Euroleague recap of round 30

Euroleague Round 30 began on Thursday night with three games in which Olympiacos, Anadolu Efes, and Real Madrid all claimed big wins.

Zalgiris Kaunas 71-85 Anadolu Efes Istanbul

The reigning champs never trailed in taking a 71-85 victory at Zalgirio Arena. Efes led 30-41 at halftime and started the third quarter on a 0-10 run to put the game to bed early. EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic scored 20 points and dished seven assists, and Rodrigue Beaubois added 15 points for Efes, which snapped a two-game slide to improve to 15-14. Tyler Cavanaugh scored a career-high 22 points for Zalgiris, which fell to 7-22 despite a strong finish, including 31 fourth-quarter points.

Olympiacos Piraeus 101-73 Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

Olympiacos destroyed archrival Panathinaikos to gain a resounding 101-73 derby win. The Reds took off at a record-breaking pace to lead 38-13 at the end of the first quarter, and although Panathinaikos briefly rallied after the break, the home team’s dominance was never threatened. Kostas Sloukas and Sasha Vezenkov led six Olympiacos scorers in double digits with 16 points apiece, while Panathinaikos guard Daryl Macon topped all scorers with 23 points. Olympiacos improved to 18-10 to stay in the top four while Panathinaikos dropped to 7-20.

Real Madrid 70-58 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne

Real grabbed its second consecutive home win and got closer to clinching home-court advantage for the playoffs by downing ASVEL 70-58 in the Spanish capital. Rudy Fernandez led the winners with 17 points, and Vincent Poirier added a double-double as Real improved to 22-7. Chris Jones scored 17 to lead ASVEL, which fell to 9-19.