Regular Season Week 4 update
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Another exciting week of ULEB Cup action passed with four teams still undefeated an two of them set to go head-to-head in Week 5. Only six road teams escaped with wins this week, while only four were decided by more than 20 points and nine by 5 points or less - including three by a single point! Daniel Ewing of Khimki Moscow, Pascal Perrier-David of Benetton Fribourg, Marcus Slaughter of Hapoel Jerusalem were among the week's heroes with crucial points to decide games. DK Joventut, Besiktas ColaTurka, Pamesa Valencia and Khimki are the last four undefeated teams. Joventut of Group A and Besiktas of Group B are also the only two outright group leaders through four games, while Groups C and G feature three-way ties at the top. The biggest biggest win of the week took place in Belgrade, where Red Star rocked Beghelli Bologna 99-66. The highest scoring teams were Hemofarm Stada and Khimki with 102 and the best defensive effort went to ASK Riga, which held Pau-Orthez to 60 points.
Jerusalem's Jamie Arnold earned Week 4 MVP honors with 26 points and 12 rebounds. It marked the second week in a row that Arnold topped the charts, making him the first player to accomplish the feat since the competition expanded to 54 teams. While Arnold's performances see him climb on the all-time scoring charts, another player made an impact with a single-game performance as Christian Dalmau of Besiktas dished 14 assists in his team's home win against Ovarense. He joined Roko-Leni Ukic for the mosts assists ever handed out in a ULEB Cup game. ïýïý
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Who's hot:
Jamie Arnold of Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem won his second consecutive Weekly MVP title with another dominant performance in a home win against Zadar. Arnold, once the alltime leading ULEB Cup scorer before spending two seasons away from the competition in the Euroleague, has picked up where he left off. Arnold is averaging 23.5 points on 73.8% two-point, 62.5% three-point and 89.4% free-throw shooting and 7 rebounds this season.
Daniel Ewing of Khimki Moscow was the hero as his team remained perfect with a road win at Anwil Wloclawek. Ewing scored 16 points in the game's last six minutes, including 9 in the final minute of regulation, to force overtime and then seal the win. Ewing, in his first season in Europe, finished with a season-high 30 points.
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Who's not:
Veselin Petrovic of Telindus Oostende scored a season-low 6 points and committed a career-high 4 turnovers as the Belgian champion lost on the road at CEZ Nymburk. Petrovic, who came into the game as the club's second leading scorer, was sixth best this week. His turnover total came after committing just 1 in the first three weeks.
Robert Conley of Adecco Asvel went scoreless for the first time in 24 ULEB Cup career games. Conley entered the game against Asco Slask Wroclaw averaging 18.3 points in 3 games, but missed all his 4 shots and amassed a -3 index. Asvel registered a 78-65 loss in Wroclaw that made the team drop to 2-2 in Group G.
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Week 4 surprises:
Swiss champion Benetton Fribourg made its case as this season's Cinderella by topping group leader and Final Eight candidate Triumph Lyubertsy on Pascal Perrier-David's buzzer-beater. It was Fribourg's second thrilling home win as the team reached third place in Group E with a 2-2 record.
At the ripe age of 37, Guildford Heat forward Tony Dorsey posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds in a loss at Siauliai. Dorsey has stepped up his scoring since the tragic injury to Brian Dux and reached the 20-point mark for just the third time in 24 career ULEB Cup games and the first since November 2004.
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Week 5 Games to watch:
Khimki Moscow hosts Pamesa Valencia in a battle of undefeated teams in Group D. The game also sees a pair of former ULEB Cup Final MVPs squaring off. Khimki's Kelly McCarty grabbed the award in 2004 with Hapoel Jerusalem and Ruben Douglas snagged the title in 2006 with Dynamo Moscow.
First place in Group H will be on the line when BC Kyiv hosts Artland Dragons. The two teams currently share the top spot with 3-1 records and both team's only losses came on the road at Lukoil Academic.
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Did you know?
With 3 free throws made in Lukoil Academic's win over BC Kyiv, Todor Stoykov became the ULEB Cup's all-time leader in that category and the first to 200 free throws. Rimantas Kaukenas with 198 fell to second place all-time. Stoykov now leads the competition in career points, three-pointers made and free throws made.
Ken Johnson of Benetton Fribourg is on pace to smash the ULEB Cup record for most blocked shots in a season. The record currently belongs to Andre Riddick of Spirou Charleroi, who swatted 38 shots - 32 in the regular season - in 2005. Johnson, with 19 through four games, is on pace to break both marks.
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Key stats:
Three-point shooting is proving to become a more and more important part of winning basketball games and that can be seen by looking at this season's ULEB Cup teams. Only two teams of the bottom 12 in three-point shooting percentage have winning records.
Rudy Fernandez of DKV Joventut matched his ULEB Cup career-high with 6 assists for the second week in a row in a road win a KK Bosna. Joventut is 3-0 all-time in ULEB Cup games where the electrifying scorer has 6 assists and is 5-1 when he passes at least 4.
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Thursday, November 29, 2007
Euroleague.net
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