Euroleague: Only three spots in Top 16 left

As Week 8 of Euroleague 2012-13 wrapped up, the Top 16 picture cleared up dramatically, with only three seats at the table remaining, one each in Groups A, C, and D. With Montepaschi Siena’s win Friday over Unicaja Malaga, Group B has been locked down as they grabbed the fourth and final spot. The last two weeks of the Euroleague regular season will be filled with position shuffling games that will determine groups in Top 16 play, but for nine teams, these last two games mean the difference in qualifying for the next round and being eliminated.

In Group A, Fenerbahce Ulker is the odds on favorite to advance with a 4-4 record, but if Mapooro Cantu can pull off an upset over Real Madrid in Week 9 and then come back to beat Fenerbahce, and if Fenerbahce loses to Panathinaikos in Week 9, Cantu would advance. That’s a lot of ‘ifs’, but they aren’t out of the question.

In Group C things are lot tighter as EA7 Emporio sits at 3-5, Caja Laboral and Cedevita Zagreb are both at 2-6. The road to the Top 16 isn’t easy for any of them, and arguments could be made for all three, but Cedevita and Caja have slightly easier paths with Cedevita getting the nod. EA7 has the top two teams in the group, Zalgiris (lost 92:87 in Week 4) and Olympiacos (lost 71:84 in Week 5), but they do enjoy a one-game advantage over the other two clubs. Caja has Anadolu Efes in Istanbul next week (lost 64:76 in Week 4) and Cedevita (lost 76:69 in Week 5). Cedevita will face Olympiacos next week (lost 79:77 in a thriller at home) and Caja (won 76:69).

Group D is also a three horse race with Partizan mt:s st and Brose Baskets sitting at 2-6, while Lietuvos is hanging on at 1-7. The last two weeks are most difficult for Partizan as they host the only undefeated club in the league, FC Barcelona Regal, next week, but Partizan did take them to the end in Week 4 and only lost by three in Barcelona. They square off with Brose in the season finale, which potentially has winner-take-all implications, but it’s doubtful. Brose won the first meeting 72:77 in Belgrade in Week 5. Lietuvos is a game down but will host Brose next week, a team they fell to 84:78 at home in Week 4, so they are down six in the tie-breaker should they win. They then finish the season in Istanbul against Besiktas JK, who won the first meeting 67:73. Brose has the Top 16 spot in their hands, if they win out, they move on, if they lose a game, they hope for help. They have two wins on the season, and their last two contests are against the two teams they’ve beaten and the two teams they are fighting for a spot in the next round against. They couldn’t ask for a better scenario to end the season with.

Friday’s games didn’t see a final score closer than 14 points, with the biggest margin being the 48:78 beating Besiktas took at home at the hands of the league’s top club, FC Barcelona Regal.

Group A
Real Madrid – Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul, 77:61
Over 10,000 loyal Real Madrid fans saw a close contest between RM and Fenerbahce through three quarters. It was the final 10 minutes that separated these two as the hosts pounded their visitors 23:9 to close out a 77:61 victory. Fenerbahce actually held the advantage for most of the contest through the first three quarters, building margins of eight on multiple occasions early on. Other than the first two points of the game, Madrid didn’t take a lead until there was just over a minute to play in the third quarter. Real used a 12:0 run that started at the end of the third frame and into the beginning of the fourth to snap a 52-all score. Shortly after the hosts ran off another eight unanswered to put the game away.
Top Scorers:
Real Madrid: Mikola Mirotic 18; Marcus Slaughter 12; Jaycee Carroll 10; Felipe Reyes 10.
Fenerbahce Ulker: Bojan Bogdanovic 18;Bo McCalebb 10; Emir Prelzic 10.

Group B
Montepaschi Siena – Unicaja Malaga, 91:72
Montepaschi came into Fridays match-up with Unicaja just needing a win to advance to the Top 16, and they did it with style, giving their estimated 4,600 friendlies a solid 91:72 win that set off the celebrations. The win is the fifth straight for Siena, who started the season with three tough losses. The loss drops Unicaja to 6-2 and tied with Maccabi Tel Aviv for the top spot in the group. Maccabi wins the tie-breaker should it come down to that to determine which club wins the group. Montepaschi jumped out early in this contest, building a 10-point margin after the first quarter (30:20) and then adding another six in the second to head into the intermission up 16 at half, 56:40. The second half was much tighter, but the hosts were able to tack on three more before the final horn went off to secure a seat at the table and close out the Top 16 spots for Group B. Luka Zoric had one of the top performances of the week for Unicaja, knocking down 29 points and amassing a performance index rating of 33 in the losing effort. He lead the league in PIR this week, but won’t be named MVP due to the Unicaja loss (MVPs must come from a winning club).
Top Scorers:
Montepaschi Siena: David Moss 13; Benjamin Ortner 12; Kristjan Kangur 11; Aleksandar Rasic 10; Viktor Sanikidze 10.
Unicaja Malaga: Luka Zoric 29; Krunoslav Simon 16.

Group C
Zalgiris Kaunas – Olympiacos Piraeus, 63:77
In the battle for the top spot of Group C, defending Euroleague champions Olympiacos sent a message that despite a 1-2 start on the season, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that matters. Handing Zalgiris a 63:77 loss in front of an estimated 15,420 in Kaunas in a game that marks a five-game winning streak, Olympiacos let the rest of the clubs that will move on to the Top 16 that they are planning on defending their title to the end. The first three quarters of this contest were close, and no doubt had the loyals in the stands on their feet as they were hoping to put some space between their club and Piraeus in the standings. Unfortunately for them, the last 10 minutes belonged to the visitors, who out gunned their hosts by 16 (13:29) to earn the win and a share of the top spot. One bright spot in a rough day for Zalgiris, they held on to keep the advantage in the tie-breaker as they beat Olympiacos by 18 in their Week 3 game.
Top Scorers:
Zalgiris Kaunas: Rimantas Kaukenas 17; Paulius Jankunas 11.
Olympiacos Piraeus: Vassilis Spanoulis 16; Kostas Papanikoaou 13; Josh Powell 10.

Group D
Besiktas JK – FC Barcelona Regal, 48:78
The boys from Barcelona used a 16:0 run starting at the end of the second frame and into the third to put this Week 8 contest away and seal another week as the only undefeated club in the league. One interesting fact from the game is that only one player on the Barcelona roster scored in double figures, but 11 players got in the books with points.
Top Scorers:
Besiktas JK: Gasper Vidmar 18.
FC Barcelona Regal: Joe Ingles 22.

 

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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1 Comment

  1. Katz on December 3, 2012 at 11:34

    Am I wrong, but this year it all goes too fast?

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