In what is thought to be a first in NIKEiD Euroleague Basketball Fantasy Challenge history, the Week 5 winner was also the overall leader - but with different teams! What's more, the winner is a team of two! Hakan Bilgin and Mert Genç of Turkey saw one of their teams, called "Asim Pars", become the Week 5 winner with 216.4 points, the second-highest total this season. By going 11 points higher than any other team in Week 5, Hakan and Mert make off with a couple prizes: an official Euroleague game ball and this season's official Media Guide on DVD, not to mention entry into the end-of-contest drawing for weekly winners. But they were hardly done. Hakan and Mert also held onto first place overall at the halfway point of the regular season with their team "Brian Chase", whose five-week total is now 863 points. That is just over 10 points more than the second-place team, but Hakan and Mert are well-covered with yet another team, called "Victor Samnick", holding third place overall! Of course, since this is a shorter contest than ever before, with only 16 weeks total, anyone competing now for the top regular season score now can also be considered a candidate for the best overall score when the entire contest ends, at the end of the Top 16. The eventual overall grand prize winner will get the chance to enjoy VIP status at the 2009 Final Four in Berlin as a guest of Euroleague Basketball, including a spot on the O2 World floor to witness the new champions celebrating the Euroleague title. Don`t forget that the Week 6 deadline is at 18:00 on Wednesday, December 3, one hour before the first game of the week: Olympiacos vs. Air Avellino. Keep playing NIKEiD Euroleague Basketball Fantasy Challenge for your chance to win!
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FANTASY CHALLENGE RUNDOWN
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GROUP A
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Air Avellino:
- Head coach Zare Markovski has a full squad available for Wednesday’s game in Greece. |
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Cibona:
- Head coach Velamir Perasovic has a full squad available for Thursday’s trip to Tel Aviv. |
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Le Mans:
- Head coach J.D. Jackson will have a full squad available for his team's game against Unicaja. |
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Maccabi Electra:
- Maccabi signed a new forward, Elton Brown, ahead of Thursday’s game against Cibona, in which he'll debut if registered on time.
- Coinciding with the arrival of Brown was the departure of forward Rodney White, whom Maccabi released after one appearance. |
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Olympiacos:
- Head coach Panagiotis Giannakis has a full squad available for the game against Avellino. |
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Unicaja:
- Guard Carlos Cabezas will not travel to Le Mans due to a sprained ankle. He will be replaced on the trip by Rai Lopez, who would make his Euroleague debut if he sees action.
- Big man Paul Shirley joined the club the week and could make his Euroleague debut against Le Mans.
- Center German Gabriel is out for several months after suffering torn ankle ligaments in a Spanish League game.
- Swingman Berni Rodriguez is also out for the rest of the calendar year with an ankle injury.
- Guard Alfonso Sanchez will likely miss the entire regular season with a hand injury that required surgery and he has been unregistered by Unicaja this week.
- Power forward Marcus Haislip is sidelined for several weeks with a leg injury. |
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GROUP B
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Asseco Prokom:
- Head coach Tomas Pacesas has a full squad available for his team's game against Montepaschi. |
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Montepaschi Siena:
- Head coach Simone Pianigiani has a full squad available for his team's game against Prokom. |
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SLUC Nancy:
- Guard T.J. Parker is expected to miss the entire season with a knee injury. |
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Panathinaikos:
- Guard Sarunas Jasikevicius and small forward Stratos Perperoglou sat out Panathinaikos’s Greek League game over the weekend. Their participation in Thursday's game at Zalgiris could be decided on the day of the game.
- Center Giorgi Shermadini made his Greek League debut over the weekend and is available for his Euroleague debut this week. |
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Regal FC Barcelona:
- Guard Victor Sada is doubtful for game against Nancy with an ankle injury. He sprained a ligament in his left ankle in the Spanish League three weeks ago and has been sidelined since. |
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Zalgiris:
- The Lithuanian team is expected to have a full roster available for the game against Panathinaikos. |
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GROUP C
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Alba Berlin:
- Guard Julius Jenkins continues to suffer from an ankle injury and his participation in Thursday's game in Roma has been discarded. |
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DKV Joventut:
- Big man Pops Mensah-Bonsu is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.
- Guard Ricky Rubio may return to action after undergoing surgery on his right wrist. He travelled to Ljubljana to face Union Olimpija and may see some playing time for the first time this season.
- Playmaker Demond Mallet is out against Olimpija due to a muscle tear.
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Fenerbahce Ulker:
- Shooting guard Gordan Giricek is questionable for the game against Tau. He played in the weekend’s Turkish League game, but may have aggravated a stomach muscle injury. His participation will be a game-day decision.
- Center Semih Erden has begun playing with the team and is expected to be in perfect playing condition this week.
- Center Omer Asik is sidelined long term after undergoing surgery to repair damaged ligaments in his knee. |
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Lottomatica Roma:
- Sani Becirovic, the November MVP, has not practiced this week and may miss Thursday's home game against Alba due to an ankle injury.
- Shooting guard Allan Ray has not practiced either and is likely to miss the Alba game due to a foot injury.
- Center Primos Brezec, despite missing practice with a heel problem, is expected to try to play against Alba.
- Sharpshooter Luigi Datome has missed the last few weeks with a knee injury.
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Tau Ceramica:
- Fernando San Emeterio has a micro-tear of a leg muscle and will not travel to Istanbul to play against Fenerbahce. |
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Union Olimpija:
- Forward Jasmin Hukic has been practicing with the squad and could see limited action on Thursday against DKV Joventut.
- Center Mirza Begic has been limited in recent games with an intestinal virus, but should be back at full strength by Thursday.
- Guard Vlado Ilievski played a season-low 31 minutes last week against Alba Berlin and missed the weekend’s Adriatic League game with a leg injury. Ilievski also skipped practice to rest his leg. He is expected to play against Joventut despite the injury.
- Team captain Marko Milic is out for the next month after undergoing knee surgery. |
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GROUP D
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Armani Jeans Milano:
- Big man Pape Sow could make his first appearance since suffering a foot injury last month in an Italian League game. He has been training with the club all week.
- Center Joey Beard will miss Wednesday’s game due to personal reasons. |
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CSKA Moscow:
- Point guard J.R. Holden will miss another week with a broken finger suffered earlier this season against Panionios. |
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Efes Pilsen:
- Big man Predrag Drobnjak and guard Cliff Hammonds were both signed and registered this week. Both could make their first appearances of the season on Wednesday at Partizan.
- Guard Engin Atsur continues to suffer from foot pain and is out of action.
- Center Mario Kasun remains sidelined after undergoing surgery on his wrist.
- Forward Mustafa Abi underwent knee surgery and will be out for three months. |
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Panionios On Telecoms:
- Head coach Aleksandar Trifunovic has no injury problems ahead of his team’s game against Real Madrid.
- Big man Demos Dikoudis, signed earlier in the week, is expected to play for the first time in a Panionios jersey on Wednesday.
Big man Goran Nikolic missed the weekend's Greek League game and his status is unknown before the game against Real Madrid on Wednesday. |
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Partizan Igokea:
- Forward Cedomir Vitkovac has missed the last week with an injury and is a question mark for Wednesday's home game against Efes Pilsen. |
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Real Madrid:
- Playmaker Pepe Sanchez remains out with a sprained ankle suffered in the Euroleague game against Armani Jeans. |