TOP 16 / TOP 5 / WEEK 3
5-OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS (GREECE)
Finally the new Olympiacos coach Panagiotis Giannakis find the way to win in Euroleague, an heartbeater 86-84 victory over Zalgiris Kaunas at Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, a win that looks like oxygen for Olympiacos, who are trying to come back on the race for the quarterfinals.
4-AXA FC BARCELONA (SPAIN)
Right now Barcelona is demonstrating to be a real team, to be a group of players and a coaching staff who are focused on the game, despite the bench movement who took the scene in this last weeks. A strong victory (86-57) over Lottomatica Rome, a win that give to the Blaugrana the top of Group G, tied with Cska Moskow.
3-MACCABI ELITE TEL AVIV (ISRAEL)
No prisoners at the Yad Eliyahu, Maccabi is in a great period, and last night they stomped the spanish champs Real Madrid, reaching los Merengues at the top of the Group F. The month of May is slowly coming, and the israeli are step by step taking confidence and skills, obviously routed to the Final Four.
2-TAU CERAMICA VITORIA (SPAIN)
One of the two undefeated teams in this part of Top 16, Tau Vitoria red and blue had a convincing win in Thessaloniki over Aris TT Bank, an 87-69 who said a lot about the defensive attitude of the Neven Spahija bunch, a great defense with an experienced and now in a good shape offense.
1-MONTEPASCHI SIENA (ITALY)
The other undefeated team in Top 16, Montepaschi Siena. An impressive win (84-75) in Tuscany over the defending Euroleague Champions, Panathinaikos Athens, a strong win who put the Pianigiani’s bunch atop of Group D, with three wins and no losses. The white and green italians to the Final Four?
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BOOTSY THORNTON (MONTEPASCHI SIENA)
Last night in Europe the crunch time was the Marvis “Bootsy” Thornton time. With personality and responsability, the former St.John’s University nailed a bunch of three pointers who demolished the defending champs Panathinaikos in Siena. 23 points, 7/12 from the field, 5 fouls drawn, and a sensational domination of the game.
WILLIE SOLOMON (FENERBAHCE ULKER ISTANBUL)
The former Clemson University grab the scene in the last night’s win of his Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul over Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius. 27 points, 10/18 from the field, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 9 fouls drawn, a great game for one of the most underestimate players in all the Eurobasket.
WILL BYNUM (MACCABI TEL AVIV)
An almost perfect game for the Arizona and Georgia Tech product, a great performance who put him on the prime time for basket and not for the police reports. 22 points, 9/11 fron the field and 5 assists in the big Maccabi’s win over Real Madrid. We hope that Bynum will continue on this right basketball way.
DANIELE VECCHI
