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The halfway point of the Top 16 arrived in Week 3 with some unpredictable story lines that left two teams sitting prettier than the rest when the dust had finally settled. The two biggest winners, without doubt, were the only undefeated teams in the round so far: Montepaschi Siena, which beat visiting Panathinaikos 84-75 to go 3-0 in Group D behind Bootsy Thornton's 23 points; and Tau Ceramica, now 3-0 in Group E after a blowout 69-87 road win at Aris TT Bank as Sergi Vidal and Tiago Splitter scored 16 points each. Either or both of those teams could possibly qualify for the next round without winning again, although both will be aiming for first place and homecourt advantage in the best-of-three Quarterfinal Playoffs. Other teams at 2-1 will have the same ideas, however, especially two that now share their group leads. In Group F, a big move was made by Maccabi Elite, which blasted previously undefeated Real Madrid 94-75 at home in Tel Aviv, Israel as Will Bynum had 22 points, Terrence Morris 16 and 15 rebounds. Maccabi and Madrid are tied at 2-1 in first place. The same situation stands in Group G, where AXA F.C. Barcelona blew out visiting Roma 86-57 as Gianluca Basile scored 19 points and Jaka Lakovic 17, while Unicaja handed CSKA its first defeat, 72-67, behind Daniel Santiago's 20 points. Barcelona and CSKA are both 2-1 now. The other 2-1 team in the competition will never forget how it reached that record. Group E's Fenerbahce defeated Lietuvos Rytas 95-91 in overtime to end one of the strangest games in recent memory. Fenerbahce and its fans thought they had won on a shot by Will Solomon at the end of the fourth quarter, but that was ruled to have been launched after the buzzer. More than a half-hour later, overtime started and Fenerbahce made sure of the victory by following Solomon, who finished with 27 points. Fenerbahce is alone in second place in Group E, which has the only winless team left in the round, Aris at 0-3. The first-time winners in three other groups promise an interesting second half of the Top 16. Besides Unicaja getting in the win column in Group G, Olympiacos did so in Group F by outlasting Zalgiris 86-84 in overtime on Lynn Greer's 22 points. It was the Reds' first victory under new coach Panagiotis Giannakis. Finally, in Group D again, Partizan topped Efes 78-65 as Nikola Pekovic had 20 points. Partizan joined a three-way tie with Panathinaikos and Efes for second place, all at 1-2.
Montepaschi Siena remained undefeated and made a statement as a serious
Final Four contender after brushing back defending Euroleague champion
Panathinaikos 84-75. Bootsy Thornton increased his scoring output for
the fourth straight game to a season-high 23 points and the Montepaschi
defense forced the Greens into 20 turnovers to produce the Italian
champs’ seventh straight win.
Partizan Igokea shook off the pressure surrounding the game and recorded its first win of the Top 16 by downing short-handed Efes Pilsen 78-65. Center Nikola Pekovic scored 20 points – his best output of the Top 16 – as the Serbian champs wore down the Efes roster and won the battle of the boards 36-23. The visitors were without four key contributors – Drew Nicholas, Loren Woods, Andre Hutson and Rashad Wright – who did not fly with the team over their personal security concerns despite assurances of safety from host city and club. The game was held without incident.
Tau Ceramica remained one of the two undefeated teams in the Top 16 by dominating Aris TT Bank 69-87. Without leading scorer Igor Rakocevic, who sat out injured, the Tau big men combined for 47 points and the team passed for 20 assists to win easily a game that it led by 20 already in the second period. Sergi Vidal and Tiago Splitter paced the winners each with 16 points. It was the first meeting ever between the clubs.
Fenerbahce Ulker needed overtime to best Lietuvos Rytas 95-91 in one of the wildest endings in recent memory. Willie Solomon's initial "game-winning" basket at the end of regulation was canceled for being after the buzzer after the players went to the locker rooms. Some time later, they warmed up again and played the extra period, during which Solomon stepped up again to guarantee the win. Solomon scored 5 of his game-high 27 in the extra period as Fener improved to 2-1.
It was a night to remember in Tel Aviv and Maccabi Elite honored 13 of the best players and coaches in club history in a pre-game celebration of 50 Years of European Club Basketball and then pounded Real Madrid 94-75 to earn a share of first place in Group F. Terence Morris, who received his Euroleague Basketball January MVP award at halftime, posted 16 points and 15 rebounds as he earned co-week MVP honors. Meanwhile Nikola Vujcic, among those awarded before the game, came back from injury with an impressive 14 points and 5 assists. Vujcic also passed Luis Scola for third place all-time on the Euroleague Basketball rebounding charts with 812.
Olympiacos registered its first win in Group F by edging Zalgiris 86-84 in overtime at the Peace and Friendship Arena. The Reds snapped a five-game losing streak as head coach Panagiotis Giannakis won his first game as a Euroleague head coach. Qyntel Woods had 18 points, including the game-winning free throws with 5.8 seconds in overtime to seal the win. Lynn Greer led the hosts with 22 and trails Willie Solomon of Fenerbahce Ulker for the Top 16 scoring lead by a single point.
 AXA FC Barcelona recorded the biggest win of the week by thrashing
Lottomatica Roma 86-57, only five weeks after losing to Roma by 2
points at home. Barca is now tied with CSKA for the Group G lead.
Gianluca Basile paced the winners with 19 points while Jaka Lakovic
added 17 for Barcelona. The hosts put the game away with a 23-0 run in
building a 39-11 second-period lead. It was the club's biggest margin
of victory since trouncing Cibona 97-53 in December 2005.
Unicaja climbed back to the fight for a spot in the Quarterfinal Playoffs with a 72-67 win over CSKA Moscow. Daniel Santiago scored 20 points as Unicaja won its 16th consecutive Euroleague home game and avenged a defeat to CSKA from the semifinals of the 2007 Final Four in Athens. CSKA saw its five-game winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in the Top 16 since 2006. Unicaja has now won two of its last three games against CSKA after losing eight in a row before.
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Friday, February 29, 2008
Euroleague.net
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