Great point guards are known floor generals, in part, because they know how to take charge when needed. Such was the case Wednesday for Tau Ceramica point guard Pablo Prigioni, a two-time All-Euroleague second team selection. Tau dominated against Asseco Prokom early as league-leading scorer Igor Rakocevic led a 20-2 first-quarter run that put the hosts in control. But after leading by as many as 19, Tau took its foot off the gas and allowed the Polish champs to get within 51-39 at halftime. Prokom then started the second half with 7 unanswered points to make it 51-46. At that point, Prigioni calmly took the ball up court and sank a three-pointer that showed who was in charge. That basket ignited Tau's defense, too, as the hosts quickly forced a turnover that led Prokom's leading scorer at that point, Dan Ewing, to commit his third foul, which sent him to the bench. In no time, Tau was up by 10 points again and Prokom didn't challenge seriously for the rest of the game. Prokom's single threat was turned back thanks to a well-timed triple from a veteran floor general who seldom shoots, but knows how to make every shot count. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

It didn't look like Mike Hall was going to have much of an impact on Armani Jeans Milano's home victory over Olympiacos on Thursday after the hosts soared to a 15-point third-quarter lead thanks to great shooting from the guards. Then, when Olympiacos rallied to within a single point midway through the fourth quarter and Hall responded with an airball, his chances seemed even dimmer. When the Reds left him open for another three-point try, however, Hall didn't hesitate. He buried that clutch shot and soon caught fire. His confidence fully intact, Hall blasted another triple with 2:30 remaining to keep Milano ahead. He then used his energy and athleticism for an incredibly acrobatic false alley-oop on a missed three-pointer that gave Milano the final push it needed to reach the big upset victory. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

It's possible to see a takeover coming many minutes before the lead changes. As Real Madrid came back to beat archrival Barcelona 85-83, the warning arrived early in the final quarter. Barcelona was leading 62-72 with 7:32 to play when 21-year-old guard Sergi Llull of Madrid nailed his first Euroleague three-pointer since December 11. Then, after a timeout, Llull stole a pass out of Ersan Ilyasova's hands and went untouched for a dunk. Barcelona's very next half-court pass was like déjà vu, only this time Jeremiah Massey intercepted the ball in the air, before Ilyasova could even touch it. Massey's dunk made it 69-72, and now it was Barcelona calling timeout. Llull then stole again, leading to another score, by Felipe Reyes, at 71-72. It took more than 4 minutes from then until back-to-back triples by Lou Bullock and Llull finally put Madrid ahead with 1:15 left in the game, but the handwriting was on the wall much earlier, when hile Barcelona lost its concentration while Madrid kept its head in the game. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Newly-signed Maccabi Electra guard Dee Brown has a great nickname - "The One-Man Fastbreak" - and he showed why on Thursday in his Euroleague debut against Alba Berlin. Brown's energy and confidence were clear to everyone as he took the Nokia Arena floor in the second quarter. Just 90 seconds later, he drilled a three-pointer for his first points in a Maccabi uniform. His biggest impact, however, came in the last 90 seconds before halftime, with Maccabi already nursing a 12-point lead. First, he drilled another triple. Then, after another highlight, a Marcus Brown-to-D'Or Fischer alley-oop slam, Dee Brown then caused a steal and scored the ensuing layup to cap a 7-0 spurt that gave Maccabi a massive lead at halftime, setting the stage for its and set the stage for the club's biggest Euroleague win since November of 2004. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Unicaja had managed to stop the highest-ranked player of the regular season, Sani Becirovic, to lead 46-66 in the second half at Lottomatica Rome behind an outstanding Marcus Haislip on Thursday. However, after Becirovic awoke with 6 points late in the third quarter, Ibby Jaaber soon came along with a steal-and-layup combo and a spectacular put-back dunk to bring the hosts back to life, 73-78, with under 4 minutes to go. With thousands of Roma fans shouting in the stands, Unicaja needed answers and chose to isolate Haislip one-on-one at the foul line. Haislip answered big-time, blasting to the basket for a huge dunk that shocked the crowd into silence. When Berni Rodriguez followed with free throws and Thomas Kelati a fastbreak basket, Roma's only threat of the night was forgotten and Unicaja had a good-as-gold Top 16 road win. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

After trailing for 25 minutes at home in the Top 16 opener and finally taking control in the fourth quarter, you might think a team would slow down the ball and make sure of a safe victory. Not so when Panathinaikos finally shook off its Top 16 nemesis of a year ago, Partizan Belgrade, in their first Group G game on Thursday. Experience in tough groups told the Greens that their 63-55 lead with 6 minutes left might have pointed to a victory in the battle, but the war might be decided - a month or more from now, when the group standings are tallied - to points. In the 2005-06 season, Panathinaikos advanced on points from a Top 16 group in which all four teams finished 3-3. Which is why, as the minutes dwindled on Thursday, the Panathinakos veterans like Mike Batiste and Dimitris Diamantidis kept busy expanding the final difference to 18 points that might eventually become as important as any scored in the round. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Sometimes a single loose ball can alter everything. Arguably it did so on the first scoring play of the second half as Cibona rallied to beat mighty Montepaschi 88-81 in Group H. Cibona leader Davor Kus, silent all during the first half, started the second with a turnover that seemed headed for an easy layup and an eight-point Montepaschi lead. Shaun Stonerook couldn't control the steal while crossing halfcourt, however, and Cibona's Vedran Vukusic grabbed the ball. His quick pass swung from Earl Calloway to Kus, who shot in a hurry from the arc, burying his first triple of the night to make it 41-44. Kus proceeded to score 13 points in the third quarter as Cibona chipped away at the Montepaschi lead until taking over the scoreboard in the fourth. Cibona coach Velimir Perasovic said afterwards: "Our heart kept us in the game and making the three-pointers in the beginning of the third quarter gave us the energy on defense as well.". GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

When you are the reigning champs, it's sometimes like having a target on you back: everyone opponent wants to take you down. CSKA Moscow's way to deal with this is simple: by playing fundamentally sound basketball in which you create easy shots on offense and deny them on defense. That's exactly what head coach Ettore Messina's men did from the get-go Thursday to beat Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul by holding the hosts to the fewest points by a Top 16 home team ever. In one stretch early in the second quarter, it all came together for CSKA as Ramunas Siskauskas and Terence Morris buried jumpers and Trajan Langdon scored on the break while the whole team worked in unison on defense to silence the hosts. The resulting 0-11 charge gave CSKA a 16-34 lead and broke the game open for good. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS