Tau Ceramica was without its most accomplished big man, Tiago Splitter, and Olympiacos without its most versatile forward, Josh Childress. When it came down to needing it most, however, the Reds knew how to take the best advantage of the situation. Having already lost the Top 16 opener in Group E, Olympiacos was facing trouble down 56-60 early in the fourth quarter of the second game to Tau, which had won six straight Euroleague games. With Splitter's replacement, Stanko Barac, in foul trouble, the Reds found and attacked Tau's weak spot. In three plays over less than 2 minutes, Olympiacos went to the rim hard each time - Lynn Greer twice and Georgios Printezis once - while big man Ioannis Bourousis did just what Tau didn't by protecting the paint for the Reds with a huge block at the other end. The difference when they were done was 63-60 and Barac was soon fouled out as Olympiacos escaped with a do-or-die victory. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

On a thrilling Thursday in which three games went to the wire, the clash in Poland between Asseco Prokom and Armani Jeans Milano had as much excitement as any - even though it didn't look that way for much of the game. Then, early in the fourth quarter, Pat Burke's basket inside made it 56-53. Prokom came back from 11 behind by scoring 14 unanswered points that left Milano reeling, having been held scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter. That, however, is when Milano's confident young shooter, Luca Vitali, stepped up with a crucial three to tie the game and kill Prokom's momentum. The game would still feature two more ties and a lead change after that, but there's no telling what would have happened without Vitali's timely triple that charged the visitors back up. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Maccabi Electra had improved after the break and everything seemed to lead to a balanced fourth quarter. Some players, however, have the ability to break all systems and get the crowd behind their team's back. Gianluca Basile of Regal FCB is one of them. A layup by Marcus Brown - his first points of the night - kept Maccabi within 44-39, but Basile had other ideas in mind. A dominant Fran Vazquez had already started to intimidate D'or Fischer down low and Barcelona regrouped on defense. Basile nailed a seven-meter bomb that sent Palau Blaugrana to its feet. He soon followed Vazquez's free throws with another three-pointer that broke the game open, 55-40. Basile and Vazquez combined for 10 points in an 11-1 run, but "Il Basso" was the key player with his three-pointers, his defense on Brown and his ability to turn Palau Blaugrana upside down. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

The Top 16 newcomers from Alba Berlin led 81-71 on their own floor with 11,000 fans behind them, but over the last 4 minutes, 30 seconds on Thursday, the experience of Real Madrid in such pressure situations counted more. Even while down double-digits, Madrid looked more like the team in charge, while Berlin took quick shots, gave up offensive rebounds, fouled late and threw the ball away. Meanwhile, Alex Mumbru scored 4 points in a row and Felipe Reyes downed a three-point play to cut the difference by 7 points in barely a minute. After a turnover that should have been a basket for Alba, Madrid exited a timeout with a made-to-order play for Axel Hervelle, whom Alba left alone to hit the game-tying three-pointer. That set the stage for Madrid stealing the win and taking first place in the group. "We had confidence that when it was a close game at the end, we could make the right plays to win," Louis Bullock said after. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Even though it broke a 61-61 tie in what was an amazing game until then between Panathinaikos and Unicaja, the Drew Nicholas three-pointer that opened the fourth quarter seemed innocent enough. After all, there had been 10 ties already and his shot marked the game's 16th lead change. But that would be the last one, too. There followed 3 tense minutes in which the Panathinaikos defense - after having stalled Unicaja's offense all night - forced two shot-clock violations on the hosts. After a great feed from Vassilis Spanoulis to Nikola Pekovic put Panathinaikos up 61-66, Unicaja had a two-shot possession to break the spell. Both missed, then at the other end, Panathinaikos swung the ball around the perimeter until Sarunas Jasikevicius shot alone at the arc, a three-point swish that added to a 2-15 run and gave the Greens the first road win in Malaga since 2006. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Partizan had kept a double-digit lead for the best part of the game but Lottomatica was not done. Andre Hutson and Sani Becirovic had been trying to change things for the guests, as Lottomatica was a different team on defense. A free throw by Becirovic finally brought Roma within single digits, 66-57, and Partizan needed a big impact in the final play of the third quarter. Novica Velickovic did the honors with over with a high-flying put-back dunk just before the third-quarter buzzer, sending the crowd to its feet. Partizan's fans did the rest, as Lottomatica went scoreless over the next 2 minutes as the extraordinary basketball atmosphere at Pionior Arena reached a noise level beyond all limits. Stephane Lasme scored in transition while Uros Tripkovic sealed the outcome with his sixth three-pointer. Lottomatica never recovered. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

CSKA Moscow led from start to finish in Wednesday’s home win over Cibona, but it wasn’t always clear how the outcome would unfold, and the champs did have the rare memory of back-to-back home losses to end the regular season. Despite leading by 20 in the first half, the CSKA took its foot off the gas in the third period and Cibona mounted a comeback. After Viktor Khryapa fouled Vedran Vukusic and the latter trimmed the deficit to 7 points with a pair of free throws, CSKA head coach Ettore Messina knew he could turn to his captain. Matjaz Smodis came off the bench and became the team’s first option. First he sank a fade-away jumper in the lane with some contact. After the two teams traded baskets, Smodis drew a foul from Jared Homan on the defensive end. And finally Smodis barreled through three defenders for a reverse layup that triggered a 10-0 run into the fourth quarter that sealed the win - and terminated that home losing streak - for the champs. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Terrell McIntyre burst onto the scene last season as a Euroleague rookie and didn’t stop until he led Montepaschi Siena all the way to the Final Four in Madrid, where he was named to the All-Euroleague First Team. If anyone needed a reminder of what it takes to be named the best point guard in the Euroleague, all they need is to go to Euroleague.TV rewatch the performance McIntyre put on against Fenerbahce Ulker on Wednesday night. McIntyre starred with both his passing game and his shooting. He was a main reason that Ben Eze matched a career-high with 16 points, since McIntyre had a hand in creating more than half those baskets – including a pair of rim-rocking alley-oops. And he also fired in 6 triples – including one to wrap up the game with just over a minute remaining. All told, his 24-point, 6-assist effort is exactly the stuff All-Euroleague point guards are made of. GAME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS