Βy Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Vasilis Spanoulis with a big three just half a second left before the end of the game gave Olympiacos the 68-65 win over Panathinaikos and also decided the play offs couples. There are three more Top16 games left, but the Reds will probably face CSKA Moscow at the play offs and the Greens will play against Real Madrid. Also Galatasaray is half a step away from the play offs.
At Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow thanks to a great 10-2 run with three minutes left in the game, secured a 81-76 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv. However CSKA had to cover a +23 points advantage in the total goal average in order to have the tie breaker over Real Madrid and now the Spaniards will finish on top of Group F if they get the win over Zalgiris Kaunas.
The same thing happened in Russia. Lokomotiv Kuban did the best they could, got the 84-75 win over Bayern, but it was not enough. In order to have the slightest qualification chance, Loko needed a win by 25 points and now Galatasaray has just to prevail at home just by a point over Partizan in order to get the ticket to the play offs and a quarterfinal match up against Barcelona.
The game in Istanbul between Fenerbahce/ Ulker and Anadolu Efes ended up with the hosts getting the win (84-65), but the subject of discussion was the absence of Emir Preldzic from the roster.The good news for Fener was the game of 18 years old guard Berk Ugurlu shined with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists.
Finally at Barcelona, despite trailing by 50-35 after the first half, Laboral Kutxa got the 00-00 win as Andres Nocioni scored 37 points, playing just for his pride as nothing was on stake at this game.