Preseason: weekend action recap

We are starting to get to the business end of the European preseason with a number of warm up tournaments closing and domestic supercups being won. The first trophies of the 2016/2017 campaigns are being handed out, with Milan and Gran Canaria Las Palmas both claiming success in their respective supercups.

Preseason tournaments are also being wrapped, and there was success for CSKA Moscow and Darussafaka Istanbul in their individual competitions.

Emporio Armani Milan vs. Sidigas Avellino, 90-72

Italian Serie A champ Milan continued its recent domination of the domestic hoops scene with a cruising SuperCoppa victory. After clinching a domestic league/cup double last season, Milan faced off against Avellino, a team the champs beat five months ago to win the Italian Cup. In this game, Milan built off a 23-19 first quarter to lead 44-34 by halftime. From there the champs never looked back, led by Krunoslav Simon with an impressive 25 points.

CSKA Moscow vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv, 95-73

Current Euroleague champ CSKA Moscow clinched Alexander Gomelsky Cup at the expense of Tel Aviv. This was a crushing win over a long-standing Euroleague rival that shows CSKA is in good health heading into the season. On the flip side, this shows Tel Aviv has a lot of work to do through what is now clearly a rebuilding phase. Euroleague MVP Nando De Colo led the Army Men with 19 points, pacing the team through a 52-39 halftime lead to victory.

Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul vs. Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul, 75-65

Darussafaka defeated Fenerbahce one the way to winning the Zadar Dogus Tournament, a cup that shares the clubs sponsor. This win also gives Darussafaka a confidence boost to compete with Fenerbahce in the Turkish TBL season. Fenerbahce is unlikely to be too worried, the club is coming off one of its best ever seasons. The TBL champs and current Euroleague runner-up lost this thanks to a sluggish first half that saw Darussafaka lead by ten (40-30) at the long break.

Gran Canaria Las Palmas vs. FC Barcelona Lassa, 79-59

Thanks to the (frankly more interesting) format of the Spanish SuperCup, neither the Liga Endesa champs nor Spanish cup winner lifted the SuperCup. After playing out a preseason classic with Real Madrid in the El Clasico, Barcelona looked tired as Gran Canaria put in a big performance on the way to an easy win. The underdog drained an impressive 50 points in the first half before shutting the game down in the second.