ASVEL vs Olympiacos: ASVEL managed to stop the hottest team in EuroLeague over the last two weeks.

Amine Noua hit the winning triple with less than a second remaining and ASVEL Villeurbanne beat Olympiacos Piraeus 77 – 75 at home after a comeback from down 21 points in the second half. It was a triumph for the French side and an ideal occasion for superstar Nando De Colo to celebrate his entrance into the 4,000-point club in EuroLeague.

Noua and De Colo scored 13 points apiece while Jonah Matthews dropped 14 points each, as many as Charles Kahudi who also grabbed five rebounds in the third straight victory for ASVEL that arrived in a thrilling fashion.

Giannoulis Larentzakis had scored the go-ahead layup in transition for the 74 – 76 with 30 seconds to play. ASVEL had previously taken its first lead in the match with free throws by De Colo, to complete a turnaround after trailing 33 – 54 four minutes into the third quarter.

De Colo then played a big part in the winning play for ASVEL. When Olympiacos doubled-team on the French superstar he sent the ball to a wide-open Noua who drained the basket that decided the outcome.

ASVEL’s victory gets even greater, considering the fact that Olympiacos traveled to Lyon after two straight wins with an average margin of 36.5 points (vs. Virtus Bologna and Fenerbahce Beko) while scoring 10.5. points. In a manner similar to other road games, Giorgos Bartzokas’ players collapsed in the fourth period when their opponents overpowered them 27 – 14.

Sasha Vezenkov led Olympiacos with 16 points while Isaiah Canaan scored a season-high 14 points on 4-6 triples. Once again, the Reds played masterful basketball at the start of the game and retained a high-level performance for almost 25 minutes until ASVEL forced them into uneasy situations and poor shot selection.

On the other end, ASVEL began making shots and found a steady offensive rhythm to translate successful defenses into offense.

FC Bayern Munich vs Valencia: Red-hot Bojan Dubljevic falls short in the hunt for a perfect double-game week

Following numerous lead changes, FC Bayern Munich controlled the fourth quarter to outlast Valencia, 97-92, Thursday.

Corey Walden scored all of his 18 points in the second half, including four three-pointers boosting the team effort to 16/36.

Back in Germany from the NBA, Isaac Bonga fired in 14 points, a new personal best in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Extending long shooting success through the two-game week, Othello Hunter got 2/5 from beyond the arc and a total of 13 points in the Regular Season Round 14 contest.

Round 13 MVP and team captain Bojan Dubljevic checking in midway through the first quarter became the first player with 100 games played as a member of Valencia. Dealing with fatigue down the stretch, the Montenegrin big presented the biggest threat for Bayern with a season-high 28 points, including 5/6 triples. Jared Harper went for 15 points, eight assists, and three rebounds in the losing effort for the team coached by Alex Mumbru.

The first double-digit separation marked the early stages of the fourth period with Valencia failing to keep pace as three-pointers were falling in bunches for the hosts. Using late momentum, Bayern held on and bounced back off the home loss to Real Madrid Tuesday. Stuck on the injury list were Vladimir Lucic (left elbow) and Augustine Rubit (groin). Zan Mark Sisko (personal) was unavailable as well.

Top scorer Cassius Winston was held to 0/6 from beyond the arc in a six-point effort but dished out five assists helping the team coached by Trinchieri improve to 5-9 after two losses in a row. Just third win in eight showings in Audi Dome in the 2022-23 edition of Europe’s premier club continental competition.

In a quick turnaround from the overtime win over Panathinaikos, Valencia ruled out Chris Jones (sore right knee) for the trip to Munich. After missing Round 12 and being cleared for Round 13, he rejoined the inactive list additionally consisting of Sam Van Rossom (right knee surgery), Martin Hermannsson (left knee), and Millan Jimenez (left ankle surgery).

Dropping to 6-8 in EuroLeague, the Oranges sit at 5-6 in Spain’s Liga Endesa and will play at Coviran Granada Sunday, before focusing on the continental competition matchup opposite FC Barcelona at La Fonteta Friday.

Coming up next for Bayern is Basketball Lowen Braunschweig and the opportunity for a jump to 9-2 in Germany’s easyCredit BBL. Visiting Zalgiris next Friday resumes the EuroLeague campaign.

Crvena Zvezda vs Armani Milan: Armani Milan finally got a win.

In the same game, two completely different EuroLeague streaks were broken. After six glorious wins, Crvena Zvezda (7-7) got an “L” while AX Emporio Armani Milan (4-10) finally got a win after nine losses. Ettore Messina’s squad played one of its best games of the season, defeating the Serbian champions 71-67.

The Italian side was thinking about one thing and one thing only. Ending the losing streak and they looked like a team with a mission. Scoring 26 points in the first quarter was enough for a double-digit lead. Crvena Zvezda was not going down without a fight, but there was no stopping Devon Hall and Billy Baron in the first half.

The home side could not find the answer for them, alongside Brandon Davies, which is why the guests had a comfortable 43-29 lead at the half.

Crvena Zvezda continued to make too many mistakes on defense, leaving the Italian team open looks from beyond the arc. Baron continued to hit shots, but Zvezda did not give up a single minute.

They kept fighting and cutting the lead down to nine points. That was the indication that a dramatic finish will resolve the game. Nemanja Nedovic cut the deficit to 66-62 with just two minutes to go. Filip Petrusev hit two free throws after that with 80 seconds left on the clock.

But the Italian team had Billy Baron who hit the crucial three-pointer (69-64). Back in 2019. Baron used to hit big shots for Crvena Zvezda, but now he was the decisive factor for the opponents. He finished the game with 19 points.

Filip Petrusev had 20 points for Crvena Zvezda, Luca Vildoza added 16, and Nemanja Nedović 12.

Zalgiris Kaunas vs Real Madrid: Zalgiris Kaunas snapped its skid and did it against Real Madrid no less.

After three straight losses overall, including back-to-back defeats at home, Zalgiris Kaunas bounced back in fashion in front of its fans. Keenan Evans scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds as Zalgiris beat Real Madrid 81 – 72 thanks to a very strong finish in the game.

With the score tied at 66 and five minutes remaining, Zalgiris made a decisive 8 – 0 run to go up 74 – 66. A key moment was when Edy Tavares was called with an offensive foul on Rolands Smits which was turned into an unsportsmanlike by the referees and Zalgiris used this opportunity to score four points in the same play to grab an eight-point advantage with 1:39 remaining.

Dzanan Musa, Real’s leading scorer with 22 points, made his team’s first basket in four minutes for the 76 – 69 but there wasn’t any time for the visiting side to come back.

Edgaras Ulanovas contributed 19 points while Tyler Cavanaugh had 15 points plus five rebounds for Zalgiris. In a a mostly very close game, their team won despite shooting a very poor 33.3 percent on 2-pointers by finding second-chance points (16) or buckets (17 points) off the opponents’ turnovers. Mario Hezonja added 17 points for Real.