Euroleague: Field for the Top 16 is finally set

Coming into Friday’s Euroleague contests there were 15 teams that knew that they would be involved in the Top 16 round that is set to begin in two weeks, on Dec., 27th. Of the six teams playing Friday, Three had secured their tickets prior to lacing up for the last game of the regular season, and the other three teams all had shots at extending their seasons by 14 games. Caja Laboral had the advantage coming in as they were playing last place Cedevita Zagreb and they held the tie breaker advantage over EA7 Armani Milano should both teams win. Armani had to travel to Greece to square off with the defending Euroleague Champion Olympiacos, so they had their work cut out for themselves. Cedevita was capable of an upset of Caja, but would have to pull off the upset on the road. The last contest of the day involved first place Zalgiris Kaunas and Anadolu Efes in a game that mattered none in the Top 16 hunt, but mattered in the standings as Zalgiris no doubt hoped for the Group C title to hang on their wall. Zalgiris took care of business, handing Efes their fifth loss on the season and wrapping up the group title for Zalgiris.

As it turned out, Caja manhandled Cedevita, 97:70, which meant that even if Milano beat Olympiakos they’d take the fourth Top 16 spot. The contest in Greece went down to a final shot at the buzzer, with Olympiacos coming out on top with an 82:81 decision and putting an end to Milano’s 2012-13 Euroleague season with a 3-7 record.

With Friday’s results in, the final group standings are: Zalgiris; Olympiakos; Efes; and Caja.

The Top 16 Groups are:

Group A

This Week’s Matches[matches league_id=7 match_day=10 group=A template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=7 group=A]

Crosstable[crosstable league_id=7 group=A]

Group B

This Week’s Matches[matches league_id=7 match_day=10 group=B template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=7 group=B]

Crosstable[crosstable league_id=7 group=B]

Group C

This Week’s Matches[matches league_id=7 match_day=10 group=C template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=7 group=C]

Crosstable[crosstable league_id=7 group=C]

Group D

This Week’s Matches[matches league_id=7 match_day=10 group=D template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]

Standings[standings league_id=7 group=D]

Crosstable[crosstable league_id=7 group=D]