It was an even battle in France for almost 35 minutes, but Zalgiris Kaunas kept their focus until the end and took their first road win against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 93-76.  With a EuroLeague record of 21 points, Tomas Dimsa led Zalgiris. He almost had a perfect night with only one missed shot from the field (5/6 for three). 

Lukas Lekavicius followed with 16 points, while Edgaras Ulanovas added 12 points. Keenan Evans had an all-around game with 12 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. Jonah Mathews scored 15 points for Asvel, Amine Noua followed with 12, while Nando de Kolo added 11 points for the losing side. 

The lead changed numerous times throughout the game before the last crucial period. ASVEL had a two-point lead after the first ten minutes (24-22), but the guests answered in the second period and grabbed an eight-point advantage. The hosts didn’t crumble and managed to cut the deficit in half before halftime (50-46). 

The dogfight continued and Zalgiris entered the decisive quarter with a 69-67 lead. 

Lekavicius and Evans gave the Kaunas some breathing space, but Tomas Dimsa’s three-pointer with three minutes to go finally broke the resistance of the French team (83-76). From there Zalgiris managed to close out the game without any trouble on an impressive 10-3 run. 

Barcelona vs Maccabi Playtika 

Barcelona got the 86-79 win in Tel Aviv after dominating the last period and keeping Maccabi Playtika at a distance. Nicolas Laprovittola with 19 points was once again the top scorer of Barcelona, but Cory Higgins with 15 points was the key to the win, while Mike Tobey with 14 points and Alex Abrines with 13 made crucial contributions. Lorenzo Brown with 18 points and Wade Baldwin with 16 points tried their best but couldn’t change the fate of the hosts. 

In a close game from the first 30 minutes, Barcelona led by three in the first quarter (23-20), while Maccabi also had a three-point halftime advantage (43-40) and the guests were back up by one at the end of the third period (62-61). 

However, Barcelona started the last quarter with an 11-1 run (73-62) creating distance on the most crucial time with Higgins making two threes. Maccabi made it a six-point game (73-67), but Barcelona answered back with a quick 5-0 run (78-67) and the game was over. 

Barcelona jumped to a 5-2 record, while Maccabi dropped to a 4-3 in the standings. 

ALBA Berlin vs FC Bayern Munich 

Still undefeated against the Germany rival in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, FC Bayern Munich let go of an early 14-point lead but eventually held on to beat ALBA Berlin, 79-77, Thursday evening. 

Augustine Rubit and Andreas Obst shared a team-high 14 points in the Regular Season Round 7 contest. Recovering from a hamstring injury costing him a couple of EuroLeague games, Othello Hunter provided a boost by punching in eight of his ten points after the break. 

Riding on a 13-0 run, the team coached by Israel Gonzalez went up, 54-49, midway through the third period. Bayern immediately responded with 11 unanswered points, regained the lead, and ultimately secured the win as Jaleen Smith missed the chance to force overtime at the conclusion of the fourth quarter. 

In his debut for the team located in Munich on the opposite end of the rivalry following the long stint on the Berlin side, Niels Giffey tucked in an early three-pointer and grabbed four rebounds. 

Besides the sixth win in as many meetings between the two German clubs in EuroLeague, the team guided by Andrea Trinchieri jumped to 2-5, after starting the 2022-23 season with five consecutive losses. 

Released to the Serbia senior national team and preparing for the next batch of 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, Ognjen Jaramaz was out. Paul Zipser (thigh) was also sidelined along with Zan Mark Sisko (personal) and Jason George. 

Fourth win in a row across all competitions, including upping the domestic record to 5-1. Next up is Olympiacos at home Thursday. 

For ALBA, both Smith and Malte Delow reset EuroLeague personal bests to 20 and 13 points, respectively. Experienced power forward Luke Sikma stuffing the stat sheet resulted in 12 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds for a game-high PIR of 27. 

Prior to the tipoff, the Berlin outfit put sharpshooter Louis Olinde on the injury list. The 24-year-old forward will be sidelined for several weeks with a thump injury. Marcus Eriksson (foot), Maodo Lo (ankle), and Jonas Mattisseck (hand) remained unavailable. 

Falling to 3-4 with a four straight loss over and also the first loss in Mercedes-Benz Arena, the champions of the last three editions of the easyCredit BBL will visit Real Madrid next Thursday. 

Real Madrid vs Anadolu Efes 

Months away from possibly competing for the title, Real Madrid bested Anadolu Efes, 94-85, in the first meeting between the two teams after the last game of the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season. 

A touch of revenge but with some concern for Guerschon Yabusele. The French big scored all of his 11 points in the first quarter before picking up an injury and finally exiting late in the third quarter. 

A contested and long second-quarter buzzer-beater connected by Sergio Llull ensured momentum carries into halftime. Los Blancos are accustomed to such decisive deliveries over the last 15 years. An ensuing 15-point cushion turned into a slim four-point lead but Madrid restored a double-digit advantage in the fourth quarter. 

Adam Hanga went for 11 points, six assists, and four rebounds en route for a team-high PIR of 19 Thursday.  

Gabriel Deck and Vincent Poirier chipped in 13 points each. Llull added seven more points in the last ten minutes to end up with a total of ten points. Carlos Alocen (knee), Fabien Causeur (leg), Rudy Fernandez (wrist), Anthony Randolph (knee), and Nigel Williams-Goss (foot) all remained sidelined. 

Making the best of Regular Season Round 7, Chus Mateo’s side went up to 4-3 and downed the back-to-back champions to 2-5. Up next is Alba Berlin visiting Spain’s capital next Thursday. 

The top performer of Efes, Will Clyburn dropped 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Ante Zizic logged 17 points and seven rebounds in the losing effort. Vasilije Micic ended up with 15 points in WiZink Center, after being held to four points in the first half. 

Micic, 28, dishing out eight assists jumped to ninth on the all-time list of Europe’s premier club continental competition. At 979, the Serbian superstar passed Theo Papaloukas’s career effort of 977. 

Foul trouble limited Tibor Pleiss to ten minutes and a four-point showing. Shane Larkin (finger) has yet to be cleared but Rodrigue Beaubois (calf) returned to action packing two points in 19 minutes after sitting out the last two EuroLeague games. 

Dealing with the pressure of three losses in a row, his side will play host to FC Barcelona in Round 8 of the Regular Season. 

Olympiacos Piraeus vs Partizan Belgrade 

Six players scored in double figures for Olympiacos Piraeus as their team bounced back to EuroLeague wins by beating a shorthanded Partizan Belgrade 87 – 58 at home. 

Olympiacos improved to 5-2 with its first victory after back-to-back losses (to Monaco and Valencia) at home while Partizan dropped to 3-4. The Serbian side, which featured a nine-man roster due to injury issues and players competing for the Serbian national team, suffered its first defeat following two straight wins. 

Despite several absences (including key contributor Dante Exum), Partizan put up a fight in an unfriendly Peace and Friendship arena until Giannoulis Larentzakis decided to finish the game early for Olympiacos. The Greek guard scored eight unanswered points to finish the third quarter and then Kostas Sloukas drained a triple that capped an 11-0 run that the Reds up 71 – 54 with 7:46 remaining. 

Kevin Punter hit a tough jumper but that was the last Partizan scored for seven minutes. The visiting side was spent and out of strength while Olympiacos proceeded to further increase its advantage. 

Larentzakis finished with 14 points while Sloukas posted 17 points plus eight assists. Sasha Vezenkov contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, and four assists to Olympiacos’ win, Alec Peters notched 11 points, Isaiah Canaan dropped 10 points and Kostas Papanikolaou scored 10 of his own. 

James Nunnally (14 points, six rebounds), Punter (14 points), Ioannis Papapetrou (12 points) and Mathias Lessort (10 points, six rebounds) stood out from Partizan. 

Fenerbahce BEKO vs Crvena Zvezda Mts 

Fenerbahce BEKO (6-1) did not allow any surprises in Istanbul against Crvena Zvezda Mts in round seven of the EuroLeague. 

Nemanja Nedovic and Luca Vildoza showed a fighting spirit, but not enough to get a victory on the road. Fenerbahce is now back in the winning column (93-79) while Crvena Zvezda (1-6) still has only one victory so far this season. 

Johnathan Motley was the man of the game. He dominated and got a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Melih Mahmutoglu had a career-high with 20 points. Marko Guduric added 17 points. 

Still, It looked like the game would be over in the first quarter. Fenerbahce was playing unstoppable in the opening minutes and the Belgrade team could do nothing on both sides of the court. 

It took the Turkish team less than eight minutes to get to a double-digit lead. Marko Gudurić hit a big three (23-12) that forced Vladimir Jovanovic to call a time-out. Nemanja Nedovic and Ognjen Kuzmic entered the game at that moment and completely changed the energy of the team. 

Nedovic was the main reason that Crvena Zvezda was on a big run in the second quarter, and at one point had a five-point lead, but Fenerbahce did not allow things to get out of control. Mahmutoglu and Guduric were hitting shots that kept the Belgrade team on their heels (42-41). 

Nedovic had a great second-half beginning, but the rest of Crvena Zvezda did not follow. The home side did not need much more than that to go on a crucial run that got the job done. 

Johnathan Motley controlled the paint and gave Fenerbahce a seven-point lead to secure a victory. 

The fourth quarter was all Fenerbahce. Guduric and Nick Calathes hit from beyond the arc holding off any attempt from Crvena Zvezda. 

Nemanja Nedovic played a great game with 17 points, and Vildosa followed with 13 in Crvena Zvezda.