| RANK | TEAM | THE RUNDOWN | LAST |
| 1 |
Real Madrid |
LAST WEEK: Won 76-73 vs. Bamberg THIS WEEK: Thursday at Zalgiris I’m sure nobody expected Real Madrid to win their back-to-back home games against Germany’s whipping boys, Berlin and Bamberg, by merely eight combined points, yet here they sit: tested slightly and two wins richer. The week’s bad news is that Lithuanian swingman and former Duke Blue Devil Marty Pocius will miss 6-8 (more) weeks with a stress fracture in his ankle. |
1 |
| 2 |
Barcelona |
LAST WEEK: Won 71-69 vs. Khimki Moscow THIS WEEK: Thursday at Olympiacos Khimki is showing blemishes at every turn, Siena matches up terribly with Xavi Pascual’s physically, actively congested defensive scheme, and Maccabi relies too heavily on penetration to stand up to Barca; nobody can touch these guys in their own group. Except for maybe the team that knocked them off last year to reach the Euroleague finals. |
3 |
| 3 | Anadolu Efes (8-2; 13-7) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 75-62 at Panathinaikos THIS WEEK: Won 91-86 at Alba Berlin Yeah yeah, five straight. Seen this movie before. Beat Madrid, then I’ll be impressed. They beat Madrid. OK, so you got your big win. But here comes CSKA…They beat CSKA. Six straight. Knock off two title favorites in a row and it’s enough for me to shrug off a subsequent loss at Panathinaikos (Seriously, beat Madrid, CSKA and Panathinaikos in consecutive weeks and Jordi Bertomeu might just fly you the damn trophy himself). And after prying a win out of the jaws of embarrassing road defeat this week, they’ve proven they are at least semi-collapse proof. |
6 |
| 4 | CSKA Moscow (7-3; 16-4) |
LAST WEEK: Won 80-65 vs. Alba Berlin THIS WEEK: Won 78-56 at Bamberg Whereas Madrid snuck by Bamberg and Berlin by the scruff of Rudy Fernandez’s beard, CSKA Moscow took a different approach, and annihilated them by a total score of 158-123. And one season after slumping in the Top 16 with Zalgiris, Sonny Weems seems to have hit the same wall in Russia, down to 11 PPG after going for 16.4 in the regular season. |
2 |
| 5 | Olympiacos (6-3; 14-5) |
LAST WEEK: Won 79-60 at Besiktas THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Barcelona When news arrived that Evangelos Mantzaris would miss the rest of the season, many wondered whether Olympiacos’ defense would take a hit without their best perimeter stopper. However, in the four games without Mantzaris, the Reds are allowing even fewer points per game as a team in the Top 16 than they were in the five games he played (74.6 PPG with him vs. 70 PPG without him). Even if you take out Besiktas’ ugly-but-expected 60-point outing, that still only leaves Olympiacos’ defense a point worse than usual at 75.6 PPG. And that difference is negligible now that Vassilis Spanoulis has his Reds running, and putting up 82.5 PPG over that same Mantzaris-less stretch, up from 73.8 with the now-injured guard. |
5 |
| 6 | Montepaschi Siena (7-2; 12-7) |
LAST WEEK: Won 87-69 vs. Fenerbahce Ulker THIS WEEK: Friday at Khimki Moscow For anyone still skeptical about Bobby Brown and his Tuscans, do something for me: watch a game. A whole, entire game. You’ll have found something irresistible about them by the end of the third quarter. Kristjan Kangur’s always in the right place with his hands up; Daniel Hackett has made the leap from reactor to anticipator; David Moss refuses to let even a single possession die without subtly affecting it. This team is more than just a fun-chuckin’ bunch of misfits orbiting Brown; it’s an ego-less group of talented role players that fit just perfectly. |
4 |
| 7 | Panathinaikos (6-3; 12-7) |
LAST WEEK: Won 75-62 vs. Anadolu Efes THIS WEEK: Friday at Unicaja Stephane Lasme matched a season high with five blocks as Panathinaikos threw a steel wall up in front of an Efes club that had won seven straight before traveling to Athens. Lasme (2.06) retains the league lead in blocks over Maccabi’s Shawn James (1.79), but he may lose out on the Defensive Player of the Year to Efes’ Jamon Lucas. |
10 |
| 8 | Khimki Moscow (5-4; 11-8) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 71-69 at Barcelona THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Montepaschi Siena With CSKA’s Viktor Khyrapa sidelined at the moment, that leaves Khimki’s Paul Davis (16 PPG and 6.3 RPG in the Top 16) as Moscow’s most devastatingly versatile big man. Outside of Russia, only Caja Laboral’s Maciej Lampe is finding as many different ways to effectively assert himself into his team’s offense. Khimki needs to look his way early against Siena this week and stick with him if they want to get back to their winning ways at home. |
7 |
| 9 | Zalgiris (4-5; 12-7) |
LAST WEEK: Won 83-67 at Unicaja THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Real Madrid Let’s see if Donnie McGrath can plug the hole Ibby Jaaber left as the team’s primary ball handler and perimeter defender. McGrath comes over with plenty of European experience, yet Jaaber’s impact this season on both ends will be nearly impossible to duplicate on such short notice. |
9 |
| 10 | Maccabi Tel Aviv (4-5; 12-7) |
LAST WEEK: Won 66-62 at Caja Laboral THIS WEEK: Thursday at Fenerbahce Ulker Maccabi’s peeled themselves off the mat rather cleanly these past couple of weeks, taking down Siena and then–more importantly for a possible tie-break scenario–Caja Laboral. In a season when most of the news out of Tel Aviv has been either upsetting or uncomfortable–Shermadini and Malcolm Thomas cut, Caner-Medley and Eliyahu hurt, Pnini attracting press for all of the wrong reasons–Devin Smith’s continued growth as a scorer (20 and 19 points the last two games, 12.4 during the Top 16) has to be counted as a bright spot. |
13 |
| 11 | Caja Laboral (4-5; 8-11) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 66-62 vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv THIS WEEK: Friday at Besiktas This team lost four in a row, then won seven, and now they’ve lost their last five. The level of volatility they’ve sustained given the amount of talent on their roster is almost impressive. Almost. |
8 |
| 12 | Unicaja (4-5; 12-7) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 83-67 vs. Zalgiris THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Panathinaikos Unicaja has beaten Bamberg by three, twice, and Berlin by two. That’s 3-0 with a +8 point differential against teams with a combined 1-19 record in the Top 16. In true Unicaja fashion, their other win has come against CSKA Moscow in Russia and by 13 points. Just Unicaja being Unicaja. |
11 |
| 13 | Fenerbahçe Ülker (2-7; 7-12) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 87-69 at Montepaschi Siena THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv At this point, Fenerbahce Ulker would have to win their remaining five games just to finish .500 and retain any hope for a playoff bid. Things not going in their favor: failure to compile back-to-back wins since weeks one and two of the regular season and their league-worst 89.8 points allowed per game. Top 16 PPG leader Bojan Bogdanovic (21.3) ain’t gonna fix that. |
12 |
| 14 | Alba Berlin (1-9; 5-15) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 80-65 at CSKA Moscow THIS WEEK: Lost 91-86 vs. Anadolu Efes Berlin had a point blank shot at a huge upset against Efes on Wednesday, but were out-starred late. Derrick Byars hit a big triple form the wing, but Farmar hit a three himself and made all 11 of his free throws. Ali Traore hit a beautiful floater, but Erden answered with an offensive board and putback and then swatted Traore’s next offer for good measure. |
14 |
| 15 | Bamberg (0-10; 3-17) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 76-73 at Real Madrid THIS WEEK: Lost 78-58 vs. CSKA Moscow Their chances for that first and only Top 16 win in club history are slipping through a different crack each week. Newcomers Matt Walsh and Jeremiah Massey look good out there, but sometimes late is just as bad as never. |
15 |
| 16 | Besiktas (0-9; 5-14) |
LAST WEEK: Lost 79-60 vs. Olympiacos THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Caja Laboral Well, they signed Ricky Minard. So there’s that. |
16 |
(8-1; 17-2)Nick Gibson, editor of EuroleagueAdventures.com, covers Euroleague and other international basketball developments for SheridanHoops.com. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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