By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce/ Ulker played with fire but got the win over Turow, Bayern prevailed after a hard fought game over Panathinaikos and Barcelona without Juan Carlos Navarro but with Abrines sizzling toyed with EA7 Milano.
Αt Milano, Barcelona started the game with guns blazing, having a 45-32 lead after 20 minutes of action thanks to 8/12 threes against 2/12 of the hosts who tried to come back, but just couldn’t. Τhe Italian team was trailing in the whole game, in the 28th minute they cut the lead of the Catalans to eight points (58-50) and in the end were defeated by 15 points (78-63). Playing without Juan Carlos Navarro, this game proved to be the party of Alex Abrines who scored 21 points making 7/8 shots. Tibor Pleiss also had 16 points on 100% shooting (5/5 2p. 1/1 3p.).
Fenerbahce/ Ulker also had a great start with a 30-15 lead after the first quarter, but Turow proved to be feisty. That translated to a 50-40 half time lead for the guests. The Polish champs got even closer (63-55) but Fenerbahce stayed in control until the end. Τurow managed to scare Fenerbahce by making it a five points game (78-73) thanks to five straight points by Damian Kulig who had in total 23 points. However with Andrew Goudelock taking the ball and scoring in total also 27 points – nine of them in the last 2.41 minutes – Zoc and his players got the 91-76 win.
The big game was played at Munich, with powerhouse in the making Bayern hosting six times Euroleague champion Panathinaikos and getting the 81-75 win. The Greeks are not as strong as they used to be, but it was a wire to wire close game with the biggest lead for the Greens being six points (55-49) in the 28th minute and Bayern getting back the lead one minute latter (57-56). Τhe Germans started the last quarter with a 11-2 run (68-61) but Panathinaikos cut it two (70-68) with three minutes and a half minutes to go. Nihad Djedovic answered with a three (73-68), followed by one more by Dusko Savanovic (76-68) and that proved to be the end of it. Ιn total Savanovic had 20 points on 5/7 threes, while Esteban Batista scored 18 points for Panathinaikos on 8/11 shots.