Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm  |  3 responses

Euroleague Weekly Review

Cibona simply collapses!

by Erildas Budraitis

The Euroleague Top 16 stage is over, and we know all eight teams that will compete in the playoffs. Partizan, Real and Caja Laboral jumped on the playoffs train with Barca, Maccabi, CSKA, Asseco Prokom and Olympiakos, who all already secured place during the previous tour.

Before we talk about upcoming playoffs, let’s check what happened in the sixth tour of the Top 16. Marrousi Athens (2-4), who was fighting for a spot in the playoffs, got tripped up by other Athens team, Panathinaikos (2-4). Marrousi lost the game by only 3 points (79-82) and gave a playoffs ticket to Partizan Belgrade.

Real Madrid’s players were also depressed because, they were defeated by Maccabi Tel Aviv in final seconds (64-66). The Royal club, Real, had really good chances of winning the group, but after that loss, they remained in the second place. In the playoffs, Real will meet Regal Barcelona, the team’s biggest enemy.

But this week the craziest things happened in a Group H match, where Caja Laboral Vitoria managed to wrest a win against Cibona Zagreb.

GAME OF THE WEMarcelinho HuertasEK

In this Euroleague tour, Caja Laboral, one of the best Spanish teams, found strength to win a do-or-die type game against Cibona Zagreb, 102-90. OK, this Spanish victory is not a big surprise but the most interesting part is how they took this win.

In the beginning, Caja Laboral led by 6 points (18-12) but then Cibona started to play harder and they grabbed the lead. At the end of fourth quarter (38 minute) Cibona was in front by 14 (!) points… And then the Croats simply stopped. Caja Laboral found a way to come close and take the win in overtime. And get a ticket to the playoffs.

The most interesting fact – in first 38 minutes Caja Laboral scored just 58 points and in last 7 minutes – 44 points (24 in overtime!). So the last match’s 7 minutes opened playoffs doors to Caja Laboral.

“This was a game that we must remember. We played in the last minutes like we wanted to in the beginning. In overtime we played with faith, more relaxed and focused,” Dusko Ivanovic, Vitoria’s team head coach said, “I wouldn’t think it’s a matter of luck, I’d say it was a matter of faith. We never gave up, we believed until the end.”

Mirza Teletovic led Caja Laboral with 25 points and 9 boards. Fernando San Emeterio scored 19, Marcelinho Huertas 16. Former Charlotte Bobcats’ and Detroit Pistons’ forward Walter Hermann added 10 points (3/3 FG, 1/1 3PT, 2/2 FT).

Cibona’s leader Marko Tomas scored 23, Vedran Vukusic added 20. Samo Udrih, brother of Beno Udrih, and Jamont Gordon (8 rebounds, 8 assists), former Mississippi State’s team star, both finished the game with 13 points.

PLAYER OF THE WRomain SatoEEK

The last Top 16 stage’s MVP prize goes to Montepaschi Siena’s forward Romain Sato. He finishedthe game against Efes Pilsen Istanbul with 22 points and 5 boards (27 index ranking points).

Second place in this week’s ranking was shared by Caja Laboral’s guard Mirza Teletovic and Raul Lopez from Real Madrid (26 index ranking). Teletovic finished the game with 25 points and 9 boards and Lopez’s showed lower numbers – 14 points, 6 boards and 4 assists.

This season biggest stage, the playoffs, will start on March 23. We will see Top 8 Euroleague’s teams and the dessert — the biggest rivalry between two Spanish teams, Barca and Real. Intrigue is guaranteed!

QUARTERFINAL PLAYOFF PAIRS

Real Madrid – Regal Barcelona

Maccabi Tel Aviv – Partizan Belgrade

CSKA Moscow – Caja Laboral Vitoria

Olympiakos Piraeus – Asseco Prokom Gdynia

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  • http://www.euroleague.net/competition/all-decade/main-page/i/65216/4259/euroleague-all-decade-candidate-dimitris-diamantidis?lang=en&itemid=65216&mid=4259&tabid=1143&itemname=EUROLEAGU DIMITRIS DIAMANTIDIS(click on my name)

    so much to write on a crazy last week that i don’t know where to start….Panathinaikos did all he could to weaken its chances for the Marousi match BUT when the time came (and with whatever weapons were left) gave it all for the win. Gianakopoulos and Vovos (the 2 teams owners) are good friends and all my Panathinaikos friends in Greece were absolutely sure they will lose that nobody went to the stadium (i am talking about season ticket holders). In the end it proved that the second unit of PAO is better than the first one of marousi (and better than the first one of all but 6 or 7 teams in Europe). PAO won and the rest of Europe is laughing with the Greeks that were unable to help each-other (although openly everybody talks about the lesson in integrity that PAO gave to everybody). At the same time Marousi would lose any way at the next round so o big deal, but it was sad for them since they were better than Partizan (won easily in Athens while lost in Belgrade in a way that everybody who saw the game knows…)
    Maccabi is the team that ridiculed me complitely and at the same time threatens my favorite Olympiakos because,in my opinion ,is a much tougher match-up for our team than CSKA. The reason is unprecictability in the way they play while with CSKA you know that you got 3 players led by the great Siskauskas and the rest of the team can be pretty predictable. I was 99% sure we will reach the final ,now with Maccabi and Gerson i really don’t know…. Mesina should start feeling the heat at last…

  • http://www.euroleague.net/competition/all-decade/main-page/i/65216/4259/euroleague-all-decade-candidate-dimitris-diamantidis?lang=en&itemid=65216&mid=4259&tabid=1143&itemname=EUROLEAGU DIMITRIS DIAMANTIDIS(click on my name)

    so much to write on a crazy last week that i don’t know where to start….Panathinaikos did all he could to weaken its chances for the Marousi match BUT when the time came (and with whatever weapons were left) gave it all for the win. Gianakopoulos and Vovos (the 2 teams owners) are good friends and all my Panathinaikos friends in Greece were absolutely sure they will lose that nobody went to the stadium (i am talking about season ticket holders). In the end it proved that the second unit of PAO is better than the first one of marousi (and better than the first one of all but 6 or 7 teams in Europe). PAO won and the rest of Europe is laughing with the Greeks that were unable to help each-other (although openly everybody talks about the lesson in integrity that PAO gave to everybody). At the same time Marousi would lose any way at the next round so o big deal, but it was sad for them since they were better than Partizan (won easily in Athens while lost in Belgrade in a way that everybody who saw the game knows…)
    Maccabi is the team that ridiculed me complitely and at the same time threatens my favorite Olympiakos because,in my opinion ,is a much tougher match-up for our team than CSKA. The reason is unprecictability in the way they play while with CSKA you know that you got 3 players led by the great Siskauskas and the rest of the team can be pretty predictable. I was 99% sure we will reach the final ,now with Maccabi and Gerson i really don’t know…. Mesina should start feeling the heat at last…..

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