|
|
Regular Season Week 4 in review
|
 And then there was one. After just four weeks of regular season play, there was but a single undefeated team left in the Euroleague, and it was none other than CSKA Moscow. And not only did CSKA make it through Week 4 alive - while three previously undefeated teams crashed - but last season's champs did so with a spectacular record: 18-for-25 shooting in a massive 90-68 home win over Efes Pilsen. Trajan Langdon, Terence Morris and Ramunas Siskauskas combined for 14-for-18 accuracy from long-range, making CSKA's the best performance at three-point distance all decade. But while CSKA looked unbeatable at 4-0 atop Group D, things got really competitive everywhere else in the league. Week 4 served up the closest games possible, with eight decisions coming by 5 or fewer points. And when the dust settled, eight teams were tied for first place in the other three groups, all with 3-1 records. In Group A, that was the result of Unicaja ending Cibona's undefeated status with a 77-67 home win in which Boniface Ndong scored 18 points despite being doubtful due to injury until game-time. Olympiacos took advantage by swamping Maccabi Electra 84-65 to tie Cibona in first place. In Group B, it was Panathinaikos winning 81-76 to give Montepaschi its first loss in continental or domestic play thanks to great team rebounding, a 37-23 advantage with 8 players pulling at least 3 boards. Those two are tied now with Regal F.C. Barcelona, a home winner over Prokom as Juan Carlos Navarro scored 21. In Group C, the big gun was Lottomatica Roma, taking down mighty Tau Ceramica 90-93 on the road with a show of leadership by Sani Becirovic, whose 23 points meant the first time since 2000-01 that he has scored 20 points or more in consecutive games. Tau and Roma have as a first-place buddy Fenerbahce Ulker, whose 89-87 double-OT home win against Union Olimpija featured Emir Preldzic scoring 18 points. Elsewhere, history was made as SLUC Nancy won its first-ever Euroleague game, while Avellino and Panionios each made it two in a row to get back in their group races, while Real Madrid recovered from a two-loss slide and Alba Berlin took over fourth place with its second victory. With the next week marking the halfway point of a shorter, 10-game regular season, the close results in Week 4 might well prove memorable for many teams - both good and bad memories.
Unicaja's centers dominated from start to finish to lead their team to a 77-67 win over Cibona and a share of first place in Group A. The duo of started Robert Archibald and backup Boni NDong, whose participation was in doubt until game time, combined for 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Cibona’s Niksa Prkacin and Luksa Andric, in comparison, amassed 0 points and 1 rebounds in 22 minutes. Archibald and NDong's dominance came at a perfect time as their frontcourt partner, Marcus Haislip, had one of the worst individual performances of his Euroleague career with 2 points and 2 rebounds in 31 minutes.
 Lynn Greer continued his stellar play against Maccabi Electra to lead Olympiacos to an 84-65 win and a share of the top spot in Group A. Greer led the Reds with 21 points in his third 20+ point game in as many appearances against Maccabi. The point guard is averaging 24.7 points on 10-of-18 three-point shooting, 4.3 assists and 2 steals against the Israeli giants. Center Nikola Vujcic came off the bench to record 14 points, 3 assists and 3 steals – all season-highs – against his former team. Maccabi, whose star point guard Carlso Arroyo was sidelined with back problems, got 16 points from Omri Casspi.
Air Avellino topped Le Mans 78-73 for its second straight win. Eric Williams paced a well-balanced attack with 16 points and 8 rebounds in just 20 minutes as six Avellino scorers had at least 9 points. Le Mans remained winless, but got some good news as guard Dewarick Spencer regained his scoring touch with 26 points on 4-for-7 three-point shooting. Spencer had totaled 26 in his three previous games.
Panathinaikos caught Montepaschi Siena for a share of the Group B lead with an 81-76 win. The Greens' depth paid big dividends as the reserves, led by Antonis Fotsis and Nikola Pekovic, outscored the starters 43-38 and practically matched them in rebounds and assists. Vassilis Spanoulis also came off the bench for 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in his first appearance of the season after missing the first three due to injury.
Juan Carlos Navarro scored 21 points for the second time in three games to lead Regal FC Barcelona to a 74-62 win and a share of first place in Group B. While Navarro had his scoring game going, Prokom’s star backcourt stumbled as David Logan and Dan Ewing were a combined 1 for 9 from downtown and were each held to single figures in points.
SLUC Nancy recorded its first ever Euroleague by beating Zalgiris Kaunas 69-64 behind a great second half from Lamayne Wilson. The hosts finished the third quarter with 13 unanswered points to take at 16-point lead and then held strong when Zalgiris rallied late. Wilson, who was a non-factor after sitting down early with 3 fouls, came back and sparked Nancy in the second half, when he scored all of his 17 points. Zalgiris, still without starting playmaker Willie Deane, again shot itself in the foot with 21 turnovers.
Sani Becirovic led the way for Lottomatica Roma as it upset previously undefeated Tau Ceramica 90-93 at the Fernando Buesa Arena in Vitoria, Spain. The loss ended Tau's 11-game home-court winning streak and tied the two clubs atop the Group C standings at 3-1 along with Fenerbahce Ulker. Becirovic led Roma with 23 points, staking his claim as one of the top players in the competition today. The star guard, who saw his career derailed with knee injuries, is back to his unstoppable self. His performance saw his top 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time since February 2001, when he accomplished the feat in the Quarterfinal Playoffs for Union Olimpija against Virtus Bologna. Olimpija’s starting center in that game, Primoz Brezec, added 18 for Roma on Wednesday.
 Fenerbahce Ulker joined the tie for first with an 89-87 double-overtime win over Union Olimpija. The hosts relied on the young and the old to best Olimpija, which got career-high performances from its starting backcourt. Emir Preldzic paced the winners with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, while Mirsad Turkcan recorded his 45th career double-double. For Olimpija, Vlado Ilievski netted a career-high 22 points and Saso Ozbolt matched his best with 20.
Alba Berlin shined on the defensive end when it counted most for a come-from-behind 74-72 home win over DKV Joventut. The German champs shook off the loss of top scorer Julius Jenkins early in the game and held the visitors to one basket in the first seven-and-a-half minutes of the fourth to set up the win. Pau Ribas had a chance to tie it or win on the last play of the game, but missed. Ansu Sesay led five Berliners in double digits in scoring with 15 points. Luka Bogdanovic made a career-best 7 three-pointers to lead Joventut with 21 points.
Defending champion CSKA Moscow used a record breaking three-point shooting performance to bury visiting Efes Pilsen 90-68 in the Russian capital. CSKA tied the Euroleague record with 18 three-pointers made and smashed the record for best accuracy by shooting 72% from downtown. Ramunas Siskauskas led the way for CSKA with 19 points on 4-for-4 three-point shooting and Terrence Morris made a career-high 5 triples en route to 17 points. Langdon also drilled 5 threes. CSKA has shot better than 50% in three of its games so far this season and leads the league with a 48.3% success rate from downtown.
 Louis Bullock's layup with 3.8 seconds remaining lifted Real Madrid to a hard-fought 70-69 win over Armani Jeans Milano. It gave Madrid a 9-8 lead in the all-time series between the two, which started in 1963 and includes victories in the 1967 Euroleague final and the 1984 Saporta Cup final. Jeremiah Massey had his best game yet for Madrid with 15 points, while trusty Felipe Reyes produced 15 points and 9 rebounds. Mike Hall shined with 21 points and 9 boards for Milano, but it was not enough.
Lonny Baxter muscled his way to a clutch basket on the offensive glass to lift Panionios On Telecoms to a 72-70 win over Partizan Belgrade. It was Panionios’s second straight win. Aaron Miles scored 18 to lead the winners, who overcame a horrid 13-for-25 free-throw shooting performance in part by denying Partizan, the league’s leading offensive rebounding team, to 9 – half of what they averaged in the first three games of the season.
|
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Euroleague.net
|
 Print Send to a Friend Share
|
|