Nikola Mirotic’s 31 points and 11 rebounds in Real Madrid’s 105-104 overtime win at Zalgiris were career highs. His performance from the free throw line was an all-time Euroleague best: 18-for-18.
Throw in a pair of steals and blocks and two free throws in particular (numbers 15 and 16) that sent the game to overtime with 3.4 seconds left and that’s another undisputed Weekly MVP Award for Chicago’s favorite Montenegrin Spaniard.
But while Madrid was surviving yet another overtime thriller in Lithuania, their rivals from Barcelona were picking up one of the more impressive overall wins of the season: a 13-point win in Piraeus against an Olympiacos team that had won five straight. Erazem Lorbek peeked up over the 20-point plateau (21) for the first time this season, Pete Mickeal had 2o and Barcelona’s defense held Kostas Papanikolaou scoreless; nobody’s been able to do that all season.
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Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have just one Top 16 loss, and neither would be fun to meet in a five-game playoff, giving them theoretically clear paths of entry to the Final Four — such paths exist; see Barca’s playoff series against Unics Kazan just last year — should they maintain top two spots in their respective groups (I think they will.)
But who has the edge right now? Who’s playing the more reliable brand of basketball? For that, we go to the rankings…
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