TOP 16 WEEK 1 ANALISYS

  TOP 16 ANALYST JOAN CREUS:
Following a professional career that spanned 24 seasons, Joan Creus is now first assistant coach on the world champion Spanish national team and a television analyst of Euroleague games in Spain. Be sure to read his weekly analysis of the Top 16 on Euroleague.net.

"What we have seen in general in the first week is very interesting, because teams are not only playing for victories, but also for point differences already. That was really true in the games in Malaga and Tel Aviv. The Unicaja-Benetton game finished with a 14-point difference, but both coaches called timeouts in the last minute. That tells you something: this is such a short phase, with only six games, that every basket counts from the start."

GROUP D

"Tau took a giant step forward in its role as group favorite. They now have only first place as a goal after winning against their maximum rival, Maccabi, on the road by 11. That difference was very important. Nikola Vujcic almost had a triple-double in the game for Maccabi, but in the last 15 minutes, it was Tau's defense on him that was key to the victory. Tau cut the connection between Vujcic and Lior Eliyahu, and after that Maccabi found it difficult to score. For Tau, Luis Scola was stopped because he was defended well by Maccabi and had foul trouble, but the team overcame that problem with three-pointers: 12 of 25 with Igor Rakocevic hitting 5 and Serkan Erdogan 4. Meanwhile, Lottomatica Roma did what it had to without Dejan Bodiroga and with three new players on the court - Roberto Gabini, Jon Stefansson and Roberto Chiacig - who were in Spain just a few days before. Stefansson , in particular, was a big help right away with 11 points. So not only does Roma continue its recent run of good games, but in my opinion, they are confirmed now as an aspirant to qualify for the next round."

GROUP E

"The two favorites, CSKA and Olympiacos, made sure of their victories in the first week. CSKA was a machine once again, taking a close game and breaking it open with a 20-6 run after halftime. Matjaz Smodis gave a virtuoso demonstration of how to play both inside and outside to hurt another team. He was 9 of 11 on two-pointers this time, but he's also a big threat outside. Olympiacos came up with a big win on a tough court, which is a good way to start the round. There was an unusual point-guard duel, with Scoonie Penn scoring 27 and Vonteego Cummings 25. And we saw the re-birth of Sofoklis Schortsianitis, who had 18 points in 22 minutes. He went to the foul line 15 times, so basically after being out for awhile, he came back and starting doing what he does best. That's a good sign for Olympiacos."

GROUP F

"It was not a surprise that Panathinaikos could win at home against Efes Pilsen, but I don't think anybody expected it to happen by 27 points. This makes Panathinaikos, if it was not already, even more of a maximum favorite to win the group. I would have to highlight their big men, especially. Dimos Dikoudis, Kostas Tsartsaris and Dejan Tomasevic did the job as Mike Batiste came back slow from his injury. His three teammates had 11 offensive rebounds betwen them, and those are very valuable. The other key was the defense on Drew Nicholas of Efes, who is very dangerous. As for Barcelona, they keep their morale high after their Spanish Cup win. Gianluca Basile is proving very important now in opening up the defense of the opponents. Because of that, Fran Vazquez, Jordi Trias and Michalis Kakiouzis are finding space inside to score. And with Basile in form, Barcelona doesn't depend so much on Juan Carlos Navarro, either."

GROUP G

"In this group, anything can happen, but the win by Dynamo on the difficult court of Aris confirms the Russian team as the first-place favorite now, in my view. The most important guy for Dynamo is Papadopoulos. When he is playing well, he draws defenses to him like a magnet, and since he is passing better and better, and all of his teammates benefit, but especially Antonis Fotsis. Right now, Papadopoulos is so difficult to defend that he might be the most determinant center in Europe. In the other game, Unicaja came in with the same two objectives, to win and by as much as possible. It did both, and those 14 extra points could be very important to them later, because Benetton is not the type of team that wins by running up a lot of points. Unicaja has to be happy that Carlos Jimenez and Daniel Santiago played big roles and did a lot of damage to Benetton's defense. That is a real good sign for Unicaja going forward."