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The penultimate week of the Euroleague regular season proved more decisive than seemed possible at first. Two of the last three open Top 16 berths are now spoken for, and only a miracle could keep the remaining one out of a third team's hands. All three of those teams - Fenerbahce Ulker, Lottomatica Roma and Partizan Igokea - were from the same Group C. They may still trade places with in the standings - as can teams in other groups - so Week 14 games will still offer drama. But the questions concerning survival were essentially dealt with in Week 13. The lynch-pin in the process was, in fact, a Group B result in which previously winless Le Mans beat Cibona 100-87. With Cibona unable to reach six victories, any team with that amount - Fenerbahce and Roma - automatically advanced. Fenerbahce didn't need to win again, but Roma upset host Barcelona 75-77 on near-perfect shooting by David Hawkins to assure its sixth victory and a place in the Top 16. The final Top 16 berth - which goes to the best sixth-place team across all three groups - has a part-owner already, too, after Partizan demolished Bamberg 85-37 in Belgrade, holding the visitors to second-lowest scoring total all decade. The victory and 48-point difference mean that the sixth-place teams in the other groups, Union Olimpija and Cibona, need to win next week while Partizan loses and the combined margin of those results to be a minimum of 93 points: not likely. Partizan could move up as high as fourth place, too, if it defeats Fenerbahce away. Meanwhile, first place in two groups were clinched by last year's finalists: CSKA defeated visiting Tau 70-62 to win Group A while Panathinaikos downed Fenerbahce 88-68 to clinch Group C's top spot. In Group B, Lietuvos Rytas won 71-63 over Unicaja to break their part of a first-place tie, while Maccabi rolled Milano 96-71 to stay now as co-leader. L. Rytas would finish first in a tie with Maccabi, however, so can assure that with a road win at Cibona next week. Meanwhile, the Top 16 Draw was announced for February 4 in Madrid, where the season will end at the Final Four May 2 to 4.
CSKA Moscow became the Group A champion by downing Tau Ceramica 70-62 in its first Euroleague game at the 13,000-seat Sports Palace in the Russian capital. J.R. Holden had 19 for his best scoring night since the 2006 Final Four as CSKA earned the win in front of a sellout crowd that included six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen, Russian basketball legends Sergei Panov and Sergei Bazarevich and 2006 Euroleague champion David Vanterpool.
Zalgiris rolled past visiting Olympiacos 88-75 for its sixth victory in its last seven games. The Lithuanian champs also improved to 6-1 at home this season. Paulius Jankunas led five double-digit scorers for Zalgiris with 17 points and Euroleague assists leader De Juan Collins added 13 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Olympiacos got a game-high 29 points from Lynn Greer. It was the first time Zalgiris beat Olympiacos since the 1999 Final Four, when Anthony Bowie scored 19 en route to an 87-71 semifinal victory as it went on to win its only Euroleague crown.
Montepaschi Siena climbed to the second spot in Group A by thrashing Prokom Trefl Sopot 87-64. Week 12 co-MVP Romain Sato led the winners with 16 points as the Italian champs won their third straight game.
Union Olimpija downed visiting Virtus VidiVici Bologna 75-60 in what was likely the club’s last home game of the Euroleague Basketball season. The win ensured that Olimpija will continue its decade-long streak of winning records at home in Euroleague play. Team captain Marko Milic led Olimpija with 20 points. It was new Virtus head coach Renato Pasquali’s first game in charge.
Lietuvos Rytas put the keys to Group B in its own hands when it turned back visiting Unicaja 71-63 in thrilling fashion. The winners had a hero in point guard Hollis Price, whose amazing six-point possession play to close the third quarter stopped Unicaja's biggest charge of the night, while his steal and three-point play in the closing seconds made doubly sure of the victory. Price finished with 23 points and 6 assists for L. Rytas.
Yotam Halperin scored 24 points and achieved a 24 index on his 24th birthday to lead Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv to a 91-76 victory over Armani Jeans Milano. The Israeli champs remained unbeaten since Zvika Sherf took over as head coach and kept a chance to win the group or be a top seed in the Top 16 Draw. Maccabi welcomed back All-Euroleague center Nikola Vujcic, who had 10 points in 18 minutes. Milano’s teenage forward Danilo Gallinari poured in a season-high 27 points in defeat.
Le Mans picked up its first win of the season by downing Cibona Zagreb 100-87. Le Mans led from start to finish to avoid becoming only the second team to go through a Euroleague 14-game regular season without a victory. Luka Bogdanovic, Phil Ricci and Raviv Limonad were the heroes, netting at least 20 points each. It was the first time the club scored 100 points since routing Portugal’s CAB Madeira Funchal 110-88 in the qualifying rounds for the Koran Cup in 2000.
Aris TT Bank scored an impressive 74-84 road win over Efes Pilsen at Abdi Ipekci Sports Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. Hanno Mottola scored a season-high 22 to lead the visitors. It was his most points scored in a Euroleague game since netting 23 for Scavolini Pesaro in an overtime win over Real Madrid in March 2005. Newcomer Darius Washington added 16 in just his second game with the club.
Panathinaikos became the Group C champion by thrashing Fenerbahce Ulker 88-68 at the Athens Indoor Olympic Arena. Panathinaikos improved to 12-1, kept the best record in the competition and enters the Top 16 draw as one of the top-seeded teams. Sarunas Jasikevicius paced the winners with 23 points, which moved him into the top 10 all-time on the Euroleague Basketball scoring charts with 1,510 points.
Lottomatica Roma completed a comeback from the nether regions of Group C and advanced to the Top 16 by defeating host AXA F.C. Barcelona 75-77 for its fifth win in the last six games. Despite having four ex-Barcelona on its roster, Roma was led by David Hawkins with 22 points. Barcelona guard Gianluca Basile scored 14 points, including 3 three-pointers, giving the all-time Euroleague Basketball leader in that category an even 300 triples for his career.
Partizan Igokea pounded Brose Baskets Bamberg 85-37 to practically seal a spot in the Top 16. In a rare meeting between a team that needed to build up its point differential and another whose season was essentially over, the Serbian champs never let up en route to one of the most lopsided results in Euroleague Basketball history. Partizan came within 2 points of the all-time record for fewest points allowed in a game, 35 set by CSKA Moscow against Krka Novo Mesto in November 2003.
Real Madrid secured second place in Group C and stayed in the fight to become a top-seeded team in the Top 16 Draw by downing Chorale Roanne 68-82. Louis Bullock led the winners with 14 points. Despite the loss, Marc Salyers had 19 points to cement his Euroleague scoring lead. With 22.5 points per game, Salyers has a lead of 4.7 points per game over the No. 2 scorer, Nikola Pekovic of Partizan.
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Euroleague.net
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