Aftermath (Top16 2 g.) – It was a charm

2016-01-09T00:11:12+00:00 2016-01-09T00:57:20+00:00.

Aris Barkas

09/Jan/16 00:11

Eurohoops.net

With just two rounds of Top16 on the books, only three teams, Fenerbahce and Lokomotiv Kuban in Group A and Olympiacos in Group A, remain unbeaten! Yes, it’s going to get messy boys and girls so be prepared

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

With just two rounds of Top16 on the books, only three teams, Fenerbahce and Lokomotiv Kuban in Group A and Olympiacos in Group Β, remain unbeaten! Yes, it’s going to get messy boys and girls so be prepared.

As you can see in the standings, things are quite balanced at this point and that’s why this week belonged to new comers in the high level who are here to stay. Brose Baskets finally got a Top16 win and this guy is making headlines all over Europe…

MVP

Malcolm Delaney

Once more Delaney proved that this is the season he becomes not just to a gifted scorer but to a real leader. He stayed for almost 39 minutes on the court, scored 25 points, he had also 5 rebounds, 5 assists – and 5 turnovers – but he made all the big shots he team needed in order to prevail in a close contest against Anadolu Efes.

Best Five

Malcolm Delaney: Pure MVP stuff

Jacob Pullen: He led Cedevita to a road win, putting an offensive show, scoring also 25 points and dishing 5 assists, having just 1 turnover. He is a shooter and he never stops, finishing the game with 5/12 threes against Dogus Darussafaka.

Nando De Colo: He created an amazing duo with Milos Teodosic and against Real Madrid he had one more excellent game for CSKA Moscow. His stat line was 28 points on 12/18 field goals, 7 assists and also 5 turnovers.

Nicolo Melli: Look who’s among out best five again! The Italian has been reborn in Bamberg and in the win over Zalgiris Kaunas, the first ever of the Germans in Top16, he had 15 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 turnovers.

Jan Vesely: He also re-invented himself as a center. The big man of Fenerbahce had 15 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks in the road win over Crvena Zvezda, he also dished 3 assists and he had 3 turnovers.

Best losing performance: Quincy Miller

He couldn’t beat Fenerbahce by himself, but Miller more than stood his ground. He had 21 points missing just one shot (2/2 2p., 3/4 3p., 8/8 FT), 3 rebounds, 1 turnover and 5 blocks. Everything he did on the court was positive, but it was just not enough.

Coach of the week: Xavi Pascual

Barcelona bounced back after the first week defeat by Olympiacos by demonstrating all its virtues against a contender, like Khimki. The Catalans were a solid unit, got something from every player who entered the game and dominated the court. Pascual has been accused that his gameplan is unspectacular, however for years his team is the best in Europe in five on five situations.

Biggest win: Lokomotiv Kuban

In a very hard game, against a team which targeting the Final Four, Lokomotiv Kuban proved that it can have the highest of ambitions. And the fact that it was a very close game, decided on one shot, is what can help coach Bartzokas build on the winning mentality of the team and its refuse to lose spirit. Those are key ingrendients in order to go all the way and in some cases even more important that talent.

The barnburner: Panathinaikos

Unicaja Malaga came really close into getting a big road win, but in the end James Feldeine saved the Greens and Panathinaikos survived. The Greeks are still in searching their identity, the Spaniards are trying to make the next step in order to achieve something big and that produced a more than exciting game.

The character: Olympiacos

Three members of the old guard, Spanoulis, Printezis and Mantzaris, plus Othello Hunter proved that Olympiacos is the toughest team in Euroleague. They got the road win against Laboral Kutxa a lot easier than the final 82-76 suggets and the Reds are still the team which you just don’t want to face, specially in close games that are decided in the last minutes.

The last word: First time was a charm

daniel-theis-brose-baskets-bamberg-eb15

Not only Brose Baskets got its first ever win in Euroleague’s Top16 but he did it by registering a record. The total 132 ranking of the team according to the game stats its their best ever Euroleague performance. Their previous best ranking was 117 back in 2011 against KK Zagreb.

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