EuroLeague’s beat: Bittersweet return for Hezonja, Fenerbahce’s scoring low, and end of CSKA’s losing streak / News - Basketnews.com

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BasketNews continues the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague beat edition. Here, you’ll be able to find all the info you need about what happened in the latest EuroLeague round.

Snapped CSKA’s and Macabbi’s streaks, Nikola Kalinic’s and Nikola Mirotic’s career-nights, the true colors of EuroLeague champions & MVP, and Fenerbahce's scoring low – all of that and more in EuroLeague’s Round 9 beat.

EuroLeague’s beat Round 9

SNAPPED STREAKS. CSKA Moscow 74-73 beat Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in last seconds drama and snapped their own 5-game losing streak in all competitions.

Meanwhile, before the trip to Russia, Maccabi had won five games in a row in the EuroLeague.

OPPORTUNITIES. With 17.6 seconds remaining, Maccabi trailed 72-74, but Derrick Williams was sent to the free throws line. However, the American forward made only one shot (73-74).

Moments after CSKA lost the ball and Maccabi got another chance. Despite that, Williams missed a lay-up, and the hosts managed to hold their narrow lead.

HOME, SWEET HOME. Zenit Saint Petersburg snatched their third straight EuroLeague win by defeating Olympiacos Piraeus 84-78 at home. That was the first loss after three consecutive wins for the Greek side that remains without a victory away from home.

Bartzokas's men have fallen to FC Barcelona, CSKA, and Zenit, while reigning champs Anadolu Efes are up next. On the contrary, they are 6-0 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium this season.

PAPANIKOLAOU ENJOYS THE HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE. Kostas Papanikolaou is the perfect embodiment of Olympiacos's EuroLeague run. 55 of his overall 61 points have been scored in Olympiacos's 6 home games.

The 31-year-old forward is averaging 2 points on 25% FG, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.3 PIR over 3 road contests. By contrast, he shoots 50% FG in home games. Quite a disparity.

CAREER-NIGHT. Nikola Kalinic finished the game with 22 points (5/8 2PT, 2/4 3PT, 6/8 FT), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 8 drawn fouls, 2 turnovers, 27 PIR, and led Crvena Zvezda Belgrade to the victory against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (73-67).

27 PIR is the new career-high for the Serbian forward. He also repeated his personal 22 points performance after doing so back in 2019.

ZENIT, THE SWITCH-PUNISHER. In their win over Olympiacos, Zenit scored exactly half of their points (42 out of 84) in actions that started or ended with isolation or closeout. Olympiacos kept switching on defense, giving the chance to Conner Frankamp, Billy Baron and Jordan Loyd to have a ball, combining for 42 points, 14 of which came in the decisive fourth quarter.

HUSTLE. With 4:38 remaining Crvena Zvezda were leading 65-50. Despite that, ASVEL answered with their own run, and with 10 seconds left, Elie Okobo cut the deficit to only three points (67-70).

However, the hosts remained composed and sealed the victory in the end.

HOW? Apart from a spectacular performance, Kalinic also delivered a crazy circus shot.

FENERBAHCE HIT NEW SCORING LOW: Fenerbahce scored three points in the whole first quarter against AX Armani Exchange Milan (3-22). That's the fourth-worst performance in a quarter in EuroLeague history.

SATANIC STATLINE. Nicolo Melli visited the Ulker Sports Arena as an Armani Milan player, finishing the game vs hosts Fenerbahce with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 6 steals. It was indeed a night in hell for the Turkish side. This is what the Italian forward had to say about his 6-6-6 achievement.

CHAMPIONSHIP QUALITY. Anadolu Efes Istanbul finally showed their true colors as they blew out ALBA Berlin 90-63.

Turkish powerhouse made a 16-2 run in the second quarter and built a 20-point lead (49-29), so the second half was a mere formality.

MVP. Vasilije Micic displayed his best performance of the season as he accumulated 19 points (2/4 2P, 4/6 3PT, 3/4 FT), 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 6 drawn fouls, 3 turnovers, and a season-high 29 PIR.

FINALLY. “I’m happy tonight. Finally,” Ergin Ataman said after the game. “So I think all of us, me, the players, everybody understood that it’s time to fight, to play the game, to forget what happened the last three years, and to focus on the games.”

HERO. Lorenzo Brown sank a mid-range jumper with 19.7 seconds left to play, to secure UNICS Kazan victory over Panathinaikos OPAP Athens (74-72).

“Just a bunch of energy from both teams who were out here playing hard. All of our players played consistently tonight. So we earned it tonight for sure,” Brown said after the game.

BOOOO. Mario Hezonja made his return to Athens, which was bittersweet. UNICS won the game, but the Croatian star was met by the boos of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens fans (who ended up booing their own team as well).

“I deserved it, and I understand it. I do not forgive myself either,” Hezonja said. “Because this team is above everyone. I trusted some people a lot, and I am disappointed. I love them very much.”

BOOOO VOL.2. Only one day later, Fenerbahce fans booed their team being down 33 to AX Armani Exchange Milan in the third quarter. When all was said and done, Djordjevic and players were again met with the fans' wrath.

DUMMIES. Panathinaikos had 19 seconds for their final possession, however, it ended with a chaotic Papapetrou’s shot, and the Russian club secured the win.

“I am responsible for the way our last possession ended up", Dimitris Priftis said after the game. “The ball arrived at Papapetrou’s hands, and he took the responsibility, but our plan was for Macon to execute. That’s why Ioannis ended up shooting a very tough three.”

DOMINANT. Barcelona blew out Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 93-67, but the final score looks way better than the actual story of the game. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Spanish champions were leading 84-43.

PERFECT. Nikola Mirotic Mirotic finished the game with 25 points (4/4 2PT, 4/4 3PT, 5/6 FT), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 drawn fouls, 1 turnover, and a career-high 37 PIR in 18 minutes of action.

Mirotic had 37 PIR back in 2013 in a game against Zalgiris Kaunas. He also scored 31 points in the very same game.

UNFAIR. In the third quarter, Barcelona managed to organize a 5v1 attack which ended up with an easy lay-up for Nick Calathes.

7+1 STARS FOR REAL. On a night when Real Madrid saw seven of their players end up in double digits (Thomas Heurtel, Rudy Fernandez, Adam Hanga, Vincent Poirier, Sergio Llull, Guerschon Yabusele), it was 18-year-old Tristan Vukcevic who really stole the show. On top of his 7 points and 3 rebounds in only 8 minutes, he also gave us this highlight.

JURE CAME TO WIN. Zalgiris for the most part were pretty competitive against Real Madrid. However, the hosts managed to get a comfortable win in the last minutes, as the Lithuanian team ran out of steam.

When Lukas Lekavicius started putting on a show to cut the deficit to 11 (36-47) in the second quarter, Jure Zdovc found the perfect time to tell his players what their purpose ought to be.

BEST-SCORING GAME BUT STILL WINLESS. In Madrid, Zalgiris Kaunas were within a one-possession range (75-72) with eight minutes remaining on the clock.

They ended up scoring 82 points on 53% two-point and 43% three-point shooting but Real were simply no match for them. Now at 0-9, Zalgiris are looking to get the most out of their upcoming game against Panathinaikos in the double week.

OTHELLO CALLS OUT THE REFEREE. Bayern Munich suffered a 71-94 blowout defeat at the hands of Monaco. Nevertheless, Othello Hunter had a message for the game officials, which he made public via Twitter.

"Now I know I don’t say much in public about officiating or on social but tonight was the worst I’ve seen in my whole career. EuroLeague, I’ll send you the fine money in the morning," Bayern Munich center wrote.

Further down, Hunter made clear that he was referring to the head ref, Slovenian Matej Boltauzer.

"It’s clear that the ego of the head referee in this game clouded his judgment. That was disrespectful to my team. We give you’ll too much respect and get fined for saying you were horrible but today I don’t care. Respect the game we love and do better."

TOP Plays of Round 9

Records of Round 9

PIR Nikola Mirotic

Nicola Mirotic (37)

Points Nikola Mirotic

Nikola Mirotic (25)

Rebounds Georgios Papagiannis

Giorgos Papagiannis (17)

Assists Lukas Lekavičius

Lukas Lekavicius (10)

Steals Nicolo Melli

Nicolo Melli (6)

Blocks Ante Zizic

Matt Costello, Ante Zizic, Moustapha Fall, Donta Hall (2 each)

3-pointers made Vasilije Micic Nikola Mirotic, Conner Frankamp, Vasilije Micic (4 each)

Results of Round 9

CSKA Moscow Maccabi Tel Aviv 74-73 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 73-67 ALBA Berlin Anadolu Efes Istanbul 63-90 Panathinaikos Athens UNIKS Kazan 72-74 FC Barcelona Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 93-67 Zenit Saint Petersburg Olympiakos Piraeus 84-78 Fenerbahce Istanbul AX Armani Exchange Milan 43-68 Monaco Basket FC Bayern Munich 94-71 Real Madrid Zalgiris Kaunas 95-82 Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.