By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The night started with a familiar way, a last minute defeat of Brose Baskets, and ended with two barnburners in group F and some very crowded standings. Siena is still second, but has the same record with third Olympiacos (7-4) and behind them Khimki, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Caja Laboral are all tied in 6-4 with the Russians having the advantage in the three way tie at this point.
- Siena had the last possession, but couldn’t score and Olympiacos was the winner by point on the road (68-67). The win is valuable for the Reds and their effort to get the home court advantage in the play offs, however Siena still holds the tie break advantage. Also the Greeks seemed to have the win “locked” after a goal foul by Vassilis Spanoulis (68-61) 1.51′ before the end, but they didn’t score after that. On the contrary they didn’t even used their fouls – since the had one to give – in order to prevent Siena from hitting two three pointers and get withing a point. Still, a win is a win…
- In Tel Aviv, Ricky Hickman (photo) scored 30 points and Maccabi managed to get a well deserved 80-79 win over Khimki. The Russians missed a great chance for a big win, as they had 11/19 three pointers, but the home team had 21/31 free throws, a huge advantage compared to 9 attempts for the guest and just 6 made. Τhe battle for the play offs continues and Khimki still has the advantage over Maccabi.
- In Vitoria, Caja Laboral beat Fenerbahce/ Ulker by 20 points (87-67) in a game that was decided before the tip off. The hosts had a motive to win in order to stay on the play offs race, Fener on the other hand is just waiting for the Top16 torture to end. This time the cliché was true, the team that wanted the win more, got it.
- Poor Brose Baskets! Their record is 0-11, but they had the pride to fight on the road against the second placed in group E Anadolu Efes and almost pulled an upset. The key word is almost. Jordan Farmar sealed the win of the hosts with a three pointer (87-83) 23 seconds before the end of overtime, the final score was 89-86 and the team from Bamberg lost once more in the details. To be exact the Germans had the last shot of regulation, but with the score tied (76-76) once more they missed the chance to get their first Top16 win.