Euroleague Review, TOP 16 Rounds 4 & 5

It's been a tough going for Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the Top 16 so far after three straight losses under the helmet of new head coach Evangelos Angelou who took over about one month ago. Struggling to score the ball itself with ever changing lineup combinations, their decent defense hasn't been able to turn games against some of the 15 best teams in Europe. Yet, against Milan which won two in a row, the offense was good enough with Milan helping down the stretch with some easy misses.

A close, low scoring game went into the fourth quarter with the hosts, Istanbul, trailing by two points. Dogus Balbay, Turkish national who played college ball in the US made the quarter's first bucket for the tie before Milko Bjelica and Dusko Savanovic hit four free throws in a row for Efes. Savanovic came through with a layup to give them a six point lead. Milan's best, Keith Langford had a layup of his own and hit a three pointer after Birkan Batuk scored for the Turks in between. Milano fans faceplamed as a layup attempt by C.J. Wallace got rejected, landed in Keith Langford hands who missed on the tip just to see another missed layup on the offensive board by Daniel Hackett. Dusko Savanovic rebounded that miss eventually and hit Zoran Planinic for a layup on the other end. A free throw my Milko Bjelica put the hosts up by six again before a longish stretch without any scoring. With about a minute to go, C.J. Wallace had a big sequence as he hit two free throws, a consecutive three pointer off a steal and blocked a three poniter at the other end on the next possession. Daniel Hackett collected the ball and hit a clutch three pointer for a two point Milan lead and another terribly frustrating loss for Efes looming. Kostas Vasileiadis missed a three to put Efes ahead, but Kerem Gonlum (who broke 1000 career rebounds in that game) had one of his eight offensive boards on the night and tied the game. As so often, Daniel Hackett couldn't be stopped without fouling. Yet, Hackett hit just one free throw for a tiny lead. Dusko Savanovic tried to be the hero but missed on a two and eventually sending Keith Langford to the line. Langford showed nerves too, hitting just one free throw. Instead of a four point closeout, Milan was ahead by just two, giving Efes the chance to tie or win. Zoran Planinic rebounded Langford's miss, raced up court and hit at the buzzer to give Anadolu its first win of the Top 16 round.

3 losses to no wins s not where Fenerhabce Istanbul and head Coach Zeljko Obradovic (the dude on the picture) tought they'd be three weeks into the competition. A win at home was needed and thanks to strong finishing inside and shooting woes for Athens, that's what they got.

Fener looked as good as for most of the regular season, going up 23-11 in the first quarter but throught the next two quarters, Athesn was able to rub away at the lead. Going in to the fourth, the Greeks trailed only by six.

Bojan Bogdanovic and Linasz Kleiza got Istanbul on a little 3-0 run to start the fourth before Dimitris Diamantidis hit two three pointers with a dunk by Stephane Lasme in between to finally tie the game. Kleiza hit two more free throws but Michael Bramos hit another three for the Greeks, putting them up by one. Bo McCalebb drove into the lane to get a shot off and hit but Michael Bramos knocked down another three off a Diamantidis assist. Wolfish Nemanja Bjelica hit a shot but Athens answered with yet another three, this time by Antonis Fotsis! On a night in which Athens attempted 40 threes without cracking 30%, the Greeks finally seemed to get it going from downtown, scaring the home fans. Omer Onan remembered that not only guys playing for a Greek team were allowed to suceed with threes in the fourt quarter so he hit one of for Fener. In a tie game with one minute to go, Antonis Fotsis pulled up for another three to the horror of Turkish fans but missed. Omer Onan drew a foul on the other end resultign in split free throws. Fotsis tried his luck again but missed another three, and the Turkish fans got wild after Kleiza hit a three pointer for a four point lead. Ramel Curry had a quick layup for Athens but Turkish fans could finally celebrate after Kleiza iced the game with another two points and a missed Diamantidis three.

ATH - Dimitris Diamantidis (9 pts, 8 assts, 1 reb, 1 stl)

MVPs:

Gameday 5

Panathinaikos was as outside heavy as ever, shooting 26 threes to 29 twos (on which they barely shot 40%, but commiting 20 turnovers and drawing just 5 free throws. Barcelona wasn't much better. Despite taking more than 30 shots inside, they drew just 7 fouls and commited 16 turnovers of their own.

Gameday 5

After breaking down offensively in impressive fashion against CSKA, group leader Tel Aviv with its remarkable eight game win streak seemed like a perfect test for the Spaniards. The Israeli team gave Real all they got through four quarters, but Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Llull eventually lifted their team to a win and a 4-1 record.

Real took a 16-8 lead early but Tel Aviv pushed back with a 12-4 run on their own and a tiny first quarter lead. Over the next twenty minutes, Marid accomplished to burst ahead a few times but Tel Aviv always had the right answer got in front by one point to start the fourth quarter.

Down by four with as many minutes to go, Ricky Hickman hit a three pointer to keep Maccabi close. Sofoklis Shortsanitis and Tyreese Rice followed with free throws to retake the lead once again. Felipe Reyes hit two free throws for Madrid before Rudy Fernandez found Sergio Llull for a three pionter. Schortsanitis hit two more free throws but Llull responded with another three pointer, assisted by Sergio Rodriguez. Tel Aviv missed their last chance to crawl back within a possession and Llull close the game with two more free throws.

Krasnodar went on a 10-0 run to start the game but couldn't get much separation in the ensuing 30 minutes. As the fourth quarter started, Partizan was down by just three points and looked to beat another Russian team after upsetting CSKA two weeks ago. After a make by Richard Hendrix,Mantas Kalnietis extended the lead with a three pointer. After a few buckets by Belgrade, Krunoslav Simon hit another three for an eleven point lead. Tarence Kinsey scored five in a row, but Andrey Zukov hit another three for Kuban. Simas Jasaitis stole the ball from Bogdan Bogdanovic and... hit yet another three for Lokomotiv. Tarence Kinsey and Bogdan Bogdanovic tried to keep Belgrade in the game with six points in a short time, but Zubkov and Valeriy Likhodey hit a triple each to end the game. Krasnodar hit 13 of 26 three pointers with last week's hero, Likhodey going 5/5 from range.