Euroleague Round 2 recap
The Euroleague Round 2 has come to a close on Friday evening as the best teams on the continent go back to domestic competition for a week. The round saw all the fancied teams for the Final Four this season register wins, although reigning champions Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to title rival CSKA Moscow.
Elsewhere there were wins for Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, while Olympiacos got its season back on track with a victory over Laboral Kutxa Vitora.
Group A
Banco di Sardegna welcomed Turkish club Anadolu Efes Istanbul to Italy and slipped to defeat 75-82, the club’s second consecutive loss. Nenad Krstic paced the winning effort with 15 points, while Stephane Lasme was also in good touch for Efes with 14 points and 7 boards. A 16-24 first quarter was enough to give the visitors a lead that Sardegna could not come back from and a tied second half allowed Efes to cruise down the straight.
Zalgiris Kaunas thumped Nizhny Novgorod 97-63 in a convincing home win. The hosts punished Nizhny with a 23-17 first quarter and a massive 25-7 second, dictating the hardwood throughout. In the second half Zalgiris never looked in doubt, winning every stanza and leading through all of the game. Six players from the home team registered double figures as the buckets rained on a weary Novgorod defence.
Real Madrid came away from Russian with a win, but needed a buzzer beating jumper from Sergio Llull to get a 75-76 win over Unics Kazan. A back and forth encounter saw both of the teams trade the lead throughout the game, but Unics looked poised for success with 7.7 seconds remaining. Llull was the hero of the hour as he jumped in the arc and found net, giving Los Blancos a happy return to Spain.
Group B
German club ALBA Berlin went close to a first win as the club travelled to Unicaja Malaga in the Euroleague Round 2. However, the Spanish club used a big second half to turn the game around and take an 87-84 victory. Berlin carved a narrow 36-38 lead at the long break, but Malaga went hot in the third with a 27-25 run and used the scoring momentum to see the game out in the fourth.
Nobel Boungou-Colo paced Limoges to its first victory with 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists as the French team gunned down Cedevita Zagreb 71-60 at home. A huge 24-16 streak in Q1 gave the hosts an early lead to protect, and they extended their possession with a 17-15 second (43-31 at halftime). A three point winning margin in the third (17-14) meant that Limoges could relax down the stretch, despite losing the final stanza.
The big game of the Euroleague Round 2 happened on Thursday as CSKA Moscow outclassed champions Tel Aviv 99-80 in Russia. It was a huge win as these giants clashed early in the competition, the sort of victory that sends a message to the other title contenders. The game was tight during the opening 10 minutes (21-19), but CSKA went big in the second and third quarters to outpace Tel Aviv 59-35 through those periods. A winning fourth quarter for the visitors proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
Group C
Bayern Munich got up and running in the Euroleague by defeating Panathinaikos 81-75 in Germany, a big win over the Greek giants. The teams traded for the opening exchanges, but the hosts led 17-16 at the first split. Panathinaikos responded with a winning second quarter to take a 32-35 lead at the midway point. Bayern edged the third 25-24 before overcoming The Greens in the final frame to win the game. Dusko Savanovic nailed 20 points in the Munich success.
Last year’s surprise package EA7 Milan suffered its second straight loss after a crushing defeat at the hands of Barcelona in Italy. The Catalan giant strode to a confident 63-78 victory on Thursday thanks consistent play through the game, enough to go unbeaten through every frame (17-20, 15-25, 18-18, 13-15). Alex Abrines set the pace for Barca with 21 points, while Daniel Hackett was once again Milan’s go to guy with 15 points.
Fenerbahce comfortably passed PGE Turow Zgorzelec 76-91 on the road to maintain its unblemished start to the campaign. The Turkish powerhouse looked nothing short of solid as they put Polish champs PGE Turow to the sword. Fener bookended the game with winning first and second periods, while a flurry from the hosts in the middle quarters was not enough to stop the visitors. Andrew Goudelock proved why Fenerbahce brought him in during the summer as he notched 27 points for the winning effort.
Group D
Euroleague history was made for Neptunas Klaipeda as the team collected its first ever win in this competition, downing Serbian powerhouse Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 83-81. A 47-37 lead at the long break proved to be enough for the hosts as they held on against a late charge from Belgrade. Deividas Gailius was the star for Neptunas as he topped the Lithuanians with 19 points and 7 boards.
After a rocky few weeks and uncertainty over the head coaches’ position, Olympiacos came through to win against Laboral Kutxa Vitoria in Greece. It has been a good start for the club as they now have a 2-0 record, but this was far from a convincing display. The hosts took the lead in the opening stanza, pacing to a 17-10 lead, but the Spanish visitors hit back to win Q2 and Q3. Olympiacos still had the advantage heading into the final 10 minutes and they outlasted Vitoria down the stretch.
Galatasaray dug in at home to edge out current Eurocup champions Valencia Basket. The first phase would prove the turning point in the game and important to Galatasaray’s success, as the hosts opened a 25-12 cushion after 10 minutes on the hardwood. The Turkish team lengthened significantly through the second stanza to hold a formidable 23 point lead at the mid buzzer, the scoreboard reading 47-24. Valencia had been hit by a 23-2 Galatasaray run leading up to halftime, but the Spanish team responded through the third quarter and made things interesting in the fourth, but ultimately it was not enough.