Euroleague Power Rankings: Nikola Mirotic Sets Free Throw Record, Barcelona Moves To Number One

RANK	TEAM	THE RUNDOWN	LAST
1	Barcelona(9-1; 18-2)	LAST WEEK: Won 90-77 at Olympiacos THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Besiktas Barcelona has given up only 65.5 points per night at Palau Blaugrana (best home ‘D’ in the league by nearly five points) and has only lost to Russia: once at Khimki Moscow, before anyone had won at Khimki, and in the regular season’s final week vs. CSKA Moscow. Perhaps it’s time this list cuts Ante Tomic (double-digits in all ten Top 16 games; 14.7 PPG over that stretch) and friends some slack. Their conspicuously bad (7-7) start in Spain was the strongest evidence against Barcelona’s threat level, but they’ve turned things around nicely in the ACB. They started by smacking Real Madrid with their first defeat of the season in late December and then plowed through seven of their next nine. Confidence restored on the Spanish side of things, one fewer reason (which makes…how many, now? None?) to bet against them in the Euroleague.	2
2	Real Madrid(9-1; 16-4)	LAST WEEK: Won 105-104 in OT at Zalgiris THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Unicaja Real Madrid escaped with an overtime win in Lithuania and took home Zalgiris’ second leading scorer and rebounder, Tremmell Darden. Darden exercised a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave the Lithuanian club once he received an offer from another club. Tremmell joins Europe’s deepest club and adds the element it lacks most: perimeter defense. It’s really starting to look unfair. Luckily for the rest of the Euroleague, Darden will only be eligible for ACB games since he has already participated in the Top 16 for Zalgiris.	1
3	Anadolu Efes (8-2; 13-7)	LAST WEEK: Won 91-86 at Alba Berlin THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Bamberg We all know they defend, but Jordan Farmar and Jamon Lucas could put their names in the hat for Euroleague’s Best Offensive Backcourt as well. Especially in the Top 16. (For the record: they’d win the defensive version unanimously).	3
4	CSKA Moscow(7-3; 16-4)	LAST WEEK: Won 78-58 at Bamberg THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Zalgiris After coasting through the Tour de Germany (2-0, +35 against Berlin, Bamberg), news arrives that Viktor Khryapa returned to VTB-United League action over the weekend. Yet even Viktor’s absence gave way to Andrey Vorontsevich, who played in his first two games since November 29 and grabbed 17 total boards. Good news all around in the Russian capital.	4
5	Khimki Moscow(6-4; 12-8)	LAST WEEK: Won 78-71 vs. Montepaschi Siena THIS WEEK: Thursday at Maccabi A perfect day (3-of-3 on twos, 4-of-4 on threes, 19 points) from K.C. Rivers got Khimki a very important win against Siena, who now is only a game ahead of them in Group F.	8
6	Olympiacos(6-4; 14-6)	LAST WEEK: Lost 90-77 vs. Barcelona THIS WEEK: Thursday at Montepaschi Siena After winning five straight, Olympiacos lost twice in one week. The first L came in Piraeus against Barcelona and Erazem Lorbek, who cracked 20 in the scoring column for the first time this year. The (potentially) more painful loss came in the form of Georgios Printezis’ bad back, which will keep him out of action in a big game in Italy.	5
7	Montepaschi Siena (7-3; 12-8)	LAST WEEK: Lost 78-71 at Khimki Moscow THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Olympiacos Khimki won the tempo tog-o-war against Siena, whose defense was far too loosely strung to monitor Khimki’s endless onslaught of baseline cutters and passes into the high post. Olympiacos’ taste should better suit Siena this week.	6
8	Panathinaikos (6-4; 12-8)	LAST WEEK: Lost 66-60 at Unicaja THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Alba Berlin Panathinaikos played according to Unicaja’s famed model for disarray, turning it over 14 times and allowing 13 offensive rebounds. I knew that Jason Kapono was released, but did Michael Bramos have to go with him (0 points in 17 minutes against Unicaja)?	7
9	Maccabi Tel Aviv (5-5; 13-7)	LAST WEEK: Won 94-85 at Fenerbahce Ulker THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Khimki Moscow Here’s the good: Fifteen made threes on 27 attempts (56 percent) and 19-of-22 from the line (86 percent). Here’s the worse: 16 offensive rebounds allowed to the Euroleague’s worst rebounding team. Far worse? Six-foot-nothing Bo McCalebb grabbing six of those. But still good: getting a second straight road win.	10
10	Caja Laboral (5-5; 9-11)	LAST WEEK: Won 83-&3 at Besiktas THIS WEEK: Thursday vs. Fenerbahce Ulker Come on, you didn’t really think they’d lose to Besiktas, did you? While that notion sounds crazier by the week, no matter the opposition, it should be noted that the Basque club let Besiktas reach their highest figure in nine weeks. But since they won, let us consider an undeniable positive: Andres Nocioni went for a season-high 22 a week after a season-low two. If ever Caja Laboral needed an offensive binge out of Chapu, it’s these next four weeks.	11
11	Unicaja(5-5; 13-7)	LAST WEEK: Won 66-60 vs. Panathinaikos THIS WEEK: Friday at Real Madrid Usually Marcus Williams comes through with something clutch, even semi-amazing, juuuust before you’ve lost patience with him entirely. That was not the case last week. You see, I’d far exceeded my limit of stomach-able Marcus Williams and decided Unicaja was better off with Earl Calloway in there. Even if he wasn’t as dangerous (streaky) a shooter, he knew how to run the offense, how to pull it out on the break, how to I don’t know…pass, instead of trying to draw a foul on a leaning three-pointer? So for me, the Marcus Williams moment came after I’d had enough. Then after Unicaja had hit its head on Panathinaikos’ three-point-high lead for the thousandth time (or close, it seemed), Williams hit a three. And another. And a third, all in the last couple minutes. And Unicaja won. And I hate Marcus Williams.	12
12	Zalgiris (4-6; 12-8)	LAST WEEK: Lost 105-104 vs. Real Madrid THIS WEEK: Friday at CSKA Moscow Tremmell Darden’s departure for Real Madrid is the last straw for Zalgiris, who had already lost Paulius Jankunas for the season to injury and Ibby Jaaber for personal reasons. It should hurt worse that two of those three were voluntary departures.	9
13	Fenerbahçe Ülker (2-8; 7-13)	LAST WEEK: Lost 94-85 vs. Macccabi Tel Aviv THIS WEEK: *Thursday at Caja Laboral* Bojan Bogdanovic had been Fenerbahce’s bright spot, leading the Top 16 in scoring even if his club was sagging behind, busy adding to the season’s disappointment. Now it seems as though Bojan will be the last yellow canary to crumble, as the Croatian will miss at least 10 days with an achilles injury.	13
14	Alba Berlin(1-9; 5-15)	LAST WEEK: Lost 91-86 vs. Alba Berlin THIS WEEK: Friday at Panathinaikos It’s funny to look back at the beginning of Berlin’s Euroleague season: a 92-82 win on the road against Montepaschi Siena, with six scorers in double figures (Avdalovic, Thompson, Djedovic, Miralles, Wood, Idbihi) followed by a win at home against Elan Chalon. They’ve only won three times in 18 tries since then.	14
15	Bamberg(0-10; 3-17)	LAST WEEK: Lost 78-58 vs. CSKA Moscow THIS WEEK: Thursday at Anadolu Efes Technically the only team that still hasn’t beaten a single Top 16 team. Oh-fer-ten in this phase and wins against Partizan (twice, shamefully; I miss those guys), and Lietuvos Rytas in the regular season. That’s it.	15
16	Besiktas(0-10; 5-15)	LAST WEEK: Lost 83-73 vs. Caja Laboral THIS WEEK: Friday at Barcelona You know, these guys actually beat Bamberg in both head-to-heads in the regular season, so I should bump them up, maybe? But, no. I really can’t. This shoddy, disjointed Besiktas club is not the same scrappy, impulsive Besiktas club that came out of the gates so strong back in the Fall.	16

Nick Gibson, editor of EuroleagueAdventures.com, covers Euroleague and other international basketball developments for SheridanHoops.com. Click here to follow him on Twitter.