Aftermath (Top16 4g.) – Nizhny’s night

2015-01-23T23:40:28+00:00 2015-05-23T12:53:45+00:00.

Aris Barkas

23/Jan/15 23:40

Eurohoops.net

Three teams remained unbeaten, the defending champs are following with three wins but Nizhny despite a 2-2 record stole the show in the fourth week of action in Euroleague’s Top16. The Russians are going to be a factor as it’s evident in Group F

By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net

Three teams remained unbeaten, the defending champs are following with three wins but Nizhny despite a 2-2 record stole the show in the fourth week of action in Euroleague’s Top16. The Russians are going to be a factor as it’s evident in Group F where CSKA and Olympiacos lead at 4-0, Anadolu Efes, Fenerbahce/ Ulker and Nizhny are tied at 2-2, Laboral Kutxa and EA7 Milano follow at 1-3 and Unicaja Malaga still searches for its first win (0-4). In Group E Real Madrid is alone on top (4-0), Maccabi Tel Aviv follows at 3-1, Panathinaikos, Galatasaray, Alba Berlin and Barcelona are tied at 2-2, Zalgiris Kaunas is stuck at 1-3 and Crvena Zvezda is at 0-4.

MVP

Taylor Rochestie

One day after the Top16 record of Milos Teodosic in assists, Taylor Rochestie was better in every aspect of the game, getting also a new assists record on the way. However even his 19 points and 15 assists are pale, compared to an other number. In 32 minutes of action against a team like Anadolu Efes, despite having the ball a lot in his hands, he made just one turnover. Sir, we salute you!

Best five

  1. Taylor Rochestie: He is having a career season
  2. Vasilis Spanoulis: What more can you say about him? Spanoulis scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half, keeping Olympiacos unbeaten in Top16. One more day in the office.
  3. Nando De Colo: Just call him mr. Perfect. That translates to 28 points on 11/11 shots, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and three turnovers in 24 minutes of action.
  4. Nemanja Bjelica: His 14 points and 9 rebounds are not that flashy, but once more he proved to be a team player who can help Fenerbahce fulfill its potential, like it did in Milan.
  5. Artsiom Parakhouski: Our rule is not to put two players of the same team in the best five, unless something really exceptional happens. That’s exactly the case, with Nizhny breaking every rule  and Art having 27 points on 11/14 shots against the duo of Krstic and Lasme.

Best losing performance: Paulius Jankunas

Maccabi got the win in Kaunas in a game that was decided in the last six minutes, but Paulius Jankunas did everything he could in order to not let his happen. The captain of Zalgiris finished the game with 18 points and 13 rebounds, he cut the lead of the champs to five point with one minute left, but in the end couldn’t do more.

Biggest win: Nizhny Novgorod

This season’s Nizhny is the definition of a Cinderella story that can’t be compared with anything else in the past. The Russian team got a win that can lead them even to the play offs, a bet that no one would accept before the start of the season. And what’s more impressive is that Nizhny prevail over Anadolu Efes by producing one of the best ever offensive games in the league, not by “stealing” the win with one last shot, or by “destroying” the game of the opponent. Simply put, this team can be a study case.

The favorites: CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Olympiacos

They remain unbeaten by getting home wins against opponents that in theory could create trouble. But CSKA and Real dominated their games, doing what was needed to be done and they are on the way to home court advantage for the play offs. The situation for Olympiacos was different, still once more Spanoulis made the difference in the second half.

Back on track: Barcelona, Alba Berlin

Βarcelona despite the absences of Navarro and Oleson prevailed with relative ease over Crvena Zvezda and Alba took advantage of Galatasaray‘s absences of Arroyo and Arslan. Still both teams with a 2-2 record are tied with Galatasaray and Panathinaikos in the third place of Group E and anything is possible.

The last word: Apology accepted

The move of Facundo Campazzo against Dimitris Diamantidis was first of all unexpected and secondly brutal. However things didn’t escalated after that and the Argentinian guard apologized via twitter in order to put an end to this quarrel. Still, the second round game at OAKA will be interesting…

Euroleague 2014-2015 – 14th Day

Olympiacos

76 – 64

Laboral Kutxa

Nizhny Novgorod

109 – 90

Anadolu Efes

F.C. Barcelona

92 – 77

Crvena Zvezda T.

Zalgiris

66 – 73

Maccabi Tel Aviv

CSKA Moscow

101 – 74

Unicaja Malaga

Real Madrid

83 – 65

Panathinaikos

Galatasaray MP

65 – 75

Alba Berlin

EA7 Milano

71 – 82

Fenerbahce

 

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