By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Tel Aviv is the first team that beat Real Madrid in Top16 and Laboral Kutxa got a key win over EA7 Milano as the Italian woes continue. The captain of Real Madrid Felipe Reyes became the all time leading rebounder of Euroleague, but couldn’t celebrate.
It was an easy night for Laboral which beat the Italian champions almost by 20 points (102-83). The host got a big lead from the start thanks to an impressive first period (34-18) and never looked back. Davis Bertans (19 p.) and Mike James (15 p.) led a balanced offense, Laboral had 11/18 threes (61%) and that was the story of the game. Milano never got into the game.
On the contrary in Tel Aviv, there was a dog fight which ended with Maccabi smiling thanks to a 90-86 victory. In a way it was game simular to last season’s final. Real Madrid started the game by scoring 31 points in the first quarter – Maccabi had 23 – and after the first half the Spaniards had the advantage. Still Maccabi found the way with defense in the second half to get back in the game. Sofoklis Shortsanitis with 17 points and 8 rebounds was great, but Felipe Reyes with 1288 career rebounds surpassed Mirsan Türkcan and became the all time leader in Euroleague. It was not enough.