Regular Season Week 3 in review
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 Week 3 of the Euroleague Basketball regular season was week to remember with non-stop thrills and excitement in games across the continent. All told, the week's games featured five road winners, six games decided by 5 points or less and a host of incredible individual performances, including having a former scoring champ notch a career-high in points. When all was said and done, four teams remain perfect and they top the four respective groups, Cibona in Group A, Montepaschi Siena in Group B, Tau Ceramica in Group C and CSKA Moscow in Group D. In Group A, Cibona trumped Olympiacos 85-76 to cement its best start to a season in over a decade. Earl Calloway led the hosts with 19 points as they used some hot shooting to prevail. Maccabi Electra turned Le Mans away 82-80 to join the Reds in a tie for second before they meet in Greece next week. D'Or Fischer netted 20 points and Carlos Arroyo scored 19 – including the game-winner in overtime – to lead Maccabi. Ex-Maccabi player David Bluthenthal had 23 in defeat. A Euroleague newcomer gave its fans a night to remember on Wednesday as Air Avellino stunned Unicaja 72-70 in a game that featured a wacky ending. Eric Williams scored the game-winner with 1.9 seconds left for the club's first Euroleague victory. Both teams now have 1-2 records. In Group B, Henry Domercant's clutch shooting made the difference as Montepaschi Siena downed Regal FC Barcelona 71-61. Domercant scored 19 and was the key figure as the Italian champs started the fourth quarter with an 11-0 charge and held on for good. Panathinaikos outlasted Sluc Nancy 70-80 behind Mika Batiste’s double-double. PAO bounced back nicely from last week’s capitulation in Barcelona. Meanwhile Dan Ewing scored all of his 19 points in the second half to lead Asseco Prokom past Zalgiris Kaunas 65-60. Prokom and Paanthinaikos improved to 2-1, while Zalgiris and Nnacy remain winless. That will change one way or another next week when the French champion hosts the Lithuanian champ. Tau Ceramica blasted Alba Berlin 106-65 in Group C to become the first team to reach 3-0 this season. Igor Rakocevic was 6 for 6 from downtown in leading six Tau scorers in double figures with a career-high 27 points. Sani Becirovic had arguably the best game of his impressive career against his former club as Lottomatic Roma topped Union Olimpia 67-78. Becirovic had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in just 25 minutes to register a career-high index of 33. Teammate Primoz Brezec, who also played alongside Becirovic at Olimpija earlier in their careers, added 10. Fenerbahce Ulker edged DKV Joventut 67-70 in a thrilling battle that was decided by an Ogur Savas tip-in with 12 seconds left. Emir Prelszic led Fener with 17 points and 8 rebounds – both career-highs. Defending champion CSKA Moscow defeated Real Madrid 54-58 to keep its perfect record intact. CSKA overcame a poor-shooting night with its trademark defense and clutch performing down the stretch by Zoran Planinic, Trajan Langdon and Nikos Zisis. A 23-point deficit was not a deterrent for the Serbian champs as Partizan Belgrade stormed back to best Armani Jeans Milano 81-76. The visitors, led by a red-hot Jobey Thomas, led 22-45 in the second period, but Partizan fought back until the very end for the win. The home team’s backcourt of Milenko Tepic and Aleksandar Rasic combined for 23 points and 15 assists. Also in Group D, Panionios On Telecoms upset Efes Pilsen 69-78. The visitors, who broke the game open with a 0-20 at the start of the second half, picked up their first win, while handing Efes its first loss...
Cibona is off to its best start in over a decade after downing Olympiacos 85-76 in Zagreb, Croatia, in a battle for the top spot in Group A. Cibona has not won its first three games in the top European competition since the 1996-97 season, when it topped Estudiantes, Spirou Charleroi and Alba Berlin for a 3-0 record. Earl Calloway scored 19 points for the second week in a row to lead Cibona, which used its widest rotation yet with 10 players seeing at least 10 minutes of action.
 Maccabi Electra held off Le Mans in overtime 82-80. Marcus Brown hit a clutch three-pointer to force overtime and Carlos Arroyo hit a jumper with 1.1 seconds left in overtime to win it. Arroyo had 19 points and 5 assists and D’Or Fischer shot 10 for 12 en route to 20 points to lead Maccabi. Fischer is now shooting 80% for the season – tops in the league. Former Maccabi shooter David Bluthenthal led Le Mans with 23 points including 5 three-pointers. He is now ranked 40th on the Euroleague Basketball career three-point charts with 114.
Air Avellino registered its first-ever Euroleague win by edging Unicaja 72-70 at home in Group A on Wednesday night. Chris Warren paced Avellino with 24 points and Eric Williams scored the game-winner with 1.9 seconds left. The win made Avellino the 57th team to win a Euroleague Basketball game this decade.
Montepaschi Siena won its eighth straight Euroleague home game and improved to 3-0 this season by beating Regal FC Barcelona 71-61. The hosts dominated the fourth quarter, starting with an 11-0 run and going 26-10 till the end for a come-from-behind win. Henry Domercant led the way with 19 points, hitting 3 three-pointers for the third game in a row. Domercant now has 139 career triples in the competition, ranking him 24th all-time. One of the keys to Montepaschi’s success has been limiting the turnovers. The Italian champs are the only team averaging fewer than 10 turnovers per game.
 Panathinaikos bounced back from one of its worst Euroleague losses ever by topping SLUC Nancy with a 70-80 road victory. PAO big men dominated inside the entire game, as the Greens grabbed an impressive 19 offensive boards while outrebounding Nancy 29-45 overall. Mike Batiste finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first double double since the 2007 Final Four. He also cracked the top 20 on the Euroleague Basketball career scoring chart with 1381 points. Sarunas Jasikevicus also set a milestone by moving into 10th place on the same list with 1612 points. Ricardo Greer paced Nancy with a career-high 26 points.
Asseco Prokom and Dan Ewing continued their strong starts to the season by defeating Zalgiris 65-60. Ewing hit 5 triples en route to 19 points – all in the second half – to help the Polish champs improve to 2-1. Ewing is now averaging 18.7 points per game, while teammate David Logan, who scored 14, is averaging 19 per outing. They are the only two teammates both ranked in the top five in scoring this season.
Igor Rakocevic recorded some personal history on Wednesday in leading Tau Ceramica to a 106-65 rout of Alba Berlin. Rakocevic shot 6 for 6 from downtown en route to 27 points – the most in his 92-game Euroleague career. His He matched his career-best in three-pointers made in a game, but the last time he made 6, Rakocevic needed 11 attempts to get them. He also went 7 for 7 from the line to improve to 11 for 11 this season as Tau won its 11th straight Euroleague home game. Sergi Vidal added 17 points by making a career-high 5 triples in his 150th Euroleague appearance.
 A pair of players that grew up at the club came back to bite Union Olimpija as Lottomatica Roma came to Ljubljana and won 67-78. Sani Becirovic and Primoz Brezec combined for 33 points to lead Roma. Becirovic finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in just 25 minutes to register a career-high index of 33. Teenager Brandon Jennings added 14 points in his best performance of the season.
Fenerbahce Ulker pulled off a major accomplishment in Group C by rallying from 5 points down with three minutes left to steal a 67-70 road win over DKV Joventut in Badalona, Spain. A tip-in by Ogur Savas with 12 seconds left proved the game-winner after a back-and-forth battle that assured a close finish. Euroleague Basketball’s all-time leading rebounder Mirsad Turkcan appeared in his 100th game in the competition and recorded 11 points and 9 rebounds for the winners.
Reigning Euroleague champ CSKA Moscow held an opponent to less than 55 points at home for the second straight week as it topped Real Madrid 54-58. CSKA struggled with its shooting – proven three-point marksmen Trajan Langdon and Terence Morris were a combined 0 for 12 – but its defense stood the test again to bring the win. Zoran Planinic led the winners with 13 points.
 Partizan Belgrade stormed back from 23 points down to beat Armani Jeans Milano 81-76. Behind a red-hot Jobey Thomas, the visitors led 22-45 in the second period, but Partizan fought back until the very end for the win. The home team's backcourt of Milenko Tepic and Aleksandar Rasic combined for 23 points and 15 assists. The Serbian champs pulled in 19 offensive rebounds and continue to lead the league in that category, with Stephane Lasme and Novica Velickovic both appearing in the league’s top five.
Panionios On Telecioms registered its first win in Group D by edging previously undefeated Efes Pilsen 69-78 on the road at the Abdi Ipecki Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. Panionios started the second half on a 0-20 tear to take over for good. Lonny Baxter led the winners with 18 points and Ioannis Kalampokis added 17 for Panionios, which registered its first Euroleague win since February 1997.
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Thursday, November 06, 2008
Euroleague.net
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