Euroleague: 2013-14 season tips off

The 2013-14 edition of the Euroleague tipped off on Wednesday with two contests with the rest of the league hitting the hardwood on Thursday. Getting the season underway were Brose Baskets Bamberg (Germany) vs. Strasbourg (France) and Montepaschi Siena (Italy) vs. Galatasaray Liv Hospital (Turkey). Brose handed Strasbourg a substantial loss in their home opener, while Galatasaray took to the road and came up with a big over Montepaschi Siena.

Group B
Brose Baskets Bamberg (Germany) – Strasbourg (France), 84:70
Brose tipped off their 2013-14 Euroleague campaign with a 14-point win over the French league runners-up, Strasbourg. Over 6,800 friendlies showed up in Bamberg, Germany to see their club put up a 18:1 run to close out the first half and cruise to a big first win.

With the scored knotted at 9, Strasbourg scored six unanswered to get up 9:15, but a 7:2 run by the hosts cut the lead to two. The guests got the last four points of the quarter in the paint, getting lay-ups from Romain Duport on a fast break and Tim Abromaitis off an offensive rebound. Strasbourg held a 16:21 advantage after the first 10.

Bamberg’s Jamar Smith hit a jumper, then after a missed lay-up by Strasbourg he knocked down a three-ball to cut the deficit to two, 21:23. Paul Lacombe scored a lay-up for Strasbourg in what would end up being the last basket the Frenchmen would score in the first half as Brose would run off 18:1 from there to close out the first half up 43:29. As the clubs headed to the dressing rooms for the mid-game intermission, the damage was tallied up and the results were a second quarter for Brose where they outscored their guests 27:8.

The third frame was more of the same for Brose as they came out of the break and got a dunk and a triple with a Strasbourg free throw in the middle to extend the lead to 18, 48:30. The lead peaked at 21 early in the frame with SIG cutting it to 14 with just over two minutes to play, 59:45. Bamberg collected the final seven of the frame with a Smith jumper, a Damir Markota lay-up and a Smith triple to send the game to the final frame with Brose up 21, 66:45.

Strasbourg opened the fourth with an 3:11 scoring run that cut the lead to 13, 69:56. Casey Jacobsen hit a triple for Brose and Maik Zirbes followed with a lay-up to push the lead back 18, 75:56. A 2:10 scoring drive by the guests cut the lead to 10, 76:66 with just over two minutes to play. Anton Gavel knocked down a big triple for Bamberg and then followed up by splitting a pair of singles after an unsportsmanlike foul to extend the lead back to 14. Zirbes connected on two lay-ups inside a minute to play to effectively shut down any further attempts by Strasbourg to mount a serious comeback in the final minutes.

I think we rode a really good second quarter where we gained some confidence. We thought our bench would be important for us. And Smith was outstanding. He hit every big shot. Goldsberry gave us great stability at the point. I think we could have played a little bit better in the fourth, but in general, we’re really, really happy to get the first win. It’s important for our guys’ confidence. And a win by 14 points means a lot in the Euroleague.
–Chris Fleming, head coach Brose Baskets Bamberg

Brose was led by Smith with 19 points, while Gavel added 16 points and 6 assists, and Ford tallied 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Strasbourg got 19 points from Alexis Ajinca, 13 from Duport, and 12 from Antoine Diot.

Group C
Montepaschi Siena (Italy) vs. Galatasaray Liv Hospital (Turkey), 75:84
Galatasaray Liv Hospital of Istanbul returns to Euroleague competition after winning the Turkish National Championship last season and got their 2013-14 campaign off on a positive note as they traveled to Florence, Italy to take on Montepaschi Siena. The Turks put together a shooting exhibition in the first half to build an 18-point lead at the break, then were able to hold off a Siena comeback attempt for the win. Carlos Arroyo led Galatasaray with 21 points and 4 assists, while Daniel Hackett paced Siena with 26 points, and a PIR of 30.

The guests built an 11:17 lead late in the quarter that was cut to four points off a fast break lay-up for Siena. Zoran Erceg knocked down a triple shortly after with seconds remaining on the clock and Erick Green hustled to the Siena side to toss up a triple at the buzzer then he connected on to cut the lead to four, 16:20, at the end of the first.

Galatasaray opened the second frame hitting threes and extending their lead, getting up 20:31. The clubs exchanged baskets for the next few minutes with Galatasaray sitting on a 30:42 advantage. From there, it was a shooting fest with the guests connection on enough long-balls to give them an 18-point lead at the half after a 3:9 run that closed out scoring. As the intermission started, the stats from the first half showed that the guests had knocked down 9 of 14 (64.3%) from behind the arc with Siena being outscored 17:31 in the second quarter.

Siena came out of the dressing room on a mission to get back into the contest as quickly as possible and they succeeded by tallying the first eight to cut the margin to 10, 41:51. From there they went through a few minutes of no scoring, then they exchanged hoops for a few minutes with Galatasaray keeping a double-digit lead heading into the fourth up 52:63.

The hosts fell behind again as the fourth started, getting down 16, 59:75. Siena cut the lead to 11 shortly after and then got within seven with just over a minute to play, 71:78. Siena kept the pressure on in the final minute, but Galatasaray connected on their free throws down the stretch to keep Siena’s comeback under control.

We started the game very well, perfectly as we had prepared . We knew that Siena would attack our pick-and-roll , doubling on Arroyo and Gordon. We made good use of the space on the court and we found the right shots . We defended well in the first half against Carter and Hackett. Then we were able to defend against the aggressiveness of Siena, who tried to come back.
–Ergin Ataman, head coach Galatasaray Liv Hospital

Arroyo led the guests with 21, Jamont Gordon added 18 points, Erceg tallied a 15P/11R double-double, and Henry Domercant scored 11.

Hackett was game-high with 26 points, 5 rebounds, and a PIR of 30.Erick Green scored 14, and Jeffrey Viggiano added 10.