Regular Season Week 5 in review
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 After a thrilling Week 5 in which two games went to overtime and six others were decided by 7 or fewer points, the Euroleague regular season reached the halfway point with two groups under the control of one team, while five more were tied atop the other two groups. In the first game of the week, Cibona bested Air Avellino 82-79 in overtime thanks to Niksa Prkacin's clutch points and a big night from Davor Kus. With the win, Cibona improved to 4-1 in Group. One night later, Cibona was tied again as Olympiacos improved to 4-1 by edging Le Mans 93-98 on the road. Lynn Greer had 26 points to lead the Reds, including free throws to force the extra period with 3 seconds to go. Also in Group A, an injury-plagued Unicaja downed Maccabi Electra 73-80 behind 23 points from Thomas Kelati. Unicaja is now third place and spoiled the party planned for Pini Gershon's returned to the bench in Tel Aviv. Regal FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos and Montepaschi Siena all won to remain tied atop Group B. Panathinaikos topped Asseco Prokom 60-67 on the road thanks to Dimitris Diamantidis's 10 fourth-quarter points. The Polish champs had rallied to tie the game midway through the fourth quarter. Montepaschi Siena trounced SLUC Nancy 86-63 and Barcelona thrashed Zalgiris 60-75 in Kaunas, Lithuania. Jaka Lakovic paced the winners with 22 points to become just the fourth Euroleague player all decade to break the 2,000-point barrier. CSKA Moscow edged Partizan 62-63 to remain the lone undefeated team through five games, while the Serbian champs fell to 2-3. Meanwhile Quinton Hosley scored 24 as Real Madrid beat Efes Pilsen 85-91 in Istanbul. Armani Jeans Milano registered its first win by edging Panionios On Telecoms 77-73 behind 18 points and 6 steals from David Hawkins. Mason Rocca was the key late with a put-back and three-point pay to win it. Panionios, Partizan and Efes are tied at 2-3. Lottomatica became the exclusive leader in Group C by beating Fenerbahce Ulker 76-67. Andre Hutson took over with 26 points on 10-for-11 free throws while Sani Becirovic dished 7 assists to go with 11 points. DKV Joventut rejoined the Top 16 race by edging Tau Ceramica 105-100 in an extraordinary game. Edu Hernandez-Sonseca was the man for Joventut with 24 points on 12-for-12 free throws and 10 rebounds off the bench. Mirza Teletovic brought Tau back in the game in the final minutes, but Joventut prevailed. Union Olimpija broke its four-game losing streak with a 77-69 against Alba Berlin behind 19 points from Miha Zupan. The Week 5 results show several first-place teams - CSKA Moscow in Group D, and the trio tied for the top in Group B - sitting three victories ahead of fifth-place teams with just five regular season games left, thereby pointing toward the first Top 16 qualifiers in the not-too-distant future.
 Olympiacos denied Le Mans its first win of the season with a 93-98 overtime win. Lynn Greer saved the day for the Reds, as he drew a foul and made both free throws to even the score at 87-87 with 3.9 seconds to go and the visitors overpowered Le Mans in the extra period. Greer was a perfect 5 of 5 from beyond the arc en route to 26 points, helping Olympiacos improve to 4-1. Greer has improved his scoring in every game so far this season.
Cibona needed overtime before disposing of Air Avellino to retain its share of first place in Group A. Nikola Prkacin scored 4 of his 8 points in the final minute of overtime to give Cibona the win. Davor Kus scored 23 to lead the hosts, while former Cibona star Chris Warren had 20 for Avellino in his return to Zagreb. This continues Cibona’s best start to a season since the 1999-2000 season when it opened 5-1.
Unicaja spoiled Pini Gershon's return to the sidelines with a 73-80 road win over Maccabi Electra. Thomas Kelati scored 23 and Boniface NDong had some big baskets in the fourth quarter as Unicaja picked up its first road win of the season. Meanwhile Maccabi dropped to 2-3 and has a losing record at the halfway point of the season for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
Montepaschi Siena bounced back from its first loss of the season by thrashing SLUC Nancy 86-63 at home. Montepaschi improved to 4-1 in Group B and remains tied for first place with Regal FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos. Terrell McIntyre led the winners with 16 points as part of a well-balanced attack that saw seven players score at least 9 points. Cyril Julian scored a career-high 21 points in defeat.
 Regal FC Barcelona retained its share of first place in Group B by rolling to a 60-75 road victory over winless Zalgiris. The night belonged to Barcelona star Jaka Lakovic, who not only led the winners with 22 points on 5-for-5 three-point shooting, but joined an exclusive club, too. Lakovic's final triple, late in the third quarter, made him just the fourth Euroleague player to surpass 2,000 points this decade.
Dimitris Diamantidis scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to lead Panathinaikos to a 60-67 road win over Asseco Prokom. Diamantidis finished with 15 points and 4 steals, while Nikola Pekovic added 15 points and Spanoulis 12 for the winners. Sarunas Jasikevicius did not score for Panathinaikos for the first time in his 118-game Euroleague career. For Prokom, point guard Dan Ewing saw his scoring drop for the fourth straight game to just 6 points.
Lottomatica Roma grabbed sole-possession of first place in Group C by earning a 76-67 win over Fenerbace Ulker, which entered the game tied for the top spot. Andre Hutson scored a career-high 26 points for Roma, while Rodrigo De la Fuente posted 11 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double after 142 Euroleague games. Mirsad Turkcan led Fener with 21 points and 14 rebounds for his 46th career double-double in his 102nd Euroleague appearance.
 DKV Joventut topped Tau Ceramica 105-100 in Badalona in a high-scoring thriller behind a career night from center Edu Hernandez-Sonseca. The veteran center paced the winners with 24 points and 10 rebounds for his first Euroleague double-double since January 2003. Pau Ribas (12 points) and Henk Norel (1 0) both scored career highs for Joventut. Tiago Splitter led Tau with 23 points while league-leading scorer Igor Rakocevic had 18.
A pair of unsung heroes led Union Olimpija to its first win of the season as the Slovenian champs bested Alba Berlin 77-69. Miha Zupan scored a career-high 19 points and teenager Mirza Sarajlija added 13 points in his Euroleague debut. Union was red-hot from downtown early on to build a double-digit lead and had an answer for every Berlin run in the second to earn the win that returns the club to the battle for a spot in the Top 16.
CSKA Moscow won its ninth straight Euroleague game by edging Partizan Belgrade 62-63. Erazem Lorbek made a free throw with 35 seconds remaining to give CSKA the lead and Partizan couldn’t convert on 5 shots in the closing seconds as the Russian champs held on for the win. Lorbek and Zoran Planinic scored 11 each for the winners, while captain Matjaz Smodis made his first appearance of the season with 9 points in 18 minutes.
Real Madrid moved into second place in Group D by downing Efes Pilsen 81-95 on the road. Efes dropped its third straight game. Former Turkish League star Quinton Hosley led the winners with a season-high 24 points, while Charles Smith scored 22 points for Efes against his former team. Madrid’s offense shot 10 for 16 from downtown and created 22 assists compared to 8 for Efes.
Armani Jeans Milano registered its first win of the season by edging Panionios On Telecoms 77-73 at home in a thrilling encounter that featured 19 lead changes. David Hawkins led the winners with 18 points and Mason Rocca posted a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds as Milano snapped a six-game losing streak dating back to last season. Rocca went 4 for 7 from the line dropping Milano's league best free-throw shooting percentage to 87.7%.
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Sunday, November 30, 2008
Euroleague.net
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