ALBA Berlin delighted its fans with an impressive 89-80 home win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, improving to 5-18 while the visitors dropped to 9-14 and dented their hoped of reaching the playoffs.

Strong defense and Matt Thomas’s shooting lifted ALBA Berlin past Zvezda

ALBA Berlin delighted its fans with an impressive 89-80 home win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, improving to 5-18 while the visitors dropped to 9-14 and dented their hoped of reaching the playoffs.

Zvezda’s inconsistency once again came back to haunt the Serbian team, as ALBA dominated the boards and dished out 10 assists more (19-9) than its rival. The home side’s rugged approach allowed it to carve out a 70-48 lead late in the third quarter, on the back of rock solid defending and decent shooting from open looks.

[Matt Thomas](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/matt-thomas/008967/) finished on a EuroLeague career high of 19 points and Gabriele Procida added 17, with ALBA winning the battle in the paint as it racked up 42 rebounds to Zvezda’s 35. Yanni Wetzell was instrumental in that department, having collected 9 boards to go with 11 points.

“We were rebounding and getting out of transition, we moved the ball really well and played hard-paced basketball,” Wetzell said after the game. “Rebounding was the emphasis that we talked about in the last two days and we were able to facilitate our transition today thanks to controlling the boards. I am in a good moment right now, feeling confident and getting some great opportunities."

Matt Thomas shined against Crvena Zvezda

Thomas credited his fine performance with Martin Hermannsson’s calm and collected display, as the Icelandic playmaker facilitated the offense with 7 points and 5 assists, most of them giving Thomas time and space to deliver from the perimeter.

Hermannsson returned to ALBA earlier this month from Valencia after undergoing knee surgery twice following ligament damage in 2022. Against Zvezda, he made a telling impact after coming off the bench to pull the strings on the offensive end.

“All the work we’ve been putting in all season is now showing as we’ve started to play better basketball,” Thomas commented. “Getting Martin Hermannsson back has helped a lot because he is a point guard who knows what he’s doing out there. I am a guy who plays off the ball and those shots I made tonight came off Martin’s assists, I am happy that he’s here. It’s been a tough up-and-down year but we’re improving, slowly but surely,” he added.

Game Videos

The home team’s coach Israel Gonazlez also pointed to rebounding as the key to subduing Zvezda. “We won the boards against such a good rebounding team and that was so important defensively because everything starts with defense,” he said. “If we defend well, we give ourselves a better chance of playing good offense.”

His counterpart Ioannis Sfairopoulos lamented over the all too familiar script of Zvezda perennially giving itself a mountain to climb and coming up short in late fightbacks.

“They outscored us 33-20 in the second quarter and that was the key,” he said. “We fought back in the fourth quarter and had an open shot after we slashed the deficit to 5 points, but it’s not enough to win an away game.”

Game News

ALBA outmuscled Zvezda and won the battle under the boards to beat a more heralded rival.

ALBA Berlin v Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade (2024-01-25T19:00:00.000Z)

Real Madrid Baloncesto survived a late comeback by Olympiacos B.C. as it won 90-85 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

Real Madrid Baloncesto holds off Olympiacos B.C., 90-85

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Gabriel Deck of Real Madrid looks to pass the ball against Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The Reds came close to a famous comeback, but Los Blancos pulled away in the closing stages.

Real Madrid holds off Olympiacos, 90-85

Real Madrid v Olympiacos Piraeus (2024-01-25T19:45:00.000Z)

LDLC ASVEL beat FC Bayern Basketball 64-76 at BMW Park in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

LDLC ASVEL dominates FC Bayern Basketball on the road, 64-76

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Deshaun Thomas of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne is guarded by Isaac Bonga of FC Bayern Munich in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Moustapha Fall and Paris Lee inspired the French side to its third win in the last five games.

ASVEL dominates Bayern on the road, 64-76

FC Bayern Munich v LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (2024-01-25T19:30:00.000Z)

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv needed to bounce back and found a way to do it on Thursday night with a 90-75 win over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens. Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown stepped up in the fourh quarter to lead Maccabi to victory.



Maccabi 'back on track' with win over Panathinaikos

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv needed to bounce back and found a way to do it on Thursday night with a 90-75 win over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.

"We've been in a bit of a rough patch, but it was a good game to get us back on track", said Wade Baldwin, who led all scorers with 22 points and also had 8 assists in this game.

The rough patch he was talking about have been two consecutive Turkish Airlines EuroLeague losses, but also two Israeli League defeats in the last five days. Coach Oded Kattash said that those results left a mark on his team: "We lost our way, our confidence, our energy. But we reacted in the right way."

Maccabi did not open the game well. Panathinaikos was having its way on the offensive glass with 13 boards in the first two quarters and with Kendrick Nunn scoring 13 points, the visitors led 29-35 with 4:33 left in the first half.

But that's when things started to turn.

Maccabi finished the first half with a 14-1 run to hold a 43-36 lead at halftime and then had a strong start to the second half to open a 55-42 advantage.

The Greens, who came into this game on a four-game winning streak but without Kostas Sloukas and Luca Vildoza, did not go away. Panathinaikos got back in the game behind not-your-usual suspects – Jerian Grant, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, and a three-pointer from Marius Grigonis closed the gap to 64-62 early in the fourth quarter.

However, that's when Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown stepped up, restored Maccabi's control and led it to victory.

"It was really important to remind ourselves if we are focused and we come out with the right energy, we are really a good team", Katash said after the game, visibly pleased with his team's effort.

Maccabi allowed just 7 offensive rebounds in the second half, and only 2 in the fourth quarter. Maccabi also forced 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter

And by scoring 28 points in the last 10 minutes, Maccabi completed a season sweep of Panathinaikos. With four road games coming up, including a trip to Real Madrid on Tuesday, it was a much need victory for Coach Kattash and his men.

Maccabi put its recent losses behind to pull out a hard-fought win and restore its shaken confidence.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv v Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (2024-01-25T19:05:00.000Z)

ALBA Berlin beat playoff-chasing KK Crvena zvezda 89-80 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

ALBA Berlin beats KK Crvena zvezda, 89-80, thanks to strong first half

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Martin Hermannsson of ALBA Berlin is guarded by Yago Dos Santos of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The German side dealt a blow to the Serbian team's hopes of making the EuroLeague Playoffs.

ALBA beats Crvena Zvezda, 89-80, thanks to strong first half

Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. defeated Panathinaikos B.C. 90-75 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. uses strong finish to beat Panathinaikos B.C., 90-75

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Bonzie Colson of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv is defended by Marius Grigonis of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The Israeli side completed the season sweep of the Greens.

Maccabi uses strong finish to beat Panathinaikos, 90-75

Fenerbahçe Beko went up a couple of gears on defense in the second half as it defeated Virtus Bologna 88-75 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

Fenerbahçe Beko leaned on strong start to second half in win over Virtus Bologna

A [Scottie Wilbekin](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/scottie-wilbekin/006661/) deep three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer ensured that Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul led by 5 points, 52-47, against Virtus Segafredo Bologna at the interval. Both teams had experienced plenty of joy on offense in the first half, but it was a different story after the break.

[Fenerbahce ended up coming away with an 88-75 victory](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/euroleague-live-blog-fenerbahce-beko-vs-virtus-bologna/), which gave it the tiebreaker over Virtus, and it first began to take control of the contest at the start of the second half. Baskets that Virtus was able to score in the opening 20 minutes suddenly became a lot harder to come by, with Saras Jasikevicius’s side opening a big lead that became too much for the visitors to overcome.

<center>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A İ L E! 💛💙<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YellowLegacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YellowLegacy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroLeague</a> <a href="https://t.co/G9v44HA7pE">pic.twitter.com/G9v44HA7pE</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1750618910058311804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

### The decisive moment in the game

[Nick Calathes](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/nick-calathes/001932/) and new signing [Amine Noua](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/amine-noua/006068/), who made his Fenerbahce debut in Round 23, allowed the hosts to go 56-47 ahead, before [Daniel Hackett](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/daniel-hackett/001844/) hit back for Virtus, 56-49. It took Virtus 2:09 minutes to score its first basket of the second half, then it would take almost 4 minutes for Luca Banchi’s squad to score again. Prior to [Isaia Cordinier](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/isaia-cordinier/009549/) scoring with 3:56 remaining in the quarter, Fenerbahce had swelled its lead to 64-49.

By the time the third quarter was over, Fenerbahce had outscored Virtus 19-9 to take a 71-56 lead into the final period. Virtus then started to pick it up on offense, cutting the deficit to 8 points on two occasions in the first half of the fourth, but Fenerbahce always had the talent on offense to fire back again.

In fact, Fenerbahce looked on course to secure a 16-point win, 88-72, but [Georgios Papagiannis](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/georgios-papagiannis/005844/) fouled Cordinier on a three-pointer, with the Frenchman making all 3. That proved to be the final score as Fenerbahce secured an 88-75 win, which means the team is 8-2 since Coach Jasikevicius was appointed and is now firmly positioned in the playoff spots.

“Defensively, it was a tale of two halves,” reflected Jasikevicius. “In the first, we were not playing good defense, only surviving on great offense. In the second half, we turned it around, started picking it up a bit physically, stole some balls, pushed them out of their positions by denying the wings and so on. It’s a great performance by our team in the second half.”

Perhaps Thursday night’s victory will be a good example of the type of defense Fenerbahce can play once the playoffs roll around. Certainly, there’s no team in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague that would look forward to facing Jasikevicius’s squad.

More Fenerbahce News

Scottie Wilbekin of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul is guarded by Isaia Cordinier of Virtus Segafredo Bologna in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The visitors were restricted to just 2 points through the first 6 minutes of the third quarter.

Fenerbahce leaned on strong start to second half in win over Virtus

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2024-01-25T17:45:00.000Z)

Fenerbahçe Beko grabbed an important win in the race for the EuroLeague Playoffs by defeating Virtus Bologna 88-75 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

Fenerbahçe Beko downs Virtus Bologna, 88-75, after stepping up its defense

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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul duo Nick Calathes and Scottie Wilbekin try to retrieve the ball from Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Iffe Lundberg in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

After an offensive showdown in the first half, a defensive battle took place after the break.

Fenerbahce downs Virtus, 88-75, after stepping up its defense

Since the start of 2024, few Turkish Airlines EuroLeague players have produced as much, and as consistently, as Crvena Zvezda Merdianbet Belgrade forward Rokas Giedraitis.

 Who's hot: Rokas Giedraitis, Crvena Zvezda 

Since the start of 2024, few players have produced as much, and as consistently, as Crvena Zvezda Merdianbet Belgrade forward [Rokas Giedraitis](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/rokas-giedraitis/006436/).

In five games during the month of January, Zvezda has registered three wins, all by 9 points or more: on the road at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, as well as at home against arch rival Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.

In each those games, as well as in Zvezda's two losses against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz, Giedraitis has played at least 26 minutes, has scored at least 12 points, made at least 2 three-point shots, had at least 1 steal, and posted a PIR of 17 or higher 

Only six players had accumulated a PIR of 100 or more, for an average of 20.0 or better, over the five January games, and one of them is Giedraitis.

He started the year with 19 points and 7 rebounds for a PIR of 22 against Fenerbahce, then had 14 points and 7 rebounds against Partizan, accumulating and index rating of 21.

Giedraitis scored 12 points and collected 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists for a PIR of 17 against ASVEL, then two days later went on to post 22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and a block for a 27 PIR in Milan.

Last week, against his former team Baskonia, he had 13 points plus 5 rebounds, and a PIR of 17.

Since the start of 2024, only a handful of players have produced as much, and as consistently, as Crvena Zvezda Merdianbet Belgrade forward Rokas Giedraitis.

Who's hot: Rokas Giedraitis, Crvena Zvezda

On Thursday, the 31-year old playing in his fifth EuroLeague season faces another of his former teams, ALBA Berlin. He enters that contest averaging 16.0 points in the month of January, tied for the eighth best in the league, while connecting on 52.6% of his shot attempts from long range. He is also posting 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals this month, for an average PIR of 20.8.

That's a major improvement from the first 17 rounds of this season, during which Giedraitis had averages of 9.2 points on 35.6% three-point shooting, along with 3.5 rebounds and less than 1.0 steal.

In a familiar setting, Giedraitis and Zvezda hope he remains hot in the German capital and helps to register another road win that would improve the team's chances in the playoff race.

More news about Rokas Giedraitis

During the month of January, Giedraitis has been one of the most productive players in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

