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With 60% of the ULEB Cup regular season gone, battles for the elimination rounds are starting to become the center of attention. Although no team can technically qualify until next week, three still-undefeated group leaders – Besiktas Cola Turka, DKV Joventut and Khimki – have a foot each in the elimination rounds. Week 6 started to see the best separate themselves from the rest, as six teams now possess sole ownership of the top spot in their respective groups, while only two – Besiktas and PGE Turow Zgorzelec – hold two-victory leads over the second-place side. The tightest competition is in Group H, with BC Kyiv, Lukoil Academic and Artland Dragons tied for first at 4-2 and Benetton Treviso only one game behind. The 27 games played featured 12 road wins, but only two teams won by more than 20 points. The biggest win took place in Athens, where Panionios blasted BC Kalev/Cramo 90-66 and the best defensive performance was in Belgium, where Antwerp Giants downed Benetton Fribourg 58-50. That game also featured a competition record being tied as the Antwerp defense limited Fribourg to just 7 two-point field goals.
Pero Antic of Lukoil Academic flirted with a triple-double and earned Week 6 MVP honors with a stellar individual performance consisting of 22 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists. Michael Wright of Turk Telekom was the week’s high-scorer with 30 in an overtime win over Siauliai, while Akinlolu Akingbala of BK Ventspils made a name for himself with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. Demond Mallet of DKV Joventut was also in fine form, drilling 5 triples on his way to 27 points. Mallet moved into a tie with Arvydas Cepulis of CSU Asesoft and Toby Bailey of Koln 99ers for most threes this season with 20.
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Who's hot:
Pero Antic of Lukoil Academic came within a single assist of a triple-double as he continued his best season ever. Antic recorded 22 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists en route to Week 6 MVP honors as his team scored a 93-77 home win over ASK Riga. Antic is averaging 22.5 points and 8.8 rebounds this season, compared to 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds last season.
Koln 99ers’ sixth man Sasa Nadjfeji posted a career-best 26 points and dished 7 assists off the bench to lead his team to a road win at Elan Chalon. Nadjfeji, a veteran of three previous ULEB Cup campaigns as a starter, has flourished in his new role and his index has increased in each of his last five games.
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Who's not:
Ovarense Aerosoles’ forward Miguel Miranda struck out in 18 minutes against FMP. He finished with 3 points on 1-of-5 three-point shooting, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, had 2 shots blocked against and an overall index of minus-7. It was the fourth time in six ULEB Cup games that Miranda posted a negative index.
Dave Esterkamp of Benetton Fribourg had his lowest-scoring and worst-shooting game of the season in a tough loss at the Antwerp Giants. Esterkamp was just 1 for 6 on two-pointers and 1 of 8 for threes, finishing with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists and a negative 6 index – all season lows.
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Week 6 surprises:
Doron Sheffer came within 1 point of his career high over four years and two retirements since he scored 29 points for Hapoel Jerusalem against DKV Joventut. Sheffer, 35, retired in 2005, came back briefly, then retired again and did not play at all last season. But last week he was at his best, drilling 5 three-pointers on his way to 28 in a loss at Swans Gmunden.
PGE Turow pulled out all the stops to sneak by EiffelTowers on the road and take a two-victory atop the Group I standings. In a group expected to be between Unics Kazan and Hapoel Jerusalem, Turow has been strongest, even if its reserved had a grand total of 4 points last week. Thomas Kelati led the team with 26 points.
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Week 7 Games to watch:
Two of the three teams tied for first place in Group H square off when the Artland Dragons host Lukoil Academic. The Dragons, perfect at home in three tries this season, will look to avenge a 109-65 mauling at Lukoil’s hands from last month.
In Group C, BC Hemofarm Stada will have a chance to shake things up when it hosts group leader Akasvayu Girona. A win for Hemofarm would match Akasvayu’s record atop the group, though Hemofarm would need to win by at least 26 to claim the head-to-head tiebreaker between the sides.
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Did you know?
Michael Wright of Turk Telekom, who leads the ULEB Cup this season in free throws made with 38, cracked the top 10 all-time in that category when he made 6 in a home win over Siauliai. Wright surpassed Igor Rakocevic for 10th place with 145 career free throws and is within striking distance of ninth place Bojan Popovic (150). Todor Stoykov is the all-time leader with 202.
Hapoel Jerusalem welcomes a former player and the son of a former player when Dutch champion EiffelTowers Den Bosch arrives in Week 6. Power forward Jayson Wells finished the 2004-05 season with Hapoel and Roye Berkowitz’s father, a star for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1970s and ‘80s, spent two seasons with Hapoel in the early 1990s.
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Key stats:
Beware of high scorers… Only three players among the ULEB Cup’s top 10 scorers this season play for teams with a winning record. The regular-season scoring champ has never played in the ULEB Cup Final, although the runner-up did so on two occasions: Jamie Arnold for KRKA Novo Mesto in 2003 and Willie Solomon for Hapoel Jerusalem in 2004.
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Thursday, December 13, 2007
Euroleague.net
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