ABA League: Top teams get blowout wins
With one game left on tap in Round 16 in the ABA League, the transition from 2016 to 2017 saw the rich get richer as top teams recorded blowout wins over their respective opponents. Of course, when speaking of top teams, Crvena Zvezda “Red Star” MTS Beograd has to be in the conversation. They have already reached a historical milestone by winning 16-straight games in the ABA regular season. Red Star completely destroyed KK Zadar 113-65. They were in control from start to finish and it was just a matter of them outclassing Zadar in all fronts, yet another testament to their dominant 2016-17 campaign. Nate Wolters took the initiative in this one, leading four other teammates in double figures with his team-high 17 points.
Red Star was not the only team to come away with a crushing victory in this round. Fourth ranked KK Cedevita Zagreb (11-5) went on the road and grabbed a 79-100 win over MZT Skopje Aerodrom. The secret to their success in this game was in the effective way they managed to squeeze points from the free throw line. They connected on 25-of-30 of their shots from the charity stripe, compared to 12-of-17 by MZT Skopje. The game was a duel between Cedevita’s James Ra’shad (21 points) and MZT Skopje’s Josh Scott (23 points). With both leaders virtually cancelling each other out, the depth of Cedevita’s bench came into play and they delivered when it came time for them to see action on the hardwood floor.
Not every game was a runaway victory on January 2nd. BC Igokea narrowly edged out Union Olimpija 80-81. The game came down to the wire, with both teams putting forth excellent effort on both ends. However, it would be Igokea (9-7) that would widen the gap in the standings between them and Union Olimpija (7-9). The two-game lead is a small buffer, but does alleviate some pressure, nonetheless.
Those were the games played out on January 2. Here are the results of the games played on December 30th. FMP is set to face Krka tonight.
Buducnost vs. Mega Leks, 88-80
Karpos Sokol vs. Mornar Bar, 75-63
Cibona vs. Partizan, 77-82