By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The new Euroleague season started with great basketball, a big upset, good games by most contenders and Olympiacos winning using a pretty familiar pattern. Unicaja was leading 33-26 after the first half, but the Reds play better when they are trailing and that’s what they did also this time. The final score was 69-61 in favor of the champs. Also, last season finalist continued from where they have left in London. Real Madrid dominated on the road Zalgiris Kaunas 83-63 with the usual suspers, Nikola Mirotic and Rudy Fernandez leading the way. And without no further delay, here’s what happened in the first gameday of Euroleague’s 2013-14 season.
Eurohoops MVP
In a first gameday full of great individual performances, our MVP is, once again, not the player “just” with the best statistic line. Ronny Seibutis is the man, not only because he had 19 points, 1 rebounds, 1 steal and 4/4 threes, but above all because he made the winning shot in the thrilling overtime win of Lietuvos Rytas against Panathinaikos (84-83). That made all the difference.
Best five
- Carlos Arroyo: Look who’s back! The veteran guard returned to Euroleague and left his mark in the road win of Galatasaray (84-75) against Italian champions Siena. He scored 21 points on 8/14 shots and also dished 4 assists.
- Jamar Smith: He gave an other meaning to instant offense. He came from the bench and essentially gave the win to Brose Baskets over Strasbourg (84-70) in just 14 minutes of action by scoring 19 points on 8/9 shots. You need more?
- Renaldas Seibutis: A deserving MVP.
- Emir Preldzic: Fenerbahce/ Ulker beat on the road Budivelnik (102-84) thanks to a 31-7 partial score in a great fourth quarter and Preldzic finally is reaching his potential as a point forward. He finished the game with 14 points on 4/8 shots, 5 rebounds and above all with 7 assists. Mirotic was also great, but Zalgiris didn’t put up a fight.
- Richard Hendrix: The MVP of the last Eurocup final was in great shape in the 87-84 road win of Lokomotiv Kuban against Crvena Zvezda as he had 19 points on 9/12 shots, 9 rebounds, 3 assist and 1 steal in 29 minutes.
The best losing performance: Daniel Hackett
The de facto leader of Siena did his best against Galatasaray but didn’t had any real help. That’s why 26 points on 11/14 shots, 5 rebounds, 3 assists – and also three turnovers – couldn’t make any difference against the much more deep and experienced in the high level players of theTurkish club.
The biggest win: Anadolu Efes
It’s not only the result, but the way you achieve it. Against a team that in theory has the same potential, Efes got the win by 20 points (87-67) over EA7 Armani Milano. New comers Scotty Hopson and Kostas Vasileiadis provided offensive options by scoring 22 and 16 points, Savanovic and Gordon being their good selves and things are looking good in Istanbul, not only for Efes, but for all three Turkish teams that started their season with wins.
The upset: Lietuvos Rytas
After making it to the Euroleague via the qualifying round, Lietuvos Rytas continued to turn heads by beating Panathinaikos. It’s more than a good start, since the Greens are not going to have many more missteps against the weakest teams of the group, so this win in the start of the season may prove more than valuable in the push of Rytas towards the Top16.
The disappointment: EA7 Milano
You have to give credit were it’s due, but on the other hand a defeat by 20 points (87-67) on the road it’s not a good sign for EA7 Milano. There is the excuse of missing David Moss who didn’t travel to Istanbul because of injury, but the Italians were always trailing and couldn’t react in the second half and get into the game.
The underachiever: CSKA Moscow
The 67-60 win of Barcelona against Partizan was not a really impressive result, but it was a performance a lot better that the narrow 62-59 road win of CSKA Moscow against Nanterre. Yes, you can’t judge a book by its cover and the season is still young, but the Russian were really out of synch and they will not want to remember this game.
The last word: Bayern Munich
Yes, Zielona Gora is not exactly a favorite to win the title, but you have to admit, a 94-73 road win is the way to make an entrance. That’s exactly with Bayern Munich did, a big entrance in Euroleague and if a result from the first week can make competition CEO Jordi Bertomeu smile, then this is it. Basketball has already a respectable presence in Germany, but good results from Bayern can boost the interest of the country for European hoops in record highs.