Strange results in Euroleague this round?
Strange results in Euroleague this round?
I am sure nobody would expect this strange results in this round of the Euroleague. And it’s not about Real Madrid and Fenerbahce’s winning away. But who expected Darussafaka to beat Bayern? Or Baskonia to lose at home against Anadolu Efes? Or even more Zalgiris to in win in Piraeus? Almost nobody!
First of all, all these games were balanced, each team having a good chance to reach the victory.
Bayern is not an invincible team and their hopes for the playoff had to take a cold shower with this defeat in front of a team who is still on the last spot of the regular season. Losing in Istanbul last night, Bayern won’t complicate anymore the playoff calculations. Things are much easier now.
Anadolu Efes winning at Baskonia is even better to understand. Engin Ataman is not born in Vitoria-Gasteiz like Pablo Laso. So the Turkish teams didn’t give up the battle just to help the host team to secure a playoff spot. At this moment, Anadolu Efes even without Dunston Bryant is much better than Baskonia. The Spanish powerhouse will have a chance to be a decent team when Tornike Shengelia, Jayson Granger and Matt Janning will be back on the court.
Zalgiris proved that they are a motivated team led by the best coach in Europe. But the Lithuanians beneficiated also by the context: Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitris Agravanis and Janis Strelnieks are out and Olympiacos is not anymore what it was a couple of years ago.
Seeing all these results that look so strange, somebody can think also that some moves are made in order to arrange the playoff spots and to organize convenient brackets for some teams. Or it’s just a coincidence!
Gratian Cormos, info@brainbasketball.net
