Regular Season Week 3 in review
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 Montepaschi Siena needed one of the biggest comebacks in recent Euroleague history to beat Asvel Basket 65-82. Montepaschi rallied from an early 21-point deficit to stay undefeated in Group A. Romain Sato paced the winners with a career-high 33 points - 23 of them in the second half. After trailing 29-10 after 10 minutes, the Italian champs matched a Euroleague record for the fewest points allowed in a quarter by a visiting team as they outscored Asvel 3-21 in the second quarter en route to a marvelous comeback and victory.
Regal FC Barcelona stayed undefeated in Group A by beating Zalgiris 70-77. Pete Mickeal continued his brilliant start to the season by netting 22 for Barca. Erazem Lorbek added 11 for the winners, including the 1,000th point of his Euroleague career. Mirza Begic led Zalgiris with 20 points while Travis Watson amassed 12 points and 10 boards for his first double-double of the season. Watson is the only player in the league currently averaging double figures in rebounds.
The oldest active Euroleague player, the 39-year-old Damir Mrsic, shot 3 for 4 from downtown to lead Fenerbahce Ulker over Cibona 67-62. Center Oguz Savas added his first career double-double in his 72nd career appearance, while Omer Asik blocked 3 shots, giving him 36 blocks in 18 career games. His 2 blocks per game average would rank him second-best of all-time if he had enough games played.
Unicaja sits alone atop Group B after beating Efes Pilsen 93-88 in overtime. Efes roared back from a 17-point second-half deficit, but came up short in overtime. Unicaja had a strong night from behind the arc, making 13 three-pointers in 35 attempts. Omar Cook, Carlos Jimenez, Berni Rodriguez and Taquan Dean hit a triple each as Unicaja poured in 20 points during the five-minute overtime. Dean led five double-figure scorers for the winners with 17 points and Omar Cook recorded 13 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double in the Euroleague. He now ranks second in the league with 7 assists per game this season.
 Olympiacos downed previously undefeated Lietuvos Rytas 97-73 at home as Linas Kleiza netted 20 points and Josh Childress added 18. The Reds’ offense was in rare form as Olympiacos had more than twice as many assists (25-12) as did L. Rytas and recorded assists on 71.4% of the team’s baskets. The 97 points scored bested the 94 the Reds posted in Week 1 to become the team’s best offensive output since scoring 113 in a thrashing of Union Olimpija in December 2007.
Partizan Belgrade picked up its first win of the Euroleague season by outlasting Entente Orleanaise 78-71 at Pionir Arena. Aleks Maric scored 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds – including an offensive rebound and a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left that wrapped up the win. Dusan Kecman added 14 points on 4-for-5 three-point shooting, marking his best night from downtown since hitting 5 of 6 threes for Partizan against Barcelona in February 2004.
Maccabi Electra remained undefeated at home by whipping traditional rival CSKA Moscow 71-54. The Israeli champs scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back thanks to a well-balanced attack featuring four players with at least 13 points. Chuck Eidson led all scorers with 16 points. The result was Maccabi’s best defensive showing ever against CSKA in their 30th official meeting and its largest margin of victory against CSKA since an 87-69 win in November 1997.
Lottomatica led early and then held off a tough Maroussi BC down the stretch to get a hard-earned 71-83 win to stay undefeated in Group C. Kennedy Winston led Lottomatica with 16 points and Ibby Jaaber scored 14 and dished 7 assists. Jaaber also had 3 steals for the third game in a row. He is tied for the league lead in that category this season and is one game away from qualifying for the all-time list in that category. His 2.2 steals per game for his career would slide him into fifth place all time, between a pair of active players, Shaun Stonerook of Montepaschi (fourth, 2.3 spg.) and Terrell McIntyre also of Montepaschi (fifth, 2.17 spg.). Roma’s 3-0 record marks the best start to a Euroleague campaign in the club’s history.
Caja Laboral held off Union Olimpija 76-82 thanks to Marcelo Huertas’s career-high 21 points. Brad Oleson added 12 in his second Euroleague game, despite not having taken a two-point shot yet. The win was Laboral’s fifth straight win over Olimpija in the Slovenian capital. It was the second week in a row Olimpija fell despite a brilliant effort from Matt Walsh, who drained 7 threes in 9 attempts for 27 points. Walsh now leads the league with 25.7 points per game and 13 three-pointers made.
Real Madrid downed defending Euroleague champion Panathinaikos 80-70 in front of 12,500 fans in the Spanish capital. Rimantas Kaukenas led the winners with 17 points, accounting for his ninth straight Euroleague game with at least 10 points. Darjus Lavrinovic added 15 and now had 12 consecutive Euroleague appearances in double figures in points. Pablo Prigioni came alive with 11 points after totaling 3 in the two previous games combined. Turnovers proved to be the Achilles’s heel for the Greens as All-Euroleague big man Nikola Pekovic and Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis combined for 12 of the team’s 17 turnovers – 7 more than Madrid.
 BC Khimki fended off a tough challenge from EWE Baskets Oldenburg 77-72 to stay perfect at home. Oldenburg led by 7 in the fourth quarter, but lost a game down the stretch for the second week in a row. Paulius Jankunas matched his career high with 23 points to lead Khimki, whose players went 6 for 6 from the line in the last half-minute to seal the win.
Asseco Prokom Gdynia topped Armani Jeans Milano 88-83 for its first win of the season. David Logan scored a season-high 23 points and Pape Sow registered his first career double-double to lead the Polish champs against his former club. Also shining was Jan-Hendrick Jagla came off the bench to score 16 – one short of his career best – and dish 4 assists, helping pick up the slack as Qyntel Woods, who led the team with 22.5 points per game in the first two, fouled out with 5 points in 12 minutes. Prokom out-rebounded Milano 43-29, including 14 offensive boards, in a very physical game that counted 70 free throws between the two teams.
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Monday, November 09, 2009
Euroleague.net
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