Euroleague Friday – Olympiacos Stunned

Friday saw five Euroleague contests with some serious upsets along the way. The second round of games have been completed and eight of the 24 teams are still undefeated, eight haven’t picked up their first ‘W’ and eight have split with their opponents. In Friday’s action Anadolu Efes Istanbul stunned defending champions Olympiacos Piraeus 98:72; BC Khimki Moscow Region upset Real Madrid 86:85; Union Olimpija Ljubljana fell to Feverbahce Ulker Istanbul without Romain Sato, 75:81; Cedevita Zagreb lost to EA7 Emporio Armani Milano 71:83; and Caja Laboral Vitoria came up short against Zalgiris Kaunas 71:77.

Anadolu Efes Istanbul – Olympiacos Piraeus 98:72
On the strength of a very solid first quarter, the Turks blasted the defending Final Four Champions, who had traveled to Istanbul for an important Group C matchup. Efes came out of the first quarter up by 17, a margin Olympiacos had no chance of covering with the hot shooting from the host (51% inside the arc and 64.3% behind the arc) large disparity in free throws attempted (32 to 14). The Efes win puts both teams at 1-1 in Group C play, but drops Olympiacos to -22 in point differential.

The hosts dominated the first quarter, forcing Olympiacos to nine turnovers and dropping in five three-pointers. An early sequence clearly demonstrated what was in store for the defending champs: 1) missed two pointer; 2). offensive rebound; 3). missed three pointer; 4). offensive rebound; 5). turnover. The final result? A steal and jumper at the other end of the court. By mid-way through the frame Efes held a 19-6 lead and by the time the first 10 were up, the hosts held a massive 30:13 lead.

In the second Efes was able to run the margin up to 23, only to have Olympiacos cut it to 16, before setting on 22 at the break, 54:32.

The third quarter saw a charge by the champs, starting with a three-ball right out of the gate to cut their deficit to 19, 54:35. Efes countered with a three-point play, but another triple at the Olympiacos end started a 13-point run that brought the visitors back to within nine, 57:48. After trading threes, Efes had a burst of their own and ran off nine unanswered to push the gap back up to 18, 69:51 and essentially put the game away at that point. The third quarter ran out with the home squad sitting comfortable at, 74:51.

In the final stanza Olympiacos could get no closer than 15 points, but every challenge was countered by Efes, including tallying the final eight points of the contest to deliver a 98:72 victory to the estimated 6,212 fans in attendance.

Jordan Farmer won the contest’s numbers title by dropping in 25 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing off nine assists. Sasha Vujacic contributed 15 points, Semih Erden and Dusko Savanovic added 13 each, Stanko Barac tallied 11 and Jamon-Alfred Lucas dropped in 10.

Olympiacos was paced by Vassilis Spanoulis’s 14 points, Kyle Hines sank 13 points, and Stratos Perperoglou came up with 10.

BC Khimki Moscow Region – Real Madrid 86:85
The 5,000 fans that packed into the Basketball Center of Moscow Region were in for a wild one when Khimki took the floor against powerhouse Real Madrid.

The hosts jumped out to an early lead with a 7:0 run early on to get up 13:5. RM answered with an 0:6 run of their own to cut the gap to three, 17:14, but Khimki tallied the last four in the frame to head to the second 10 up 25:18.

The home squad ran the margin up to 12 when they knocked down a three and a deuce on consectutive drips down the floor. Madrid then scored eight unanswered to pull back to within four, 30:26. By the time the half had ended the score was back to a seven point margin as the teams played to a knotted up 17-all score in the period.

The third quarter was all Khimki as the ran the lead up to 18 points. Madrid got the last four points on free throws before the quarter ended, bringing the score to 69-55 heading into the last quarter.

The visitors showed the kind of team that they are in the final frame when they put together an 0:16 to take the lead for the first time in the contest, 71:72 with just under five minutes to play. Khimki went back up by five on a James Augustine triple inside two minutes left, 85:80, and extended further with a pair of singles, 82:75. Madrid got a deuce from Marcus Slaughter and a three-pointer by Rudy Fernandez to bring them back to within two, 82:80. A series of charity tosses from both squads put the score at 86:82 before Dontaye Draper nailed a three-ball with just nine seconds to play, cutting the advantage to one, 86:85. Madrid’s defense forced a bad inbounds pass that got to Fernandez who drove the lane, put up a 10-foot floater that hit the back of the rim and came down in a crowd. Zorn Planinic snagged the ball and the upset win as the buzzer sounded on Khimki’s first 2012-13 Euroleague win.

Kresimir Loncar led Khimki with 16 points, going 6 for 8 from inside the arc and 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Paul Davis added 15, Planinic and Vitaly Fridzon contributed 12 each, Kelvin Rivers dropped in 11 and Augustine tallied 10.

Real Madrid got 15 from both Fernandez and Felipe Eyes, Jaycee Carroll added 14, Sergio Rodriquez dropped in 11, and Mikola Mirotic contributed 10.

Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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