FC Barcelona vs ASVEL : The French playmaker interrupted ASVEL’s five-game losing streak in the EuroLeague

FC Barcelona got surprised by ASVEL Villeurbanne in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Round 12, as the French team found the 75-74 win on the road.

Nando De Colo was the hero of the black-and-white team, first being clutch at the charity stripe. Then, drawing a defensive switch to go against Mirotic, knocking down a mid-range jumper with 1.3 seconds left. He had 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists to secure his team’s victory.

He was assisted by Youssoupha Fall, who had one of the best games of his career. The former Baskonia center ended the game in Palau with a double-double of 14 points and 18 rebounds.

Nikola Mirotic had yet again another good night, scoring 17 points and grabbing 5 rebounds, but he wasn’t enough for the Catalans.

Nicolas Laprovittola and Kyle Kuric combined for 27 points and 8 rebounds.

Both teams shot badly from the perimeter, basically with the same percentages (Barcelona 8/27, ASVEL 5/17), and the home team shot better both inside the area and from free throws. They still lost, though.

After beating Partizan, Baskonia, and ALBA Berlin, Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team interrupted his winning streak in the EuroLeague and is currently tied with AS Monaco and Real Madrid on an 8-4 record.

On the other hand, ASVEL broke its five-game losing streak. The French team is on a 4-8 record, tied with Partizan, Bayern Munich, and Virtus Bologna. Only ALBA Berlin and Milan are behind.

This was Nikola Mirotic’s second game after his return, but FC Barcelona had to do without both Cory Higgins and Alex Abrines, ruled out due to low back pains. TJ Parker didn’t have Joffrey Lauvergne, who is out indefinitely due to a torn ACL.

In Round 13, ASVEL will host Partizan on December 13 at 20:00 CET, while the winners will travel to France to face AS Monaco on the following day at 19:00 CET.

Baskonia vs FC Bayern Munich: Baskonia took control in the first half and never looked back against injury-plagued Bayern Munich

Third win in the last four games for Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, as they defeated FC Bayern Munich 78:53 without much trouble.

Pierria Henry led the team from Vitoria to their seventh win in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (7-5) with a double-double of 14 points and ten assists for a PIR of 28.

Matthew Costello followed him with 14 points, seven rebounds, and just one missed shot for a PIR of 21, while Steven Enoch added 10 points and five rebounds.

Andreas Obst had 12 points for injury-plagued Bayer, while Cassius Winston added 10 points.

Andrea Trinchieri didn’t have captain Vladimir Lucic and Augustine Rubit at his disposal through injuries, Nick Weiler Babb sat out the whole game,  while Zan Mark Sisko is still absent. Hence, the German team suffered their eighth defeat and fell to a 4-8 score.

The home team had a seven-point lead after an uneventful first quarter with 27 points from both sides. Rhythm changed in the second period, but Baskonia still controlled the flow, grabbed a double-digit lead in the last few minutes, and went to a break with a 44-30 advantage.

Bayern improved defensively in the third quarter but never really threatened the hosts’ lead. Everything was clear in the middle of the final period, Bavarians couldn’t find a way back, and Baskonia used the chance to get over 20 points in front and register a blow-out win in the end.

Olympiacos vs Virtus Bologna : Olympiacos put on a spectacle against Virtus Bologna in front of its fans.

Olympiacos Piraeus delivered one of its most impressive performances in EuroLeague ever to crush Virtus Bologna 117 – 81 at home and bounce back to wins in the competition.

The Reds registered new club records in points and assists (33) in a superb output thanks to which they improved to 8-4 while Virtus dropped to 4-8. The only thing worse than the final outcome for the Italian side was that forward Semi Ojeleye had to exit the game early with an injury.

The players of Olympiacos imposed their rhythm right from the start to lead 31 – 15 after the first 10 minutes. Sasha Vezenkov produced 10 points out of his 19 points (on 7-9 shots over 15 minutes) during that stretch and Thomas Walkup dished out six out of his eight assists in the first quarter to set the tone on offense. Isaiah Canaan had all of his nine points along with three out of his four dimes by the first 11 minutes to contribute to the hosts’ electric start.

Virtus was simply unable to both hold back this offensive storm or keep up and fell behind 61 – 35 at the break. The Italian team couldn’t do much against its opponents’ shooting spree (10-17 3-pointers) and paid for every defensive gap and mistake to watch Olympiacos completing halftime with an incredible 11-12 on 2-pointers.

Moustapha Fall (15 points) had some dominant plays in the start of the second half with seven straight points. Vezenkov handed his team a 30+ lead and the rest of the game turned into a typical procedure, especially since Olympiacos wasn’t willing to slow down and Virtus never managed to be competitive.

Jordan Mickey (12 points) and Ismael Bako (10 points) scored in double figures for Virtus.  Tornike Shengelia dropped eight points in his return to action (ankle) and just third game this season in EuroLeague.

Alec Peters (15 points), Shaq McKissic (13 points) and Giannoulis Larentzakis (11 points) provided their touch in Olympiacos’ record-setting game.

Anadolu Efes vs Zalgiris Kaunas: Bouncing back in the third quarter in Kaunas, Anadolu Efes extends the winning streak to five games

A scoring drought lasting nearly eight minutes slowed down Anadolu Efes but did not stop the back-to-back Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions. Blowing out Zalgiris, 86-60, secured the fifth win in a row Friday.

Five made three-pointers by Rodrigue Beaubois supported the game-high 20 points. The French guard also recorded six assists, four rebounds, and one steal in Regular Season Round 12. Making additional distance with seven points in the last ten minutes, Will Clyburn finished with 17 points.

Extending the individual streak, Vasilije Micic surpassed the 12-point mark for the 25th consecutive EuroLeague showing. The former Zalgiris player logged nine in the first quarter and overcoming a scoreless second period ended up with 19 points.

The lone double-digit scoring effort for the team coached by Kazys Maksvytis was Tyler Cavanaugh registering 15 points. Tomas Dimsa (illness) and Karolis Lukosiunas (illness) were sidelined alongside Lukas Lekavicius (rib). Also, Kevarrius Hayes picked up a foot injury early in the first quarter and returned but was held to four points in 17 minutes.

Without points for nearly eight minutes in a 13-0 run for the hosts, Efes fell behind, 37-33. Replying with a 21-4 sprint restored a double-digit lead. A fourth straight win against Zalgiris and improving to 7-5 in Europe’s top-tier club continental competition was the positive outcome, on the heels of losing a couple of BSL games Sunday and Tuesday and dropping to 6-3 in the Turkish league.

The team coached by Ergin Ataman finally went to the free-throw line early in the fourth quarter. Over the first 30 minutes with streaks being exchanged between both sides, shooting over 50% from beyond the arc highlighted the offense also silencing the Zalgirio Arena crowd. Connecting a total of 17/29 triples knocked out Zalgiris.

Going into a domestic Istanbul derby opposite Besiktas Emlakjet Sunday, Efes will be at home against Cazoo Baskonia Wednesday and on the road against Partizan Mozzart Bet Friday. As for the Kaunas outfit, it will visit Crvena Zvezda mts Tuesday and welcome Real Madrid in Zalgirio Arena Thursday.