May 21, 2013
Regular Season Game 10 - January 03, 2007 CET: 20:45 Local time: 20:45 - FERNANDO BUESA ARENA
Tau Ceramica 97 - 68 RheinEnergie

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
0-1 Regular Season 0-0
8-1 Overall 2-7

Referees

Crew Chief
SPIRIDONOS, LEONIDAS, Greece
Referee
ROCHA, FERNANDO, Portugal
Umpire
AITCHESON, DALE, England

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
82.2 Points 76.9
30.1 Rebounds 30.2
11.0 O. Rebounds 9.6
19.1 D. Rebounds 20.7
16.6 Assists 14.0
12.1 Steals 8.1
2.4 Blocks 3.1
12.9 Turnovers 17.3
53.1 % 2PT 55.4 %
38.0 % 3PT 36.2 %
67.6 % FT 74.9 %
87.8 Index 74.6
Team Stats - Tau Ceramica
Team Stats - RheinEnergie

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
16.7 / SCOLA, LUIS Points 15.1 / FAISON, MARCUS
5.6 / SCOLA, LUIS Rebounds 6.4 / BURRELL, RONNIE
1.7 / SCOLA, LUIS OR 2.3 / BURRELL, RONNIE
3.9 / SCOLA, LUIS DR 4.1 / BURRELL, RONNIE
5.0 / PRIGIONI, PABLO Assists 3.3 / NADJFEJI, ALEKSANDAR
2.7 / PRIGIONI, PABLO Steals 1.2 / GORTAT, M.
0.8 / Peker Blocks 1.3 / GORTAT, M.
2.0 / SCOLA, LUIS Turnovers 2.7 / Mallet
100.0 % / PRIGIONI, PABLO 2PT 64.7 % / FAISON, MARCUS
45.2 % / Erdogan 3PT 57.6 % / FAISON, MARCUS
100.0 % / PRIGIONI, PABLO FT 100.0 % / SLJIVANCANIN, M.
18.0 / SCOLA, LUIS Index 17.4 / BURRELL, RONNIE
Team Roster - Tau Ceramica
Team Roster - RheinEnergie

THE TAKE

Tau Ceramica looks for its ninth straight win when it hosts RheinEnergie Cologne on Wednesday night at the Fernando Buesa Arena in Vitoria, Spain. Group A leader Tau hasn't lost since opening night and hasn't lost at home in nearly two years, going undefeated in 21 home games. On the other hand, RheinEnergie, playing in the Euroleague for the first time, has dropped four straight. The game is of vast importance to both teams as Tau (8-1) looks to maintain its one-win lead over Olympiacos atop the group, while RheinEnergie needs every win it can get to stay in the race for a spot in the Top 16. When these teams last met in November, Tau won 70-102 in one of the most lopsided games this season. The Euroleague's December MVP of the month, Luis Scola, scored 21 points on 10-for-12 shooting and Zoran Planinic added 18 points and 6 assists for Tau. RheinEnergie has made a host of changes since then. The team's top two scorers from that game, Marcus Faison and Alvin Jones, are no longer with the team. In their place coach Sasa Obradovic has added swingman Devin Green, who scored 23 points in his debut game in the German League on Saturday. Tau has a full squad available for the game, making its depth a major issue against the German champs. Scola (16.7 ppg., 5.6 rpg.), Tiago Splitter (9.7 ppg., 6.7 rpg.) and Kaya Peker headline the frontcourt rotation, which will go against RheinEnergie center Marcin Gortat (9.3 ppg., 1.3 bpg.) and forwards Ronnie Burrell (13.1 ppg., 6.4 rpg.) and Janar Talts. The key players for Cologne will be Green and Demond Mallet, who scored a season-high 21 in the team's last Euroleague game last month, however role players like Mladjen Sljivancanin, Johannes Strasser and Immanuel McElroy will all be needed on defense against Igor Rakocevic (15.3 ppg.), Zoran Planinic (11.3 ppg., 4.9 apg.), Pablo Prigioni (5 apg., 2.7 spg.) and Fred House. The result from the previous encounter could play a role in this game. RheinEnergie will be hungry to avenge its big defeat, but Tau must guard against taking its opponent too lightly. RheinEnergie, which has committed 17.3 turnovers per game –second most in the league – must keep that number down to have a chance at a scoring a shocking and rare win on Tau's home floor.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Tau Ceramica
"Our goal is to improve the level at which we played in the last weeks, when we found some problems offensively, especially at the beginning of the games. After the game we played in the first leg in Germany, many people thought that RheinEnergie wasn't going to win a game, but I warned everyone that they were not so bad as they showed that day. They are a much better team than what we saw against us, and they have proved it lately. They got two wins but I think they could have won more games so far. I think it's a team that plays with a lot of order, which works fine on court. They lost Faison, but they added Devin Green, a player that was followed by many teams in the Spanish League. The change has also benefitted Sljivancanin, who has gained some more weight in team's rotation. I think they won't miss Faison too much and that the changes won't hurt them."
OBRADOVIC, SASA
RheinEnergie
“It’s not easy to face teams without our complete roster being available, especially a team like Tau Ceramica. We want to use this game to improve our play. We want to quickly integrate our new player, Devin Green, and find our team chemistry as fast as possible. Devin is a different player than Marcus [Faison]. You can’t really say who is better, but we will definitely use him differently. He can play more than one position, and I hope he can improve our game both ways. Tau is not only better than us, they’re better than all of Europe, dominating the Spanish League and our group. They have a different quality of players at every position. We looked lost in our game against them. With our new player, we have a different team now. Win or lose, it’s important for us to respond in a good way and play the game to the end.”

Players

GORTAT, MARCIN
RheinEnergie
“We have some problems with the team, with some players missing. We made a couple of mistakes in our domestic league and lost to a pretty good team. It’s a bad time to have that many players missing, with Tau coming up. I remember from our first game that nobody on our team played well. The way we lost was incredible. I think a lot of our players want to go to Spain and show that we had a bad day back then, and we want to fight over there. Of course we go there to win the game. A lot of guys want to clean that big stain off their chest. Tau is one of the best teams in the Euroleague, if not the best. Still we wanna try to win the game, and at least give them a hard time.”
Igor Rakocevic - Tau Ceramica Tau Ceramica clinched a spot in the Top 16 on Wednesday night with another big win over RheinEnergie Cologne. Igor Rakocevic led five Tau players in double figures with 22 points in a 97-68 win at the Fernando Buesa Arena in Vitoris, Spain. Tau beat RheinEnergie 70-102 when they met earlier this season in Germany. The visitors remained close for the first few minutes, but Luis Scola and Rakocevic keyed a 14-0 run to finish the first quarter at 24-12 and Tau never looked back. The hosts led 50-31 at halftime and coasted through the second half, winning their ninth straight and improving to 9-1 this season. RheinEnergie dropped to 2-8 and last place in Group A. Zoran Planinic finished with 18, Scola added 17, Pablo Prigioni had 14 points, 4 assists and 4 steals and Tiago Splitter 10. Immanuel McElroy led RheinEnergie with 15, Ronnie Burrell and Devin Green – in his debut – scored 13 each, Marcin Gortat added 11 points and 8 rebounds and Mladen Sljivancanin finished with 10.

The visitors surprised the home team with an early 0-5 run on an opening basket by McElroy and a huge three pointer from Sljivancanin. Just as coach Velimir Perasovic feared, Tau started cold and slow, allowing the German champs to extend the lead to 2-8 after 3 minutes. Although the hosts tried to push harder, especially on defense, things didn’t start to work fine until captain Scola took the court midway through the first period. A short jumper from the All-Euroleague forward brought Tau within 10-12. Rakocevic then capped the comeback with a four-point play to give the hosts their first lead at 14-12 with 2 minutes to go. RheinEnergie's machinery stopped working completely at that point, allowing Tau to extend the run and the lead. Boosted by the duo of Rakocevic and Scola, Tau reached the end of the first period with a comfortable 24-12 margin.

Marcin Gortat - RheinEnergieAlthough Gortat showed up quite focused for the second period, RheinEnergie continued to struggle on offense, due to poor shooting and several turnovers. Although the hosts were not excelling either, they found the way to increase the lead to 34-17 midway through the second period. RheinEnergie seemed to miss point guard Demond Mallet too much because neither Sljivancanin nor Johannes Strasser was able to build anything worthy on offense. McElroy came to the rescue with 5 straight points to make it 34-22, but Prigioni answered him pretty quickly with a three-pointer and a fastbreak of his own to keep the hosts calm. The playmaker decided it was time for his own show and nailed another two three-pointers at the end of the quarter to boost Tau’s margin to 50-31 at halftime.

RheinEnergie came out for the second half less erratic than in the first half and managed to score on its first three trips downcourt, but that didn’t allow them to get closer to Tau, which was also very successful at shooting thanks to the visitors’ soft defense. With both teams exchanging baskets, the differences remained stable. Rakocevic gave Tau its first 20-point lead on a three-pointerr, 63-42, midway through the third period, which was followed by another triple one minute later. The hosts didn’t stop there, as the crowd was demanding more and more from its players. Mirza Teletovic and Kaya Peker joined the party and combined for 5 points in a row to force RheinEnergie to call timeout with a minute remaining and trailing 75-47. The break didn’t change anything, as Tau reached its first 30-point lead at the end of the third quarter, 80-49.

Sljivancanin opened fire with a nice layup and McElroy followed him with a bank shot to reduce the difference early in the last period, but Planinic answered quickly with his first three pointer of the night to keep the 30-point margin for the hosts. Green seemed to wake up at that point with 4 points in a row to make it 85-59, but it was nothing but an illusion. Tau lost the grip for a while, committing too many shooting mistakes due to bad selection, but it wasn’t enough to put the big advantage in danger. Garbage time ensued with reserves like Jesus Cilla and Ariel Eslava on court. Although Tau wasn't able to reach 100 points, the outcome was enough to become the first team in Group A to get the qualification for the Top 16.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Natxo Mendaza, Euroleague.net
Referees: SPIRIDONOS, LEONIDAS (GRE), ROCHA, FERNANDO (POR), AITCHESON, DALE (ENG)
Attendance: 8500
By Quarter1234
Tau Ceramica24263017
RheinEnergie12191819
End of Quarter1234
Tau Ceramica24508097
RheinEnergie12314968
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Tau Ceramica
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
 3FG
M-A
 FT
M-A
 Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 SCOLA, LUIS 25:30 17 8/14   1/2 1 4 5 1 2 1 1   2 4 20
5 PRIGIONI, PABLO 24:30 14 1/1 4/6   1 1 2 4 4 2     2   18
7 CILLA, JESUS 8:30   0/3       1 1         1 1 1 -3
8 RAKOCEVIC, IGOR 27:00 22 4/7 4/6 2/3   1 1   1 2     1 4 19
9 VIDAL, SERGI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 PLANINIC, ZORAN 31:15 18 4/6 1/3 7/10 1 2 3 3 2 5     2 5 17
11 ERDOGAN, SERKAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 TELETOVIC, MIRZA 17:30 5 2/2 0/3 1/2   3 3 1 1 1     2 2 5
14 PEKER, KAYA 15:00 8 4/5     2 5 7           5 1 10
20 ESLAVA, ARIEL 4:00                         1   -1
21 SPLITTER, TIAGO 21:45 10 5/6   0/1 1 1 2   2       2 3 13
32 HOUSE, FRED 25:00 3 1/4 0/3 1/1 1 4 5 4 2 2     1 1 6
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 97 29/48 9/21 12/19 9 24 33 13 14 13 1 1 19 21 108
60.4% 42.9% 63.2%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, SASA
RheinEnergie
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
 3FG
M-A
 FT
M-A
 Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
9 STRASSER, JOHANNES 16:45 5 1/1 1/2         1   1     1 1 4
12 TALTS, JANAR 14:15     0/2     3 3 1   2     4 2 -2
13 GORTAT, MARCIN 33:15 11 5/7   1/1   8 8 4 1 1 1   5 2 19
16 CARDUCK, STEPHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 MARTENS, DAVIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 GREEN, DEVIN 33:45 13 4/5 0/2 5/6   3 3 1 1 7     4 4 7
23 McELROY, IMMANUEL 28:45 15 7/11   1/1 1 1 2 1 2 1     3 3 15
30 BURRELL, RONNIE 28:30 13 4/14   5/5 2 3 5 2 1 2   1 3 3 8
31 GRUNHEID, GUIDO 14:45 1 0/2 0/2 1/1 1   1     1       2 -1
32 SLJIVANCANIN, MLADJEN 30:00 10 1/2 2/4 2/4 1 1 2   2 6     1 2 4
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 68 22/42 3/12 15/18 6 21 27 10 7 21 1 1 21 19 57
52.4% 25% 83.3%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Tau Ceramica
“I think we played better than we did in the last weeks. We played smooth basketball and we did a good job defensively. We forced them [into] several turnovers and it was not only because of our full-court pressure, but also because we played with great intensity and quickness. We struggled a bit in the beginning, but once the team started running, everything worked fine. I don’t want to speak about his game as a practice, because we played a Euroleague game against the German champion. It’s very important for us the fact that we kept working hard despite the big difference. We could have relaxed, but every player that took the court tonight did it with a lot of intensity and that makes me happy.”
OBRADOVIC, SASA
RheinEnergie
“After losing by 30 points in Vitoria, it’s hard to say anything about the game except that Tau dominated us from the beginning to the end. We came here with some problems, we missed two of our key players, Faison and Mallet, and we played very confused for almost the whole game. We committed a lot of turnovers, we were very bad on offense but also on defense. I cannot be satisfied with what we did tonight, but I must try to find something positive in every game and, for today, I will remember that we were able to count on two players like Green, the new guy, and McElroy, after two weeks' absence. Demond Mallet didn’t play because of a knee injury, not serious, so I hope he will be ready for our next game.”

Players

RAKOCEVIC, IGOR
Tau Ceramica
“We respect every team in this competition. Maybe Rheinenergie is not as good as some other teams in the Euroleague, but the real thing is that many other teams in our group struggled a lot to beat them. We improved on defense and I think we managed to play fresher on offense, working in some aspects of our game that we prepared in the last weeks. I’m sure this win will be useful for us before the next game, which is very important for us in our race to the leadership of the group.”
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