By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Eurocup regular season might have seemed like “fun and games” (to some) since five teams out of each Group of six clinched the ticket to the second stage. Many squads felt more or less safe, since they’d advance, in one way or another, perhaps under-performing sometimes. Judging by the way they entered “phase II”, it becomes obvious that they preferred to sharpen their knives for the challenges ahead.
Can’t blame them. This is the Top 16 folks. No jokes allowed. Everything is serious business and the results from the first set of games made it abundantly obvious.
Only two teams from each Group of four advance to the playoffs and if the first Week of games was a sign of things to come then we must be prepared for some mean battles. Already we had a stunning roadkill, courtesy of Lokomotiv Kuban against Gran Canaria, one title contender like Zenit St. Petersburg receiving a serious “punch” by Nizhny Novgorod, and Hapoel Jerusalem, one of the teams intent on going all the way to the end of the road, making a point with a comeback win at the home of Lietuvos Rytas.
The first Week of the Top 16 was dominated by some great performance by guards so we need to praise them in a “smallball” squad.
The MVP: DeAndre Kane (Nizhny Novgorod)
His raving action blew the defense of Zenit St. Petersburg to smithereens. Kane scored a 31 points (a season-high in all competitions) shooting the ball exceptionally (10/12 two-pointers, 3/4 three-pointers) while grabbing 9 rebounds thanks to his dynamic interventions. The result? 39 in PIR (also a season-high) and a great win for Nizhny over a team that has high ambitions in the competition.
Best Five:
Facu Campazzo (Murcia)
Against Fuenlabrada, he was the grand Maestro that his coach expects him to be. He conducted his team’s game beautifully with 18 points plus 9 assists and his overall guidance produced fluent offenses thanks to which Murcia got its first Eurocup Top 16 victory… ever!
Ryan Boatright (Cedevita)
No wonder that Valencia‘s social media were writing “we overcame a superhuman Boatright“. His performance would be one for the ages if Cedevita managed to win. Still, his game can be easily characterized as “monstrous”: 37 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals 51 PIR! His evaluation index rating tied the third best number in the history of Eurocup and that’s saying much.
Curtis Jerrells (Hapoel Jerusalem)
He didn’t simply caught fire after halftime. He erupted! Jerrells dropped 20 out of his 26 points during the second half of the game between Lietuvos Rytas and Hapoel Jerusalem leading the Israelis to an impressive comeback victory.
DeAndre Kane (Nizhny Novgorod)
One of the “revelations” of the competition is making a buzz that’s heard all over the continent.
Devin Booker (Bayern Munich)
The game between Ratiopharm Ulm and Bayern Munich wasn’t really one to be remembered by how pretty it was, but Booker’s dynamic performance was definitely a spectacle to behold. The American big guy dominated with a double-double consisted of 19 points and 15 rebounds, putting an important piece in his team’s defensive masterwork and providing trouble to the opposing big guys on both ends.
Coach of the Week: Sasa Obradovic (Lokomotiv Kuban)
No other Top 16 Round 1 result was more impressive than the victory of Lokomotiv Kuban over Gran Canaria on the road. Before this match, the Spaniards were undefeated in Las Palmas in the Eurocup season, often making short work of their opponents. This meant nothing for Obradovic and his players. The Serbian coach’s plan to stop Albert Oliver’s creation worked to perfection (the experienced guard had only 1 assist while he averaged more than 6.5 before the game) and by creating two strong offensive poles (one in the perimeter with Janning/Broekhoff and one with his frontcourt of Jones/Vougioukas) created spaces through which his players delivered key strikes on their opponents. A perfectly balanced game and a great win.
The offensive festival (a.k.a. “Is this Eurocup or NBA” ?): Nizhny Novgorod – Zenit St. Petersburg
Four minutes into the game the score was 20 – 18 and first quarter finished 33-30. It was obvious from early on that Nizhny Novgorod and Zenit St. Petersburg had forsaken all semblance of “defense” bound to relentlessly attack the basket and score like there’s no tomorrow.
While the two teams downtuned their tempo (a bit) especially Zenit in the third quarter, their performance down the stretch was even more fiery! 30 – 35. 65 points combined in one quarter. No wonder that both squads set new franchise records for most points scored in a Eurocup match.