Euroleague Top 16: Madrid and Barcelona cruise

The Top 16 of the 2013/2014 Euroleague is underway after the first day of Round 1 took place on Thursday evening. It was a night dominated by Spanish teams as all four teams from the country took part in the five games taking place, and there was even an all Spanish clash in Group E.

Real Madrid continued to display their Euroleague title credentials with a sweeping road win over Partizan NIS Belgrade in Group F, while Maccabi Electra Tel-Aviv overcame Galatasaray in a tricky away win. In Group E Unicaja Malaga claimed a home win over fellow Spanish team Laboral Kutxa, while FC Barcelona also looked confident with a home win over Efes. The action was rounded out in Group E with Panathinaikos seeing off Milan at home.

Group E

FC Barcelona vs. Anadolu Efes, 84-65

Spanish giant Barcelona opened the Top 16 with a comfortable win over Turkish team Efes to start the second phase of the Euroleague in style. The club has responded well to an indifferent start to the campaign and on this showing will once again be amongst the contenders come the end of the season. Efes will know that a loss at this early stage can be rectified, but the club will need to act quickly in a Top 16 packed with quality teams.

The hosts started well with a first quarter full of quality and opened up a lead that would be held throughout the contest, and despite Efes hanging on the first 10 minutes ended with the score at 25-16. The Turkish visitors were certainly playing decent Basketball in the second quarter and kept collecting points, the trouble was that Barcelona was in fine touch and kept a large margin to end the half 53-29 in front. With the margin at 24 heading into the second half, the game was all but won, but Efes kept pushing and even cut the deficit in the third quarter. After 30 minutes of play the lead had been cut to 16 points with the scoreboard reading 65-49, but Barcelona remained in control. The Spanish hosts had been in control from the first quarter and with the clock ticking down kept up the momentum to take a comfortable opening win in the Euroleague Top 16.

Juan Carlos Navarro was once again a driving force for Barcelona with a game high 21 point haul. Also looking good for the winners were Brad Oleson with 13, Kostas Papanikolaou with 12, and Joey Dorsey with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Dusko Savanovic picked up 12 points for Efes, while Kerem Gonlum scored 10 points.

Group F

Partizan NIS Belgrade vs. Real Madrid, 64-80

Real Madrid continued to display the kind of form that makes them seem unstoppable this season in both the Euroleague and the Spanish league. Los Blancos is impressing and remains unbeaten in all competitions this season thanks to a comfortable road win over Serbian powerhouse Partizan NIS.

The Kombank Arena in Belgrade was rocking to the tune of one of the biggest crowds in Euroleague history as the Partizan faithful showed up in force to support their team against one of the continents giants. However, despite the undoubted support the team could not stop Madrid from continuing to dominate and the huge crowd could only watch as the visitors carved out a 17-29 lead after the first period. With the lead at 12 points after 10 minutes it looked as though Los Blancos would cruise in the second quarter, but credit must go to Belgrade for keeping the deficit low. As the buzzer sounded for halftime the scoreboard read 39-47. The direction of the game continued after the break as Madrid continued to look comfortable, while the hosts kept staying within touch. After 30 minutes on the court the Spanish team was still in control with a 49-58 lead. A 0-10 run for Madrid in the fourth quarter ended any hopes of a late surge by the home team and Los Blancos came away from Belgrade with a relatively easy win.

Rudy Fernandez carried on his top form this season with a 16 point haul that was matched by Sergio Rodriguez. Ioannis Bourousis was in fine form with 15 points and 9 rebounds for the winning team.

Tarence Kinsey secured a game high 17 points in the losing effort, while Bogdan Bogdanovic collected 15 points. Arguably the best player on display from both teams was Joffrey Lauvergne who recorded a double-double 13 points and 13 rebounds in defeat.

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Remaining Games

Group E

Unicaja Malaga vs. Laboral Kutxa, 79-93
Panathinaikos vs. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, 73-59

Group F

Galatasaray Liv Hospital vs. Maccabi Tel-Aviv, 84-90