but Loko made an impressive come back. The really back news for the guests came from Andres Nocioni’s left knee injury, one more problem for coach Scariolo.
Τhe Russians are sharing the top of Group D with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Both teams have a 4-1 record as the Israelis beat Panathinaikos 75-68. It was a typical hard fought game between two long time rivals, however on a bad shooting night (7/29 threes) the Greeks were trailing almost for the entire game, Maccabi got a 25-11 head start in the first quarter and never looked back.
At Malaga, Siena got its first win in the season thanks to a buzzer beater by Jeff Viggiano. The final score was 75-73 against Unicaja, which got back in action Nic Caner Medley but his return from injury wasn’t celebrated with a positive result.
At Istanbul, Fenerbahce/ Ulker got a relatively easy win over Nanterre (83-66) and remained unbeaten led once more by Bojan Bogdanovic (photo, 20 p.) and Emir Preldzic (16 p.). The only high note for the French champions was the impressive game of Ali Traore (20 p., 4 r.).
At Kaunas, Justin Dentmon had 6/6 threes (24 p., 9 as.) in a dominating performance that led Zalgiris to the win over Brose Baskets (91-81). It was the 11th straight road defeat for the German champions and the first big game of Dentmon in the season. Finally at Kiev, Barcelona prevailed by 12 points over Budivelnik (84-72). It was a must win game for the guests who now have a 3-2 record.