Nando De Colo, Fenerbahce spoil Vassilis Spanoulis career night
Fenerbahce superstar Nando De Colo made a stellar performance and overshadowed the historic achievement of Vassilis Spanoulis.
De Colo posted a game-high 32 points (11/17 shooting) and led the Turks to the triumph over the “Reds”.
Fenerbahce earned an 87-96 victory and snapped a four-game losing streak, improving to 6-11.
On the other hand, Olympiacos dropped to 6-11, after losing its third straight game.
For his part, Vassilis Spanoulis made history on Thursday night (02/01). Olympiacos’ captain surpassed Juan Carlos Navarro as the all-time scoring leader in the EuroLeague.
Vassilis Spanoulis broke the record after making a step-back three-pointer, with 2 minutes and 39 seconds to go.
Moreover, the Greek guard finished the game with 14 points and a career total of 4,157. This is the most by any player in EuroLeague history.
At the same time, Barcelona legend Juan Carlos Navarro ended his career with a total of 4,152 points.
The new scoring record adds to a long list of accolades that Vassilis Spanoulis has compiled.
The 37-year-old guard is a three-time EuroLeague champion, a three-time EuroLeague Final Four MVP and a full-season MVP (in 2012-13).
In addition, Vassilis Spanoulis is EuroLeague’s career leader in several statistical categories.
Earlier this season, he passed Navarro for the highest accumulated performance index rating ever, which now stands at 3,941.
Furthermore, Vassilis Spanoulis is the all-time EuroLeague leader in assists, with 1,483, and in free throws made, with 1,078.
On Thursday, he also moved up to second all-time with 473 three-pointers, behind only Navarro’s 623.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s schedule (02/01) included another three games, which saw three players step up.
At the Fernando Buesa Arena, Pierria Henry was tremendous offensively and led Baskonia past Barcelona at home (76-74).
Henry posted a game-high 20 points (7/14 shooting) and helped the Basques endure the comeback of the Catalans.
Baskonia was up by 21 in the third quarter (52-31), but the “Blaugrana” turned things around and tied the game (74-74).
Tornike Shengelia (13 points) scored the game-winning two-pointer, with 40 seconds to go, and the Basques sealed the deal.
Baskonia snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 7-10. On the other hand, Barcelona dropped to 13-4.
Zalgiris Kaunas guard Lukas Lekavicius helped his team defeat Maccabi Tel-Aviv (73-68) and win its second straight game.
Lekavicius posted a season-high 23 points (7/11 shooting) and led the Lithuanians past the Israelis at the sold-out Zalgirio Arena.
Zalgiris improved to 5-12, whereas Maccabi lost its second straight and dropped to 11-6.
In Belgrade, Kevin Punter made his EuroLeague debut with Crvena Zvezda and handed the Serbians their third straight win.
Punter finished the game with 15 points (5/12 shooting) and led Zvezda to an emphatic victory over Bayern Munich (93-63).
The Serbians improved to 8-9, whereas the Bavarians dropped to 6-11, suffering their third consecutive defeat.