Maccabi performing miracles…
by Erildas Budraitis
The Euroleague Top 16 stage is coming to an end. After the fifth tour of the Euroleague Top 16, six teams (Regal Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, Asseco Prokom Gdynia and Olympiakos Piraeus) now can feel safe because they all have qualified to the quarterfinal playoffs. But there are two more places in the quarterfinals, so everything depends on the last tour.
This week Olympiakos Piraeus showed once again why they’re one of the top contenders for the Euroleague title. The Reds won against Caja Laboral Vitoria (102-85) and secured first place in Group H. It was their 10th win in a row.
Another big match was won in Group E where Real Madrid defeated Efes Pilsen Istanbul by just 2 points (77-75) but it was not enough to secure place in the playoffs. Next week Real will play against Maccabi Tel Aviv, who won an impressive game this week.
GAME OF THE WEEK
The Jewish club was able to win against Montepaschi Siena, 97-8
2, and eliminate the Italian‘s team from the fight for the title. During the beginning game it went point-by-point, but in the second quarter Maccabi was gained 10 points lead (41-31).
But in the third quarter Montepaschi got back to the game (57-54) but Maccabi showed incredible (!) offense in fourth and won the game. Tel Aviv’s club set the new Euroleague record – 43 points in one quarter.
“A real leader on the floor doesn’t wait for things to happen, he makes it happen,” said Alan Anderson, the team’s leader. “We have a lot of good players who can make shots. We just need to set them in the right places, and they’ll make it.” The former Bobcat led Maccabi with 24 points (23 index ranking).
Chuck Eidson scored 16 and grabbed 5 rebounds, Doron Perkins added 14. Former Miami Heat forward Stephane Lasme scored 11.
Montepaschi’s guard Henry Domercant scored 21, Terrell McIntyre finished the game with 14 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
PLAYER OF THE
WEEK
This week the most valuable player was Bojan Bogdanovic from Cibona Zagreb. The Croat scored 22 points, grabbed 9 points, and ended up the game with 28 index ranking points.
Second in this week’s rankings is Caja Laboral Vitoria’s forward Mirza Teletovic. He finished the game with 25 points, 9 boards, and 3 steals.
Third, fourth and fifth places go to Josh Childress (Olympiakos, 20 points, 10 rebounds), Marcus Brown (Zalgiris, 23 points) and Jorge Garbajosa (Real, 16 points, 11 rebounds).
Next week we will know what two teams will get tickets to the playoffs and continue to fight for the title.


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