Round 30 of the EuroLeague had some amazing clashes
While two games (Partizan-Dubai and Maccabi-Hapoel) were re-scheduled for a later date because of the situation in the Middle East, Round 30 of the EuroLeague season still had plenty of interesting games including the Greek Derby.
On Thursday defending champions Fenerbahce confirmed it’s leading position in the standings with a comfortable win against a Monaco. With just 8 rounds left from the regular season the Turkish team has two more wins than 2nd placed Valencia and also a game less played, so it would be a surprise if Fener would not finish 1st. Meanwhile Monaco dropped to a 16-14 record and is barely in a play-in position. The Monegasque team has many on and off court issues: at the end of game Mike James shoved teammate Elie Okobo and it’s clear that the team’s financial issues has a negative effect on the performance of the players.
The closest game of the day was in Milan, but it became close only in the last quarter when the home team almost lost a 27 point lead against Barcelona. The Catalans cut down the deficit to only 2 points but Milan managed to hang on and win the game in the end 87-84.
Another close game was played in Valencia between arguably the two most positive surprises of the season. Probably no one thought that the Spanish team will be 2nd after 30 rounds and Pedro Martinez’s team recorded another win, 91-87 against Zalgiris Kaunas.
In the final game of the day Real Madrid recorded a home win against Virtus Bologna and the Blancos are still 4th with a 19-11 record.
On Friday, we had the game of the week, the eternal Greek derby between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. Even without their star Sasha Vezenkov (Thomas Walkup also missed the game), the Reds managed to win their 11th straight game against their arch-rivals, which is a huge accomplishment. Olympiacos is still in 3rd place after this win, while PAO now has 4 losses in a row, and even their play-in place might be in danger with the way they are currently playing.
Bayern defeated Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, a huge win for coach Pesic against his former team.
Both French teams recorded wins this round, with Asvel winning in Istanbul against Efes, which has a very disappointing season, while Paris Basketball has 3 wins in a row in the EuroLeague after defeating Baskonia in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Imre Halasz
Photo: Virtus Bologna
