The first half of this double-round week has already brought plenty of drama
Game Center: Olympiacos, Milan both victorious; ALBA wins in OT
Wednesday, December 4
AS Monaco 80-89 Olympiacos Piraeus
Olympiacos ground out a valuable 80-89 road win at Monaco in Round 13 of the EuroLeague and improved to 9-4, while the French side dropped to 8-5 after its new coach Vassilis Spanoulis tasted his first defeat in the competition. Evan Fournier paced Olympiacos with 19 points, player of the game Shaquielle McKissic poured 18 while Sasha Vezenkov and Nigel Williams-Goss chipped in with 14 apiece. The outstanding Alpha Diallo led Monaco with a game-high 21 points, with Jaron Blossomgame adding 12. Georgios Papagiannis netted 11, while Elie Okobo and Mike James added 10 each, the latter also racking up 12 assists.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 101-86 Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade
Milan extended its winning streak to four games by defeating Crvena Zvezda 101-86 at Unipol Forum on Wednesday night. The hosts secured a double-digit lead in the first quarter and managed to maintain it for the majority of the game, outscoring Zvezda in each of the four quarters. With this victory, Milan improved its record to 7-6, with the Serbian side dropping to 6-7.
Virtus Segafredo Bologna 88-90 ALBA Berlin
ALBA returned to winning ways in the EuroLeague by edging Virtus 88-90 on the road in Round 13 on Wednesday. ALBA improved to 3-10 in the standings while Virtus dropped to 2-11 and is on a five-game losing streak. Gabriele Procida led the winners with 20 points. David McCormack added 16 and 14 rebounds, Matt Thomas had 13 points while Matteo Spagnolo got 10, 8 rebounds and 5 assists for ALBA. Will Clyburn led Virtus with 23 points. Ante Zizic added 13 while Momo Diouf had 12 for the hosts.
Tuesday, December 3
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 101-90 FC Bayern Munich
Efes returned to winning ways in the EuroLeague by topping Bayern 101-90 at home in Round 13 on Tuesday. Efes improved to 7-6 in the standings while Bayern dropped to 8-5. Darius Thompson led the winners with 19 points. Dan Oturu added 14, Ercan Osmani and Rolands Smits each had 13, Jordan Nwora got 12 while Elijah Bryant contributed 10. Devin Booked paced Bayern with a career-high 27 points. Carsen Edwards added 20 while Nick Weiler-Babb had 17.
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 80-78 Real Madrid
ASVEL sent shockwaves through the EuroLeague with an 80-78 home win over Real Madrid after Paris Lee netted a game-winning baseline floater to settle a fascinating Round 13 rollercoaster. The home team’s forward Andre Roberson also played a vital role in the frantic finale as he blocked Facundo Campazzo’s layup before dishing the assist to Lee from a sideout with 1.8 seconds left on the clock. Lee almost defied the laws of physics to net the winner and send the home crowd into raptures. Theo Maledon paced ASVEL with 23 points, Lee scored 13 and Mbaye Ndiaye chipped in with 12 for the home team, which led by 10 points and then trailed by as many in a see-saw battle which kept fans on the edge of their seats from start to finish. At the other end, Mario Hezonja netted a team-high 19 points for Real but shot 2 of 10 from downtown, Gabriel Deck added 17 while Walter Tavares racked up 10 points and 8 boards.
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 81-93 Paris Basketball
Paris remained atop the after tossing aside Maccabi at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade. Paris never trailed after the third minute and led by as many as 21 in the third quarter as it improved to 10-3 on the season. Maccabi lost for the fifth time in six games to fall to 4-9. Freshly-crowned MVP of November TJ Shorts remained strong with 22 points and 8 assists to lead the winners and Maodo Lo contributed 19 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting. For Maccabi, Levi Randolph led the way with 14 points.
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens 90-89 FC Barcelona
Panathinaikos got back to winning ways by edging Barcelona 90-89 at OAKA to open the double-round week in style on Thursday night. Kendrick Nunn pulled off an extraordinary outing, netting a season-high 29 points, including two mid-court triples to beat the first and third-quarter buzzers. With this win, Panathinaikos improved its record to 8-5. Meanwhile, Barcelona extended its losing streak to four games and dropped to 7-6. Nunn paced all scorers, with Lorenzo Brown netting a season-high 18 points and Mathias Lessort scoring 16, including a decisive free throw to clinch it at the end. Juan Nunez ended the game with a career-high 19 points, Jabari Parker netted 15, Alex Abrines scored 13 and Tomas Satoransky had 11.