It was a crazy night in the Basketball Champions League!
The first amazing game of the night was the blowing loss of Darussafaka against Hapoel Jerusalem (69-92). The win of the Israeli team was predicted on my Telegram channel. The initial odds on Hapoel Jerusalem were 1.60, but a handicap could be also taken. The Turkish team was not at a perfect moment: their best local player Dogus Ozdemiroglu was not able to play, while their new acquisition Loyd Pandi had not had enough time to integrate with the team’s strategy.
The next incredible move was Limoges’s turnaround coming from an 8-point deficit at the break time and winning by 20 points in Lisbon, at Benfica. The French squad kept Benfica at only 5 points scored in almost 14 minutes at the beginning of the second half!
Oostende made an unbelievable team effort to win the overtime 14-5 against the Israeli powerhouse Hapoel Holon.
PAOK had a 16-point comeback in France where they destroyed Dijon in the last stanza advancing to the play-in stage of the BasketballCL. The Greek victory was necessary because, in the other game of the group, Sassari struggled to win over the unbeaten Unicaja Malaga, the most powerful team in the competition. The Italians had also a huge 4th quarter smashing Unicaja 29-12 but in vain because PAOK advanced.
Both PAOK and Sassari showed great motivation to win away because it was their last ticket to the play-in stage of the competition. During the whole group phase, these two teams played very badly and now in their last game, the desperate need for a win gave them wings!
The article was written by Gratian Cormos, a Romanian journalist, book writer, life coach and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain.
If you are interested in collaborating with his website brainbasketball.net, in order to publish articles, interviews or other features related to basketball, feel free to contact Gratian Cormos by Whatsapp or Telegram at this Spanish number: +34 612414486.
Photo credit: Basketball Champions League
