Valencia vs Crvena Zvezda: Nedovic and Petrusev dominate Valencia

No Luca Vildoza, no Facundo Campazzo, no problem for Crvena Zvezda (9-8). The Serbian team has Nemanja Nedovic and Filip Petrusev. The dynamic duo was responsible for a big win against Valencia (7-10) in Spain 77-75.

Fantastic game by Petrusev who is the MVP of the game. He scored 25 points while adding nine rebounds. Nemanja Nedovic scored 19 points.

It was more than just another game for Crvena Zvezda. For days now the Serbian team was the talk of Europe, first for singing Facundo Campazzo, then for the ban that prevents the Argentinian point guard from playing games till march. The player showed their protest by wearing t-shirts that said “Free Facu”.

As for the game itself, it was spectacular, primarily on the offensive end. Filip Petrusev continued to dominate in the paint while having big help from Nemanja Nedovic, Ognjen Dobric, and Jhon Holand. The Zvezda duo was responsible for the five-point advantage at halftime (47-42)

This was just the beginning of the excitement. Valencia was by no means going to give up, very quickly the home side was back in the game, but Nemanja Nedovic was hitting shots and getting fouled to keep Zvezda in front after three quarters (59-56).

Zvezda has a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Jared Harper hit a big three-pointer to cut the lead down to 65-62. Valencia still had problems on defense. The Spanish team had no answers for Petrusev. Zvezda’s big man hit big shots, but Klemen Prepelic made three free throws in the last minute (72-71). Nedovic and Petrusev returned the favor to keep the lead.

Chris Jones led the way for Valencia with 16 points.

Real Madrid Vs Maccabi: Real Madrid sinks 18 trees to win against Maccabi

It turned into a simple task pretty early as Real Madrid dominated the latest classic matchup opposite Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, 98-65, Friday.

Leading all scorers of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 17 fixture, Dzanan Musa and Petr Cornelie poured 18 points each. They combined for eight triples as the Whites connected a team total of 18/33 from beyond the arc.

More three-pointers, 3/6, Guerschon Yabusele ended up with 16 points paired with eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Towering center, Walter Tavares put up only four points but packed five blocks, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

A comfortable win upped the W-L tally to 11-6, good enough for a share in the five-way tie on top of the standings. Sixth win in nine matchups at WiZink Center.

Dealing with an injury, Gabriel Deck was sidelined along with Mario Hezonja (personal). Anthony Randolph (knee), Rudy Fernandez (wrist), and Carlos Alocen (knee) are yet to be cleared for action. In good news, Adam Hanga, out with a leg injury since early in the season, was back with five points, three rebounds, and two assists in 13 minutes.

On the opposite end, Wade Baldwin IV recovered from a hamstring injury forcing him to miss the last month but was limited to three points in 12 minutes. Jalen Adams with 15 points and Josh Nebo with 11 points were the only double-digit scorers. Unavailable players stretched between Alex Poythress (hand), Yiftach Ziv, and Guy Pnini.

The team coached by Oded Kattash missed the first 13 attempts from beyond the arc. Finally connecting late in the first half, the distance to cover was already over 20 points. At the end of a six-game winning streak across all competitions, Maccabi fell to 9-8 with its seventh loss in nine away games through the first half of EuroLeague’s double-legged round-robin schedule.

Olympiacos vs Armani Milano: Olympiacos suffocates Milano

Olympiacos Piraeus fought fire with fire against one of the top defensive teams in EuroLeague and defeated Olimpia Milano 82 – 66 at home. The Reds had a tremendous defensive second half, where Milano was held to just 28 points to ultimately suffer their first loss after three straight wins.

Alec Peters scored a season-high 16 points to set the tone for Olympiacos on offense, along with Kostas Sloukas (eight points, nine assists  no turnovers). Thomas Walkup finished with 10 points, four assists and four steals while having a powerful defensive contribution that was made fans in Peace and Friendship Arena sing his name multiple moments.

Billy Baron was the only player in double figure for Milano, with 12 points, all of them in the first half. He was one of the main reasons his team bounced back after a 27 – 15 deficit in the first quarter to balance things 41 – 38, a bit before the break.

Everything changed in the third quarter, however. Olympiacos‘ physical defense and Milano’s inability to convert even open shots, led to the hosts assuming a double-digit lead once more. The visiting side scored just six points in the period with only two baskets as their opponents went up 59 – 44 and then increased their lead to 20, never to look back.

Anadolu Efes vs LCDC ASVEL: Micic and Clyburn carry Efes in the fourth quarter

Anadolu Efes got back to winning ways, after defeating Asvel in Round 17 of the Turkish Airlines 78-72.

Vasilije Micic was the top scorer of the winning side with 22 points, but Will Clyburn got 15 points and the highest PIR of 21.

Rodrigue Beaubois added 13 points, and Elijah Bryant 10 for Efes.

Nando De Colo and David Lighty laed Asvel with 12 points each, while Youssoupha Fall and Parker Jackson Cartwright added 10 points each.

Efes had control for the first couple of minutes, but Asvel changed the gear midway through the first quarter and turned the game around with an 11-2 run. The guest went to the first break with a 19-17 lead, but the Istanbul team got back the lead at the beginning of the second period. That didn’t last, with the French team making another 11-2 run, and finishing the first half with a 36-29 lead.

The guests even went to a double-digit advantage in the third quarter, but Efes started putting pressure on them in the final minutes, trimming the deficit to six points before the final break. Micic and Clyburn took over in the last 10 minutes. Efes broke the resistance of Asvel with a huge 18-2 run and won the game.

Tags: Euroleague Efes Asvel Olympiacos Armani Zvezda Valencia