Euroleague Friday round up

Round 3 of the Euroleague finished on Friday with five games in Europe’s elite club competition. Both Group E and Group F are starting to take shape, although there is still plenty to play for with some giants of the game with plenty of work to do. On Friday Greek giants Panathinaikos and Olympiacos grabbed wins and are both in the mix at the top of their respective standings.

Crvena Zvezda’s tough start to the Top 16 continued as the Serbian club fell to Galatasaray, while EA7 Armani Milan finally got off the mark at this stage with a win over Unicaja Malaga. In the final game of the night, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria made the most of home advantage to take out Nizhny Novgorod.

Group E
Panathinaikos joined a growing bunch of clubs on a 2-1 record in Group E with a comfortable 77-58 home win over Zalgiris Kaunas in Athens. The Lithuanian visitors are now nursing a two game losing streak and never looked likely to bother the Greek hosts in this game. Panathinaikos put together a 24-16 first quarter and never looked back, and controlled the defensive paint with 33 rebounds off the glass. There was no standout scorer in the game, but the Athens hosts had six players register double figures, while Zalgiris only boasted two.

Carlos Arroyo was once again the architect for Galatasaray as the Turkish club travelled to Serbia and took out Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 65-74. It was the third meeting between these clubs this season, but the Turkish club had the better of the contest this time out, with Crvena Zvezda struggling in the Euroleague Top 16 despite its unbeaten heroics in the Adriatic League. The hosts held a slender 35-33 lead at the long break, but Galatasaray used a 2-12 run late in the third act to snatch momentum and win the game.

Group F
Fenerbahce is a team of contrasts at the moment, managing to perform brilliantly one week and then struggle the next, while there is a definite shift in performance when the Turkish club comes up against one of Europe’s giants. This week the club hosted Greek powerhouse Olympiacos and came up short, with the final score board reading 68-74. The Greeks stayed undefeated (3-0) and share top spot with CSKA Moscow, but they had to work hard on the road in this game. The team was trailing with 17.8 second left on the clock, but Vassilis Spanoulis hit that put Olympiacos in front for good.

EA7 Armani Milan picked up its first victory of the 2014/2014 Top 16 with a 77-84 road win over Unicaja Malaga in Spain. Milan has struggled so far, but the Italians brought back some of the never say die believe that sent them deep into this competition last season. As for Unicaja Malaga, the Spanish team is a conundrum at the moment, topping the Spanish Liga Endesa, but winless in the Top 16 so far. The hosts worked hard off the glass to get 44 rebounds (Milan managed 26), but the Italians were unselfish in attack and offered 21 assists during the game. Alessandro Gentile edged the scoring with 20 points for the visitors.

Laboral Kutxa Vitoria finally got off the mark in the Top 16 this term with an 81-74 win over Nizhny Novgorod in Spain. The teams were locked 52 apiece through 30 minutes, but the hosts used a late rally to comeback in the final act and snatch the win. The big scoring of Taylor Rochestie (24 points) always kept Nizhny in the game, but Laboral Kutxa remained consistent at the bucket to ensure victory.