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Regular Season Week 2 in review
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 Week 2 of the 2008-09 Euroleague Basketball season will be remembered for a little bit of everything: Some incredible individual and team performances, a little history and some stunning upsets. After all the dust settled on 12 action-packed games over two nights, the competition is left with seven undefeated teams, four of whom will meet in head-to-head duels next week. In Group A, the fans in Piraeus, Greece enjoyed their team's home opener as Olympiacos bested Unicaja 83-72 thanks to a monster game from big man Ioannis Bourousis, who recorded 20 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Childress added 15 for the Reds, who are 2-0 and share the top spot in the group with their next opponent, Cibona, which held on to beat Le Mans 54-58 on the road in France. Earl Calloway paved the way for Cibona with 22 points, 5 assists and 3 steals. Another point guard was the star in Tel Aviv, where Carlos Arroyo led Maccabi Electra past Air Avellino 90-83. Arroyo finished with 20 points and 8 assists for the hosts, who led by as many as 27 in the fourth quarter. In Group B, Regal FC Barcelona routed Panathinaikos 90-66 to establish its Final Four credentials. Juan Carlos Navarro paced the winners with 21 points as they handed the Greens their worst Euroleague loss in over five years. Barca is not the only undefeated team in Group B because Montepaschi Siena stormed Zalgiris 67-93 to also improve to 2-0. Zalgiris led by 3 at halftime, but the Italian champs dominated the second half behind Rimas Kaukenas's 27-point effort. Montepaschi hosts Barcelona in Week 3. A first win of the season went to Asseco Prokom as it blasted SLUC Nancy 91-62 with Daniel Ewing drilling 6 three-pointers en route to 32 points. The Spanish champs sit atop Group C after Tau Ceramica outlasted Union Olimpija 90-91 in a thriller. Olimpija came back from 21 down to take a late lead, but Mirza Teletovic won it for Tau on a floating layup with 2.7 seconds to go. Mirsad Turkcan recorded his highest-scoring game since January 2002 as Fenerbahce Ulker beat Alba Berlin 82-73. Turkcan finished with 25 points – including a career-high 4 three-pointers – and 9 rebounds. In the Italian capital, Lottomatica Roma bested DKV Joventut 85-71 on the strength of a 17-0 third-quarter run. Ibby Jaaber had 17 for Roma. One of the first big surprises of the young season took place when Partizan Belgrade topped visiting Real Madrid 81-77 in Group D. It was Partizan's first-ever win over Madrid after 12 previous tries. All five Partizan starters scored in double figures. They were led by Aleksandar Rasic with 18 points and Milenko Tepic with 16 points and 5 assists. The reigning Euroleague champs improved to 2-0 as CSKA Moscow routed Panionios On Telecoms 52-86. Erazem Lorbek paced the winners with 17 points as CSKA dominated inside all night. J.R. Holden joined an exclusive club by scoring his 2,000th career point in the win. And Efes Pilsen outlasted Armani Jeans Milano 71-81 on the road to join CSKA atop the Group D standings thanks to 19 and 17 points from Milos Vujanic and Bootsy Thornton.
 Maccabi Electra stretched its run of wins in home openers to 11 by topping Avellino 90-83. Carlos Arroyo led the charge with 20 points and 8 assists. Maccabi opened the second half with 17 unanswered points to break the game open and led by as many as 27 in the fourth quarter before the visitors mounted a late comeback. Lior Eliyahu and Marcus Brown added 15 apiece for Maccabi. With 2 assists, Tal Burstein climbed to 25th place on the Euroleague all-time list with 242. Chris Warren paced Cibona with 20.
Ioannis Bourousis's first double-double since opening night last season led Olympiacos to an 83-72 win over Unicaja. Bourousis finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Reds improved to 2-0.
Cibona downed Le Mans 54-58 to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 1996. Earl Calloway led the winners with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Cibona won despite committing 21 turnovers as the two teams combined to shoot 2 for 26 (7.7%) from downtown. Interestingly, Davor Kus, who led Cibona with 23 points last week, scored just 1 this week, while Calloway went from 3 to 19.
In Kaunas, Montepaschi once again showed its power with a 67-93 road win against Zalgiris. Montepaschi overcame a slow start to move up to 2-0. Zalgiris led 50-43 midway through the third quarter, but Rimas Kaukenas and Romain Sato combined for 21 points in a 7-31 run that sealed the outcome, 57-74, with eight minutes to go. Montepaschi counted on its own Lithuanian players to get a big win in their home country. Not only did Kaukenas have 27 points, but Ksistof Lavrinovic added 15. His twin brother, Darjus Lavrinovic, played for Zalgiris in the 2004-05 season. They are the only two siblings to have both been named to the All-Euroleague team.
Regal FC Barcelona routed Panathinaikos 90-66 to improve to 2-0, establishing its Final Four credentials. Juan Carlos Navarro paced the winners with 21 points and the hosts outrebounded their opponents 36-23. The defeat was the worst for Panathinaikos in the Euroleague in over five years, since an 88-63 loss at Fortitudo Bologna in March 2003. Current Barca players Gianluca Basile and Lubos Barton both started for Fortitudo in that game.
 Few players in Euroleague history have been as unstoppable as Dan Ewing was in the second half. Asseco Prokom led Nancy 32-31 at halftime but Ewing had other ideas in mind after the break. Ewing buried 6 three-pointers in the second half on his way to 28 points – 14 in each period – to lead Prokom past Nancy 91-62. David Logan added 18 for Prokom, which bounced back from its initial loss in Siena. Nancy has lost its first two games by an average of 28.5 points and must turn things around quickly to keep its Top 16 chances alive.
Tau Ceramica held off Union Olimpija to record a 90-91 win in the Slovenian capital and to improve to 2-0. Mirza Teletovic scored 18 points, the biggest of which was a floater with 2.7 seconds remaining that won the game for Tau. Saso Ozbolt scored 18 points to lead Olimpija, which rallied from a 21-point second-half deficit to take the lead before Tau snatched victory in the closing seconds. Tau center Tiago Splitter scored 16 off the bench in his season debut, including the 1,000th points of his Euroleague career in the fourth quarter.
Fenerbahce Ulker battled injuries to down Alba Berlin 82-73 behind 25 points and 9 rebounds from an outstanding Mirsad Turkcan. There was plenty of good news for Fener as 16-year-old forward Enes Kanter became the first player born in 1992 to step on court in an Euroleague game. Ironically enough, Damir Mrsic, the oldest player in the Euroleague and more than 21 years older than Kanter, broke the game open with back-to-back triples early in the fourth quarter. Kanter had 5 points and 3 rebounds in nine minutes, in what should be the start of a promising Euroleague career. Turkcan had his highest scoring game since January 2002 and finished with 25 points – including a career-high 4 three-pointers – and 9 rebounds.
Lottomatica Roma overcame an incredible effort from Pops Mensah-Bonsu as it bounced back from last week’s loss in Berlin to beat DKV Joventut 85-71. Ibby Jaaber and Sani Becirovic scored a combined 32 of Roma’s 54 points off the bench, teaming to outscore their team’s staring five all by themselves. Mensah-Bonsu carried Joventut with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
 It took Partizan almost 20 years to register its first win against Real Madrid, the winningest team in European club history. Partizan had lost 12 times to Madrid since their first showdown in December 1979, but managed to finally beat Real 81-77 to get its first win in Group D. Aleksandar Rasic paced the winners with 18 points and Stephane Lasme scored all the critical shots in the final minutes. Sergio Llull only missed one shot on his way to 19 points, but it was not enough for Madrid.
CSKA left no doubt about its power with a resounding 52-86 road win at Panionios On Telecoms. Erazem Lorbek led the way for CSKA with 17 points, Nikos Zisis added 14 off the bench, Trajan Langdon had 10 and Terence Morris narrowly missed a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds. Veteran guard J.R. Holden joined an exclusive club by scoring his 2,000th career point in the win. Branko Cvetkovic had 14 points for Panionios, which trailed 24-45 at halftime and did not recover after the break. CSKA has allowed just 116 points in two games this season, showing that its defense remains as impressive as ever.
Experience was a key factor for Efes Pilsen as it downed Armani Jeans 71-81 in Milano on Wednesday. Its starting five – Milos Vujanic, Bootsy Thornton, Charles Smith, Kaya Peker and Kerem Gonlum – has a combined 27 seasons of Euroleague experienced, more than double (11) the entire AJ Milano roster. Efes built a double-digit lead, 33-43, at halftime and boosted its margin to 39-58 late in the third quarter. Milano rallied in the fourth quarter, but only when it was too little, too late for the hosts.
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