Olympiacos had gone 210 days without losing a Euroleague game. After picking up their first loss of the season in week two, the Reds’ next unbeaten streak lasted just six days. And the defending champions haven’t just been losing; they’ve been getting waxed. This week, it was Zalgiris Kaunas doing the waxing, 79-61. In the team’s first loss it was Jordan Farmar—who we’ll get to in a minute—and Anadolu Efes putting the hurt on Olympiacos 98-72. During that loss to Efes, the Reds
Two weeks deep, the Euroleague is sliced into thirds: there are the eight teams that haven’t lost a game, the eight teams that haven’t won a game, and the eight teams that have split the pair. The two teams atop last week’s heap—Real Madrid and Olympiacos—couldn’t handle the pressure that came with the ranking and stumbled on the road. Next in line at No. 3 was Fenerbahce Ulker, who gracefully eluded the Sheridan Hoops curse and beat Union Olimpija on the road. But
Romain Sato has always been known as a lockdown defender. That phrase took on a much grimmer meaning when the Fenerbahce Ulker swingman spent Thursday night in a Slovenian prison. It all started when Sato, the 31-year-old shooting guard out of the Central African Republic, was detained at the Slovenian border as his Turkish team was flying in for their Friday Euroleague contest against Union Olimpija. Slovenian police told Reuters that the biographical page on Sato’s passport was fake, and that those claims were
Rajon Rondo thinks the 2013 Boston Celtics can be better than the 2008 championship version. And last week, Fenerbahce Ulker beat the 2013 Boston Celtics by six. “They have a really good basketball team,” Paul Pierce said after the game had wrapped up in Istanbul, Turkey. “My hat’s off to them. They really played a good game.” Hold onto your hat, Paul. At least until mid-May. While any win–certainly any win against a storied club like the Boston Celtics—is better than any loss,
While NBA training camps may be getting under way, players such as Jordan Farmar, Sonny Bo McCalebb (shown here playing for Macedonia) scored 21 points as Fenerbahce of Turkey defeated the Boston Celtics on Friday in Istanbul. Weems, Shelden Williams, Craig Smith and Bo McCalebb are getting ready to start their seasons in Europe. McCalebb has begun with a bang, as his team, Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul, managed to beat the Boston Celtics during their European tour, showing that European
11. Patrick Beverley, G, Spartak St. Peteresburg (Russia), College: Arkansas This former second-round pick was one of the most effective guards at the Eurocup level this past season. With a very versatile game, Beverley rebounds very well for a ballhandling guard, can defend both backcourt positions and is able to get a high rate of steals without cheating defensively. A Chicago native, Beverley played for the Bulls in the Las Vegas Summer League and drew some interest as a possible training camp
ISTANBUL — There wasn’t a uniformed soul in Istanbul with as much Euroleague pedigree as CSKA Moscow’s Ramunas Siskauskas. With 9.7 seconds left and his team up a single point over Olympiacos, the 34-year-old former MVP strolled to the line, staring at a pair of freebies that would bring the two-time champion two points closer to a third. He missed the first. Then he missed the second. Olympiacos secured the ball off the rim, and Vassilis Spanoulis raced upcourt through a frantically scattered
ISTANBUL — This is where Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic were supposed to be. This is why they came back to Europe, and this is why they signed with CSKA Moscow, a veritable powerhouse. From the moment they stepped on the floor alongside Milos Teodosic and Alexey Shved, it was clear that it would take a mammoth effort to keep the Russians out of the Euroleague Final Four for a second straight season. After steamrolling their way to an 18-2 record in