Basketball, Euroleague: Efes wins the Istanbul derby, Real overwhelms Baskonia

It is precisely the plays of the most talented pair of guards in Europe that pull the decisive jabs, chilling a Fenerbahçe unable to keep the 12-point lead built in the final bars of the third period. As for some time now, the contribution of Tibor Pleiss: despite some problems with initial fouls, the German writes 17 points and acts as a great pillar in the center-area to limit the gusts of Jan Vesely, held at 13 in 24 minutes with similar issues related to fouls.

At the fourth consecutive defeat, the Vader continues to sink into the darkest areas of the standings, nullifying the exploit of Marial Shayok (18 points with 4/4 from the arc, maximum in season) and the blaze with which Marko Guduric seems to be able to trigger the winning break in the second half (9 points, however, stained by a bad 3/11 from the field). There is so much room for ours Achille Polonara, filled by 8 points with 8 rebounds in 21 ‘from the bench: the blue has an impact in the first half, when his triple rush slows down a great attacking moment of Efes, but cools his hand as the minutes pass.

In the other big match of the evening, the Real Madrid slips the fifth consecutive victory by overwhelming the Baskonia 88-60 and momentarily stretches to the top of the standings (10-2) waiting for the match on Friday between Barcelona and Zalgiris. Coach Laso’s team plays a perfect first half, forcing an industrial amount of turnovers and unleashing repetitive sparks in the offensive half-field. The very high percentages from the field and from the bow generate a fat +19 at the long interval (34-53), then easily administered and expanded in the second half, when Baskonia collapses even on a psychological level under the perfection of the opponents.

Thomas Heurtel furore in direction (12 + 9 assists), Fabien Conversationalist produce (13), Walter Tavares (12 + 6) dominates the painted together with Vincent Poirier (8+6) e Guerschon Yabusele (7+6), Adam Hanga muzzles everyone (reached the milestone from the 200 steals career) and even the great veterans enthusiastically participate in the shooting: Rudy Fernandez scores with each show of hands (9 points with 3/4 of three) e Segio Llull still sparkles with the freshness of a twenty-year-old (8 + 3 assists in 18 ‘).

The new Baskonia of coach Neven Spahija slips instead to 4-8 and regains that very sinister form already seen in Dusko Ivanovic’s pre-exemption matches. The team has little offensive chemistry, weak defensive links, poor vitality and cohesion. The 14 points of Steven Enoch and the more than honest proof of ours Simone Fontecchio, on the scoresheet with 14 points and 7 rebounds.

Ten consecutive points of Will Clyburn in the last 103 seconds they give to the CSKA Moscow (7-5) a great comeback and sprint victory for 77-74 on the Bayern Monaco (5-7), with annexed consolidation of the presence in the playoff area. Clyburn thus crowns a beautiful evening of 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals off the bench, and it is the “second lines” (if we can call them that) to provide coach Itoudis with the liveliest sparks: Johannes Voigtmann writes 12 with 4/4 from two, while Daniel Hackett adds 10 with 2 assists and 6 fouls suffered. A stellar is not enough for Bayern Darrun Hilliard, author of 28 points (3 less than his career-high) with 6/10 from distance.

Euroleague Thursday ends with a double upset. The Panathinaikos Athens (3-9) fold it Zenit Saint Peterbugo (8-4) with the score of 70-64, temporarily leaving Olimpia Milano (8-3) alone in third place, while Alba Berlin (3-9) exceeds the Maccabi Tel Aviv (7-5) 91-86. The Pana enjoys the 18 points of Nemanja Nedovic and the high-impact double-double of Georgios Papagiannis (18 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks for 31 rating – points and rating are career-high). Alba, on the other hand, Olimpia’s own opponent in the next round, has 19 points with 5/8 from the arc from Marcus Eriksson and a flare of 12 with 5 rebounds of Christ Koumadje.

CSKA Moscow-FC Bayern Munich 77-74

• CSKA: Lundberg 3, Shved 12, Kurbanov 3, Shengelia 12, Milutinov; Bolomboy 5, Ukhov, Hackett 10, Voigtmann 12, Clyburn 17, Grigonis 3. N.e.: Faried. All.: Itoudis.
• Bayern: Weiler-Babb 2, Hilliard 28, Lucic 6, Thomas 17, Rubit 9; Walden 3, Hunter 5, Jaramaz 4, Obst, Dedovic. Ne: Sisko, Schilling. All .: Trinchieri.

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul-Anadolu Efes Istanbul 84-89

• Fenerbahce: Henry 10, De Colo 14, Shayok 18, Booker 6, Vesely 13; Mahmutoglou, Biberovic 6, Guduric 9, Polonara 8, Duverioglu. No: Akpinar, Pierre. All .: Djordjevic.
• Anatolia: Micic 14, Beaubois 7, Simon 7, Moerman 6, Pleiss 17; Larkin 25, Singleton 5, Bryant 2, Petrusev 2, Dunston 4. N.e.: Anderson, Saybir. All.: Ataman.

Battles of Baskonia Vitoria-Real Madrid 60-88

• Baskonia: Baldwin 8, Granger, Giedraitis 5, Sedekerskis 3, Enoch 14; Peters 6, Marinkovic 6, Fontecchio 14, Nnoko 4, Kurucs. N.e.: Costello, Barrera. All.: Spahija.
• Real Madrid: Conversation 13, Abalde 5, Hanga 7, Yabusele 7, Tavares 12; Williams-Goss 7, Nunez, Heurtel 12, Fernandez 9, Vukcevic, Poirier 8, Llull 8. All .: Laso.

Alba Berlin-Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 91-86

• Alba: Lo 11, Eriksson 19, Da Silva 8, Sikma 8, Olinde 4; Smith 5, Mattisseck, Koumadje 12, Thiemann 6, Blatt 6, Zoosman 8, Lammers 4.
• Maccabi: Wilbekin 22, Evans 3, Caloiaro 9, Williams 15, Zizic 17; Taylor 2, Reynolds 8, Sorkin, Dibartolomeo, Nunnally 10. N.e.: Lessort, Blayzer. All.: Sfairopoulos.

Panathinaikos Opap Atene-Zenit San Pietroburgo 70-64

• Panathinaikos: Perry, Macon 11, Papapetrou 4, White 8, Papagiannis 18; Bochoridis, Kaselakis 3, Floyd, Nedovic 18, Evans 2, Sant-Roos 6. No: Mantzoukas. All .: Priftis.
• Zenit: Loyd 15, Frankamp 14, Ponitka 4, Mickey 9, Gudaitis 2; Zakharov, Karasev, Kulagin, Baron, Kuzminskas 13, Zubkov, Poythress 7. All .: Pascual.