Turkish Airlines EuroLeague: Milano, Efes, Real Madrid bag wins
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Round 7 tipped off with a bang on Thursday night with five games. Three games saw visiting teams secure impressive wins on the road.
Khimki Moscow Region flexed their dominance over Zenit St. Petersburg 73-87 in an all-Russian affair. For context, Khimki has been killing it in the VTB United League and is primed to be a force to be reckoned with, both there and here in the EuroLeague. Devin Booker took control of the game for Khimki, dropping a new career-high with 20 points in the game.
One of the more exciting road wins came from Real Madrid. They were hosted by Crvena Zvezda in Stark Arena, housing one of the toughest and home crowds to play in front of.
The Spanish guests needed to pull out all the stops and use a strong fourth quarter to pull off a comeback win – not an easy task, considering their location. They came together and let their offense do the talking, led by the efforts of Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull. Llull ended the night with 16 points and five assists. However, one of the biggest heroes in this game was Walter Tavares and his defense. He recorded a career-high five blocks in this game and also chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds for good measure.
Real Madrid now improves to 4-3, 7th place. Crvena Zvezda are now 2-5 and are currently in 14th place.
The other important road win of the night came from Anadolu Efes, in Greece. They silenced a Greek crowd as they bested Olympiacos Piraeus 67-86. Efes is now 5-2 and looking very good. They mounted a strong rally in the second quarter and watched Olympiacos from the rearview mirror from there. Vasilije Micic and Shane Larkin combined for an amazing 51 points to spearhead Efes’ efforts in the win.
Not all road teams found success. Armani Milano successfully defended their home court against a visiting KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. The Milanese would not budge and emerged with the 81-74 win. They’ve been hot so far in the early stages of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. At 6-1, Milano has started the season off on the right foot.