Βy Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Eurohoops presents the complete review of the best European leagues (Spanish, Turkish, German, VTB, Greek, Italian and French) this weekend highlighting the Top 5 scorers, the top 5 wins, 5 bad losses, 5 falls and 5 tips.
5 Top Scorers
1. Matt Walsh (Eskisehir, Turkey)
35 points (5/8 free throws, 3/7 2ps, 8/12 3ps) in Eshisehir’s victory over Kolejliler (97-85)
2. Mark Payne (Chalons Reims, France)
33 points (3/3 free throws, 12/16 2ps, 2/5 3ps) in Chalons Reims’ road victory over Rouen (97-84)
3. Linas Kleiza (Milano, Italy)
30 points (3/3 2ps, 8/10 3ps) in Milano‘s victory over Reg. Emilla (118-68)
4. Carl English (AEK, Greece)
28 points (2/4 2ps, 8/9 3ps) in AEK’s victory over Panelefsiniakos (105-80)
4. Ivan Maras (Minsk, VTB League)
28 points (11/15 free throws, 4/7 2ps, 3/6 3ps) in Minsk’s defeat by Enisey (84-91)
4. Troy DeVries (Konyaspor, Turkey)
28 points (4/5 free throws, 6/6 2ps, 4/10 3ps) in Konyaspor’s vixtory over Istanbul (85-82)
5 Top Wins
Darussafaka over Gaziantep 72-69 (Turkey)
Jamon Gordon made the buzzer beater and led Darussafaka to a great win which kept it in the top four.
Boulogne over Dijon 86-70 (France)
Boulogne is fighting to avoid the relegation and the easy victory over a top four team, Dijon raises its chances to stay in first division.
Lokomotiv Kuban over Nizhny 88-82 (VTB)
The derby in the VTB League was decided by the excellent game of Simon, Kurbanov and Randolph.
AEK over Panelefsiniakos 105-80 (Greece)
This was the first time AEK scored more than 100 points in a game after 2006.
Crailsheim over Bayreuth 88-84 (Germany)
This was the third victory of Crailsheim during the last four games and hopes to remain in the division.
5 Bad losses
Reggio Emilia by Milano 118-68 (Italy)
This was the heaviest defeat in the history of the Italan championship. The previous one was on (4/12/1994, Cagiva Varese-MetaSystem 118-81). Also, Milano dished 34 assists and that’s a record in Legabasket’s history. Moreover, Linas Kleiza scored 30 points in 17′ and of course it’s a record!
Besiktas by Tofas 65-72 (Turkey)
This was the 7th straight defeat of Besiktas out of 10 in total this season and now the team is on the verge of losing the playoffs.
Kolejliler by Eskisehir 97-85 (Turkey)
Kolejliler had the chance to push more Eskisehir to the lower division, but eventually lost by 12 points and hasn’t advantage in case of tie.
Limoges by Paris Levalois 92-66 (France)
The reigning champs lost by 26 points after a very bad game.
Galatasaray by Efes 77-75 (Turkey)
Apart from the millions of financial problems, Galatasaray is in danger of missing the playoffs if continues like this. In the derby nobody scored during the last 107 seconds.
5 Falls
The brawl in Baskonia
The game of the week in the Liga Endesa was the Basques’ derby, Bilbao-Laboral but eventually turned out to be the “fight of the season”. Watch here the brawl
Apollon Patron defeat
Apollon missed 3/4 free throws in the last seconds. In addition Marios Batis fouled Dominic Waters at the buzzer in a shot from downtown. Waters made it and with 3/3 free throws gave the victory to Kolossos.
Galatasaray roster
The financial problems have reduced the number of the players who are available, many were injured and finally in the Turkish derby, Ataman had only seven players in the derby against Efes who played 22-35 minutes. Arroyo’s departure made the problem even worse.
Nizhny
The loss by Lokomotiv wasn’t a surprise but Nizhny completed four defeats in its last five games in the VTB League and seven defeats in its last eight Euroleague games.
Kifisia
The surprising team of the Greek league last season now fights to avoid its relegation as the coach of the team admitted. Kifisia faced its eighth defeat in the last ten games with all the Greek veterans being unable to prevent the downfall of the team.
5 Tips
Sergi Vidal’s celebration
In the last game of Joventut, Sergi Vidal completed 500 games in the Liga Endesa and is ranked sixth after Felipe Reyes, Juan Carlos Navarro, Alex Mumbru, Berni Rodriguez and Roger Grimau.
Andrei is back
Kirilenko’s debut in the VTB League was more successful than in the Euroleague. He scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished three assists.
Alba without Obradovic
Sasha Obradovic was punished because of his fight with Renfroe and head coach in the game against Braunsweig was his assistant, Milenko Bogicevic. He did it pretty well as Alba won the game.
Pesic’ gift
Bayern beat 92-51 Trier and after the end of the game it was announced that Svetislav Pesic will stay to the team for two more seasons.
Brose Baskets 13 straight wins
In such a competitive league like the German one, it’s a huge accomplishment if a team can win even 5 or 6 straight games. However, Brose Baskets reached the 13 victories in row after its prevail over (92-51) Trier.