Regular Season, Week 2 review
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Road wins proved as elusive as they were rewarding in Week 2 as the only two travelling teams headed home happy did so as group co-leaders! Coincidentally, both victimized French hosts who played just as hard. That was the case with Aris TT Bank on Thursday, when it won 66-69 at Le Mans to stay undefeated and tied with Lietuvos Rytas atop Group B. The same happened on Wednesday, when Partizan nipped Chorale Roane 87-88 to take its share of first place in Group C, alongside Real Madrid and Panathinaikos. CSKA Moscow, meanwhile, sits alone atop Group A after two weeks. Six other teams put their first wins up in Week 2, with the biggest upset featuring opening week's worst loser, Union Olimpija, dominating Olympiacos 87-78 to thrill its home crowd. Other first-time winners Efes Pilsen over Armani Jeans Milano 80-70, Tau Ceramica crushing Virtus VidiVici Bologna 98-71, AXA FC Barcelona downing Fenerbahce 82-67, Zalgiris rallying to defeat Prokom Trefl Sopot 82-72 and Unicaja exploding to defeat Cibona 102-64.
CSKA downed Montepaschi 74-70 to take the battle of Group A and improve to 2-0. The win saw CSKA extend its current home run in Euroleague play to 19 straight games. The Italian champs rode the hot hand of Rimas Kaukenas to fight back from a double-digit deficit to take a brief lead, but Matjaz Smodis, who led CSKA with 16 points, was there to restore the lead and Terrell McIntyre turned the ball over on Montepaschi's last chance.
 Unicaja was Wednesday's big winner, dumping Cibona 102-64 for its highest scoring Euroleague game and biggest margin of victory. Coach Sergio Scariolo's men scored 101 in an overtime loss at Maccabi last season. Their biggest margin of victory had been 22 points, achieved twice. Former Cibona captain Davor Kus led the charge against his former team with 23 points on 5-of-5 three-point shooting. Although there were plenty of players to praise as Unicaja dished 25 assists and outrebounded Cibona by 19, Scariolo singled out center Daniel Santiago, about whom he said, “We have worked very hard to open spaces for him and he has used them in a very sharp way. He was also very decisive in the rebounding aspects.”
Summer-signing Sarunas Jasikevicius proved his worth to defending champion Panathinaikos coming up big in the final minute for the second week in a row as the Greens topped Brose Baskets Bamberg 66-61. Saras drew a key foul and made the resulting free throws with 37.8 seconds remaining to put his team up 3 and Vassilis Spanoulis sealed the win with two more from the line.
Nikola Pekovic made a case to show he is more than just a flash in the pan in leading Partizan Igokea to an 87-88 road win at Chorale Roanne. Pekovic's three-point play with 7.8 seconds remaining tied the game and put Partizan ahead for good, giving the club its first 2-0 start to Euroleague plat this decade. The young center has now scored 52 points in two games – last season he didn't score his 52nd point until his 12th game. Brion Rush scored 29 points to lead Roanne, making him one of the highest-scoring rookies in the league.
 Zalgiris stormed back from a 18-point first-quarter deficit to win its home opener 87-72 against Prokom Trefl Sopot. The Lithuanian champs struggled early, but when they found their form, it was lights out for Prokom. It would be an untriumphant return to Kaunas for former players Donatas Slanina and Tomas Masiulis, the latter of whom helped Zalgiris win the 1999 Euroleague title.
Efes Pilsen beat Armani Jeans Milano 80-70, riding a big first half to take care of business. The win was Efes's first in the Euroleague this season. A key part of the win was the play of reserves Serkan Erdogan, Andre Hutson and Ermal Kuqo as the hosts' bench outscored the Milano reserves 33-18. Massimo Bulleri led Armani Jeans with 18 points.
Tau Ceramica crushed Virtus VidiVici Bologna 98-71 to extend its Euroleague record to 29 consecutive home wins at Fernando Buesa Arena. The club has not lost at home since January 2005, when it fell to CSKA Moscow. Tau has seen six different head coaches guide the team during that stretch. Pablo Prigioni, Tiago Splitter and Sergi Vidal are the only three players who have been with the team throughout the stretch. On Thursday, Igor Rakocevic paced the club with 23 points. Delonte Holland posted 27 points and 11 rebounds in defeat.
 Giant killer Union Olimpija struck again, upsetting mighty Olympiacos Piraeus 87-78 for its first win of the Euroleague season. Some outstanding team defense and the offensive prowess of Jasmin Hukic and Ronnel Taylor in the second half were instrumental in the win. The loss could be a good omen for the Reds, as five of the last six teams Olimpija has beaten in the regular season have gone on to advance to the Top 16.
Lietuvos Rytas dominated Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 92-74 to improve to 2-0 this season. The hosts controlled grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and won the overall battle of the boards 40-17 in a one-sided contest. L. Rytas also shot 52.1% from downtown. Arturas Jomantas paced the winners with 19 points and 6 assists. With the victory, the club improved to 3-0 alltime against Maccabi and joins ASK Riga as the only teams undefeated against Maccabi in European competition. Riga beat Maccabi twice in the 1960-61 Champions' Cup.
Aris TT Bank's defense was up to the challenge for a 66-69 road win at Le Mans Sarthe Basket. Aris led by double figures at halftime and held on when Le Mans came back for its second straight win. Reyshawn Terry led Aris with 16 points. Aris snapped a five-game losing streak on the road and won the team's third consecutive Euroleague game dating back to last season.
 AXA FC Barcelona held off the challenge of Fenerbahce Ulker to record an 82-67 victory. Denis Marconato, who with every appearance extends his record for alltime games played in Euroleague Basketball history, made each of his 10 points stand up and point guards Jaka Lakovic and Pepe Sanchez orchestrated the attack as Barcelona bounced back from a Week 1 loss with a comfortable home win.
Real Madrid bested Lottomatica Roma 89-83 in a game that went down to the closing minutes. In fact, Roko-Leni Ukic knotted the game at 81-81 with under two minutes to go. But a clutch three-pointer from Raul Lopez and some Felipe Reyes free throws separated the teams as Madrid improved to 2-0. Charles Smith led the winners with 23 points. Madrid still has a ways to go to match its start from the last time in played in the Euroleague. Two seasons ago the Spanish champion won its first four games before falling to eventual champion CSKA Moscow.
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Thursday, November 01, 2007
Euroleague.net
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