Euroleague Top 16, four game open Round 8

We are barely midway through the Euroleague Top 16, far too early to draw any conclusions from Groups E and F about which clubs will progress to the playoffs. However, some of Europe’s giants are really laying a marker down at the minute and three or four are putting one step into the next phase of the competition.

As is usually the case, the fight for third and fourth in the groups is where the most action is at, but as Round 8 got underway on Thursday there was blistering excitment on every court. Real Madrid continued its good form, while Maccabi Tel Aviv remained on the hunt of Los Blancos in Group E after both clubs collected home wins.

Zalgiris Kaunas showed that it will at least have a say in the qualification picture from the group with its own home success. In Group F, a solitary contest saw EA7 Armani Milano collect the only away win of the night as the Italian club breathed new life into its Euroleague Top 16.

Group E

Real Madrid vs. Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, 85-61
Real Madrid hosted Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade in the Spanish capital and reigned supreme once again with a cruising win. The definitive 85-61 score consolidated Madrid at the top of Group E with a 7-1 record, while Crvena Zvezda is looking increasingly cut adrift at the bottom of the standings with a 1-7 record. The hosts overcame a losing first quarter (16-18) and found a new gear to blitz the second frame 24-11. From there Los Blancos never looked back and capped the victory with a stellar 25-15 run in the closing act.

Jaycee Carroll led the way for the winners with 17 points, while Rudy Fernandez logged 15 points and Sergio Rodriguez took 13 points.

Boban Marjanovic was a lone wolf in keeping Crvena Zvezda in the game at times. His double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds was the individual highlight of the game, and Marjanovic is currently the only Euroleague player averaging a double-double (16.1 ppg and 10.1 rpg).

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv vs. Panathinaikos Athens, 73-70
Israeli powerhouse and current Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv kept the pressure on Real Madrid with a hard fought home win over Greek giant Panathinaikos. The victory kept up Maccabi’s solid form and the club continues to hold sole possession of second place in the standings with a 6-2 record. Despite the loss, Panathinaikos is alone in third place with a 5-3 record, although Barcelona can tie with the Greeks tomorrow. The hosts led throughout and came through halftime with a 38-30 lead before Panathinaikos made it interesting with a 16-22 winning third. The visitors continued to press in the fourth quarter, but the Tel Aviv contingent held on down the stretch to record the win.

Jeremy Pargo scored 16 points for the winning effort, while Yogev Ohayon, Alex Tyus, and Joe Alexander all nailed 10 apiece.

Valdimir Jankovic set the pace for The Greens with 16 points, followed by 15 points from Nikos Pappas.

Zalgiris Kaunas vs. Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul, 72-59
A clash between two evenly matched teams saw Zalgiris Kaunas use home court backing to pull away from Galatasaray in both the game and the standings. The victory for the Lithuanian club sent them into sixth place on their own with a 3-5 record. That was at the expense of Galatasaray as the Turkish outfit slipped to seventh on 2-6. Zalgiris opened the game in style and went big in Q1 to get a 23-8 lead through 10 minutes on the hardwood. Galatasaray improved thereafter but the visitors were always playing catch-up and couldn’t find a way to take the initiative. Will Cherry offered 10 points and 5 assists to the Zalgiris Kaunas cause, while Paulius Jankunas backed him up with 12 points.

Group F

Nizhny Novgorod vs. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, 76-85
Italian champions Milan took the only road win of the night, and a vital one it was too as the club overcame Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. If Nizhny had won the contest it would have moved two games clear of Milan in sixth place, but as it was Milan tied the clubs’ records at 2-6. Both teams will have to make winning a more consistent thing if they are to trouble the qualification places in the coming weeks though. An 18-27 flurry in the first quarter left the Novgorod hosts reeling, and while Nizhny stepped up in the second stanza, Milan continued to score heavy and led by double digits at the long break (40-50). The Russians kept making a game of it, but Milan looked comfortable in holding its lead through the second half.

Samardo Samuels put in a player of the week performance as the driving force behind Milan’s win. He plundered an impressive 36 points while he pulled 9 boards off the glass. MarShon Brooks with 14 points and Daniel Hackett with 12 points provided a solid backup for the stunning scoring of Samuels.

No player could match EA7’s star man in the Nizhny line up, but head coach Ainars Bagatskis will be delighted that each of his selected starters scored in double figures. Taylor Rochestie led the team with 21 points and remains the best scorer in the Euroleague this campaign, while Dimitry Khvostov notched 13 points. Also scoring well were Trey Thompkins, Semen Antonov, and Evgeni Baburin with 10 points each.