Catching Up on EuroLeague Basketball
With four games remaining in EuroLeague until post season play here is a team by team overview.
Welcome to 16 Wins a Ring first EuroLeague post. We’re getting started late in the season with only four regular season games left.
Since we are getting started late in the season I’m going to give a brief overview of what EuroLeague is, why you should watch it and then go into an overview of each teams season to date. That will give you the opportunity to watch this weeks Round 27 action and tweet about it as if you’ve been watching the whole season.
EuroLeague is the continent of Europe’s premier club basketball competition. It features the best teams from all over Europe battling each other. Essentially, it’s Europeans basketball version of the UEFA Champions League for soccer.*
- Similar to teams involved in the UEFA Champions League, EuroLeague teams are also playing in their domestic league and domestic cup competition as well. However, EuroLeague is not so similar to Champions League as the teams who participate are involved primarily based on their financial status and prestige, not their previous seasons domestic performance.
This season, the league underwent a new format where 16 teams participate and play home and home match-ups against each other for a total of 30 regular season games.
At the end, the top eight teams make the playoffs with it initially following the same playoff format of the NBA with the one seed playing the eight seed, two playing the seven, etc. in a five-game series. Then the league switches to an NCAA March Madness style format as the four playoff series winners participate in the EuroLeague Final Four.
The EuroLeague Final Four takes place on one weekend and is a huge event. Occurring at a pre-determined site — this year it’s in Istanbul — with the two semifinals played on Saturday. On Sunday, the losers of the previous days semifinal games face-off in the third place game and the winners play for the championship.
Besides the game, the arena hosting the event is usually surrounded by other fan attractions such as EuroLeague shops, side hoops where you can face a current EuroLeague player one-on-one and many other forms of entertainment.
Now that you know what EuroLeague is, I’ll tell you some significant differences between EuroLeague and the NBA.
EuroLeague follows FIBA’s rules. This means a shorter three point line, four ten minute quarters, players from either side can swat or tap a ball rolling around on the rim and some other differences.
One of the biggest differences between the leagues is that there is no salary cap. Teams can spend as much ( or as little) money as they like. This means teams who have more money usually have more success . In essence it’s very similar to European soccer and Major League Baseball, but that isn’t always the case. Teams also find other ways to sign players who help them win games.
They’ll use their youth academies (this is a thing in European basketball, again, just like soccer) to develop players and capitalize on them at a young age. Or they’ll recruit unheard of players to save money.
No salary cap also means no salary cap rules. This means trades don’t happen often, if ever. And that there’s also no players union protecting a player when he signs a contract with his team.
This leads to many altercations such as a player not being paid on time (could you imagine if this happened in the NBA?), or cut at the first sign of indifference with the club.
EuroLeague is also a coaches league, not a players league. To wit, some clubs pay the coach more than any player. Even in these circumstances the coaches are still in charge (unless you’re Maccabi, more on this later).
This makes it commonplace for head coaches to yell at their players, violently, even the star players. They can also withdraw playing time or cut a player whenever they feel like it.
Imagine how bad Gregg Popovich would be in EuroLeague.
Keep all this in mind when reading the recaps of each teams season so far. As an NBA, or NCAA (if this is you I’m giving you the stink eye), basketball fan some of the stuff that has happened this season may sound crazy to you. But, to regular followers of European basketball it’s like a christian going to church on a Sunday.
To break down each teams season so far I’m going to attack them all individually, going from bottom to top (16–1) based on the current standings.
Each team segment will include:
- full team name (including sponsors)
- as well as their common name(s)
- estimated budget (in euros)
- current record
- a very brief summary of who they are as a club and/or highlights from the current season
- NBA level players on roster (if any)
- good players on roster
- notable wins and bad losses.
16. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Country: Italy
Common Names: Milan, Milano, EA7 (I use the latter to cut a tweet down to 140 characters)
Current Record: 7–19
Budget: 19 million (sixth largest)
Head Coach: Jasmin Respesa
Season Summary: Milan has never been the place for basketball in Italy, let alone Europe,which has shown this season. The club placed a lot of weight on Italian starlet Alessandro Gentile’ shoulders. Albeit, understandable given his talent, considering Gentile averaged 20ppg in EuroLeague *two seasons ago.
But, the decision wasn’t understandable, based on sanity, as Gentile, the supporters and the club had a toxic relationship. The constant swirling pressure led to Gentile being released after nine games. His agent asked if the Houston Rockets, (the team with his draft rights) were interested in signing him and they said “no.” Eventually he signed with another EuroLeague club, Panathinaikos, where once again things didn’t work and he was released after nine games.
Gentile is currently a free agent, and I’m no GM, but I think it’s safe to say that if the player who was supposed to be your star is a without a club after approximately 60 percent of the season you’re not going to be successful.
*Milan’s season only lasted six games that season as the competition used a different format back then. But only two players in the current season are averaging 20 ppg or more.
NBA Level Players: None.
Good Players:
- Ricky Hickman
- Miroslav Raduljica
- Zoran Dragic.
Notable Wins:
- Beat Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul twice in Rounds 2 and 21. (I really wish I had done this in some order, so I’d already be using their nickname)
- They also beat Baskonia at home in Round 7
- Olympiacos at home in Round 19.
Bad Losses:
- 101–64 to CSKA in Round 17
- Suffered 10-game losing streak from Round 8 to 17. That’s the longest losing streak of any team this season.
- Currently on a 5-game losing streak.
15. Unics Kazan
Country: Russia
Common Names: Unics or Kazan.
Current Record: 7–19
Budget: 10.5million (fourth smallest)
Head Coach: Evgeniy Pashutin
Season Summary: Unics has one play and it’s called, “give Keith Langford the ball and get back on defense,” or something along those lines, I don’t speak Russian very well (read: at all). That isn’t actually true but it might as well be. Remember how I said earlier only two guys this season average 20ppg or more? Well Langford is one of them, he’s the leagues leading scorer averaging 22.46ppg.
NBA Level Players: None.
Good Players:
- Langford
- Latavious Williams
- Quino Colom
- Artsiom Parakhouski.
Notable Wins:
- Fenerbahce in Round 5
- Panathinaikos in Round 15.
Bad Losses:
- Lost at Baskonia by a score of 102–70 in Round 9
- Unics is currently on a nine game losing-streak.
14. Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv
Country: Israel
Common Names: Maccabi, MTA
Current Record: 9–17
Budget: 11 Million (fifth smallest)
Head Coach: Ainars Bagatskis
Season Summary: Maccabi is one of the biggest clubs in European basketball. They have incredible prestige and that leads to them having very demanding supporters. By demanding I mean if the team fails to reach the Final 4 the season will be considered a disappointment.
In 2014 the team won the EuroLeague Championship when they were coached by David Blatt. Since then the team has failed to reach those heights, and this season is no exception.
Maccabi is on their fourth coach this season in Ainars Bagatskis. Only one other team this year has had more than one head coach. There have also been rumors all year that player recruitment and the hierarchy of the club have disagreed on who to sign.
That has led to a number of high profile signings who don’t gel to form a cohesive unit that can win.*
NBA Level Players: None.
Good Players:
- Andrew Goudelock
- Victor Rudd
- Quincy Miller
- Colton Iverson
- Sonny Weems was inexplicably waived. Seriously, it still hasn’t been explained.
Notable Wins:
- Versus Fenerbahce in Round 7
- At Olympiacos in Round 9
- Versus Baskonia in Round 22.
Bad Losses:
- Maccabi had a 6-game losing-streak from Rounds 10–15.
- Lost at Crvena Zvezda MTS Belgrade 83–58 in Round 12. (didn’t shoot a free throw in that entire game).
- Lost by 39 at Galatasaray in Round 19.
I went off on a bit of a tangent because this is my favorite Euroleague team, sadly.
13. Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul
Country: Turkey
Common Names: Gala, Galatasaray
Current Record: 9–17
Budget: 12 million (seventh smallest)
Head Coach: Ergin Ataman
Season Summary: Galatasaray got their spot in this seasons competition by winning last seasons Euro Cup (Europe’s second tier club basketball competition, like the UEFA Europa League). In the summer they signed three Americans who had NBA experience. Justin Dentmon, Russ Smith and Austin Daye. Dentmon lasted eight games and left for China, Smith lasted seven and is now in the D-League. Daye just does what he did in the NBA, stand on the perimeter and shoot threes.
There is a lot to complain about regarding Galatasaray, however my biggest complaint is coach Ataman seems to exclusively wear all-black suits. Step-up your wardrobe game if you want some more wins.
NBA Level Players: None.
Good Players:
- Sinan Guler
- Jon Diebler
- Alex Tyus
- Blake Schilb
- Vladimir Micov
- Tibor Pleiss.*
Notable Wins:
- Beat Olympiacos twice in Round 6 and 26.
- Beat Real Madrid in Round 24.
Bad Losses:
- Galatasaray lost their first 5-games this season.
- In their opener they faced CSKA Moscow and lost 109–84.
- Lost at Panathinaikos 85–58 in Round 11.
12. Brose Bamberg
Country: Germany
Common Names: Bamberg
Current Record: 9–17
Budget: 8.5 million (third smallest)
Head Coach: Andrea Trinchieri
Season Summary: Bamberg is an incredibly entertaining team to watch despite their record for a few reasons. The first is that they have great supporters. The second reason is Trinchieri is a very entertaining coach. He’s very theatrical on the sideline and has some great post-game quotes this season. Another reason they are entertaining to watch is because Trinchieri has his team playing an offense that revolves around getting open three pointers or lay-ups, similar to the Houston Rockets.
NBA Level Players: Nicolo Melli.
Good Players:
- Janis Strelnieks
- Fabien Causeur
- Darius Miller
- Daniel Theis
- Nikos Zisis.
Notable Wins: Versus Olympiacos Round 14.
Bad Losses:
- In Round 9 at Zalgiris: 86–72.
- Bamberg has lost 6-games this season by three points or less.
- This season Brose Bamberg has lost more games by one possession than any other team. Things haven’t been easy for the German club.
11. FC Barcelona Lassa
Country: Spain
Common Names: Barcelona, Barca, FCB.
Current Record: 10–16
Budget: 21 million (fourth largest)
Head Coach: Giorgios Bartzokas
Season Summary: Oh boy, where do we start. Barcelona is the only team with a top five budget that isn’t in the playoff picture. Yes, they’ve had numerous injury issues, but the squad itself is mentally weak. Watching the end of season games has been dreadful. You know those teams you watch where after the game you’re just like why’d they even show up? Well that has been Barcelona in nearly every game since Round 19.
Barcelona is a big club in European basketball that has produced many NBA players including the Gasol brothers, Ricky Rubio, Alejandro Abrines, Juan Carlos Navarro and Mario Hezonja.
With the incredibly disappointing season the club is apparently preparing to release six to eight players from their current roster. They’re also reportedly pursuing a new head coach.
NBA Level Players:
- Ante Tomic
- Latvian 2017 draft class member, Rodions Kurucs.
Good Players:
- Juan Carlos Navarro
- Aleksandar Vezenkov
- Tyrese Rice.
Notable Wins: Versus Panathinaikos in Round 10.
Bad Losses:
- Lost this seasons first El Clasico (Barca vs Real Madrid) 103–62 in Round 8.
- Lost to CSKA Moscow 85–61 in Round 24 (scored four points in the first quarter).
10. Zalgiris Kaunas
Country: Lithuania
Common Names: Zalgiris, ZAL
Current Record: 12–14
Budget: Eight million (second smallest)
Head Coach: Sarunas Jasikevicius
Season Summary: Coming into this season Zalgiris was the only team in the league who didn’t have a player with NBA experience on their roster. This is understandable due to their small budget and many people expected them to be bottom dwellers this season. Many people seemed to be right as the Lithuanian club was 1–5 through six rounds of play. But Jasikevicius and his crew have stuck by their system and values that clearly revolve around the sum of the parts being greater than the whole. With everyone at the club buying into the philosophy Zalgiris has become the underdog team to root for in this seasons EuroLeague.
NBA Level Players: None besides 2017 Draft Class member Isaiah Hartenstein.
Good Players:
- Paulius Jankunas
- *Brock Motum
- Kevin Pangos
- Leo Westermann.
*Tell me Brock Motum doesn’t look like Jack McBrayer who plays Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock
Notable Wins:
- Versus Baskonia in Round 2
- At Crvena Zvezda MTS Belgrade in Round 10
- At Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 13
- Versus CSKA Moscow in Round 19
- At Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul in Round 20
- Versus Panathinaikos in Round 25.
Bad Losses:
- Started 1–5
- Since then bad losses occurred to Kazan in Round 14
- And at Galatasaray in Round 17.
9. Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul
Country: Turkey
Common Names: Dacka, Blatt BC
Current Record: 13–13
Budget: 20 million (fifth largest)
Head Coach: David Blatt
Season Summary: Most fans don’t like Dacka as they basically bought their way into EuroLeague along with a solid roster. They didn’t really have to work for anything. This was supposed to be a big year for the club as they picked up Blatt to be their head coach and made some huge signings. Instead, some news broke last week which pointed out that the club will be falling into Euro Cup competition for next season and Blatt will resign.
Notably, Celtics fans should watch this team since their draft-and-stash big man Ante Zizic plays for them. Zizic has averaged a little more than 24 minutes per game since joining in January.
NBA Level Players:
- Brad Wanamaker (I love this dude and he was almost a Sixer)
- Will Clyburn
- And obviously Zizic
Good Players:
- Scottie Wilbekin
- Dairis Bertans (brother Davis is a rookie for the San Antonio Spurs)
- Adrian Moerman.
Notable Wins:
- At Crvena Zvezda MTS Belgrade in season opener
- Versus CSKA Moscow in Round 7 (CSKA’s first loss of the season)
- Versus Real Madrid Baloncesto in Round 12
- Double on Rivals Fenerbahce by beating them in Round 13 and Round 22
- Versus Baskonia in Round 17
- Versus Panathinaikos in Round 24.
Bad Losses:
- Lost to Milan TWICE in Round 2 and 21
- At Galatasaray in Round 8
- At Barcelona in Round 15
- At Maccabi in Round 16.
8. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Country: Turkey
Common Names: Efes
Current Record: 14–12
Budget: 18 million (seventh largest)
Head Coach: Velimir Perasovic
Season Summary: A lot of people don’t like Efes for the same reasons that they don’t like Dacka. A lot of Efes’s success comes from their financial power. Personally, I don’t care. Efes is a team I’ve enjoyed watching all season. The team has six American players on it’s roster and boy do they play like it. Running an up tempo offense and hassling teams with their athleticism on defense has certainly led to many highlight plays this season.
NBA Level Players:
- Cedi Osman (kind of, he’s a draft-and-stash and has NBA aspirations so I’ll give him a chance).
Good Players:
- Derrick Brown
- Thomas Heurtel
- Tyler Honeycutt
- Brandon Paul
- Jayson Granger.
Notable Wins:
- Beat Dacka twice in Round 4 and 19
- Versus Panathinaikos in Round 5
- At Crvena Zvezda MTS Belgrade in Round 21
- They are 6–2 in their last eight games.
Bad Losses:
- At Milan in Round 6
- At Barcelona in Round 18
- Lost to Bamberg twice in Round 12 and 25.
7. Crvena Zvezda MTS Belgrade
Country: Serbia
Common Names: Zvezda, Belgrade, Red Star, CZV
Current Record: 15–11
Budget: Five million (smallest)
Head Coach: Dejan Radonjic
Season Summary: Remember how I said Zalgiris was the underdog team to root for in this seasons Euroleague? Well that’s the case now but it wasn’t at the beginning of the season. Zvezda has the smallest budget in EuroLeague and after managing to make the playoffs last season they lost two of their best players in the off-season. Quincy Miller and Maik Zirbes chased money and signed with Maccabi and many wondered what Zvezda’s plan was.
Well they did what they always do. They relied on their talented domestic players and their crazy supporters who give them what is far and away the best home court advantage in EuroLeague.
Coach Radonjic has drilled the team defensively and they’ve managed to only give up 74.2ppg which is the second best mark in EuroLeague this season. This is why they are practically a shoo-in for a playoff spot even though they have the smallest budget in the competition.
NBA Level Players: None.
Good Players:
- Ognjen Kuzmic
- Marko Simonovic
- Stefan Jovic
- Charles Jenkins.
Notable Wins: Seven game win streak from Round 14 to 20 during which they beat:
- Real Madrid Baloncesto
- CSKA Moscow
- Fenerbahce at home
- As well as a nice road victory over Baskonia.
Bad Losses: At Unics Kazan in Round 6.
6. Panathinaikos Superfood Athens
Country: Greece
Common Names: Panathinaikos, The Greens
Current Record: 15–11
Budget: 14 million (eighth largest)
Head Coach: Xavi Pascual
Season Summary: The Greens lost EuroLeague legend Dimitris Diamantidis to retirement this past off-season which obviously meant there were big shoes to fill. So, the club went on a bit of spending spree and picked up some big names. Two games into the season they hired Pascual as coach when the previous head coach Argyris Pedoulakis resigned due to a domestic league loss to rivals Olympiacos. The aforementioned rivalry is undoubtedly the biggest one in European basketball. If the season ends with the standings remaining status quo these two teams would face each other in the playoffs.
NBA Level Players: Nick Calathes.
Good Players:
- Ioannis Bourousis
- Michael “Mike” James
- Chris Singleton.
Notable Wins:
- Versus Fenerbahce in Round 12
- Versus Baskonia in Round 14
- Versus Real Madrid Baloncesto in Round 26.
Bad Losses:
- At Barcelona in Round 10
- At Unics in Round 15
- At Zalgiris in Round 25
- Lost both rivalry games with Olympiacos in Round Eight and 16.
5. Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz
Country: Spain
Common Names: Baskonia, Vitoria and sometimes Laboral based on a previous sponsor name.
Current Record: 15–11
Budget: 11.5 million (sixth smallest)
Head Coach: Sito Alonso
Season Summary: Baskonia was a surprise team in last seasons Final Four where they lost to Fenerbahce. Due to their incredible performance, a lot of players left for greener pastures. Darius Adams went to China, James and Bourousis to Panathinaikos. Davis Bertans was picked up by the San Antonio Spurs where he has become a consistent bench contributor.
Given these numerous departures, Club President and last seasons Executive of the Year Jose Antonio Querejeta was tasked with rebuilding the roster.
Querejeta has a history of finding diamonds in the rough with previous success stories such as Jose Calderon, Pablo Prigioni, Luis Scola and Tiago Splitter.
One of the main things Querejeta did this season was go out and target players who left the Brooklyn Nets. To that end, he signed Shane Larkin, Andrea Bargnani, Chase Budinger and Tornike Shengelia (Shengelia was signed a season earlier than the rest of the ex-Nets crew). I know he had a stint with the Bulls before coming to Europe, but it was clearly forgetful so lets just forget it since it makes this more fun.
With this roster and some other pieces the club added or already had Baskonia is one of the teams who look capable of lifting the championship trophy in May.
NBA Level Players:
- Adam Hanga (Spurs have draft rights, might come over after this season)
- Ilimane Diop who will be in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Notable Wins:
- At Real Madrid in Round 3
- At Zvezda in Round 5
- Beat Fenerbahce twice in Round 6 and 25
- Versus CSKA Moscow in Round 26.
Bad Losses:
- At Zalgiris in Round 2
- At Milan in Round 7
- At Maccabi in Round 22.
4. Fenerbahce Istanbul
Country: Turkey
Common Names: Fenerbahce, Fener
Current Record: 17–9 (Made the Final Four last season)
Budget: 23 million (third largest)
Head Coach: Zeljko Obradovic
Season Summary: Obradovic is the best coach in Euroleague, he’s as decorated as they come and has turned Fenerbahce into the asylum for big men who become NBA busts. You know how in The Book of Eli Denzel Washington keeps saying, “gotta go west,” when people ask where he’s going? Well I imagine it’s a pretty similar dialogue for NBA big men who start to realize they aren’t going to make the cut in the big league anymore. When people ask where they’re going they say, “gotta go to Zeljko.”
Their roster is one of the most talented in Euroleague as they also have Luigi Datome and Luigi Datome’s hair bun (that’s a Zach Lowe line).
NBA Level Players:
- Bogdan Bogdanovic (Kings plan on signing him this summer)
- Ekpe Udoh.
Good Players:
- Jan Vesely
- Bobby Dixon
- Kostas Sloukas
- Luigi Datome
- Nikola Kalinic
- Anthony Bennett.
Notable Wins:
- Versus Real Madrid Baloncesto in Round 10
- Beat CSKA Moscow twice in Round 14 and 21
- Versus Olympiacos in Round 23.
Bad Losses:
- Versus Kazan in Round 5
- At Maccabi in Round 7 (this was part of a 3-game losing streak as they also lost at Baskonia in Round 6)
- Lost to Dacka twice in Round 13 and 22.
3. Olympiacos Piraeus
Country: Greece
Common Names: Olympiacos, The Reds.
Current Record: 18–8
Budget: 12.5 million (eigth smallest)
Head Coach: Ioannis Sfairopoulos
Season Summary: Olympiacos won back-to-back Euroleague titles in 2012 and 2013. The core of that roster was Georgios Printezis, Kostas Papanikolau, Vangelis Mantzaris and Vassilis Spanoulis who has an incredibly dope nickname, Kill Bill.
With the same core as five seasons ago and no offseason marquee signings they were an early favorite to be the most underwhelming team of the season.
Instead, their small signings may prove to be the best signings of the season and coach Sfairopoulos is in the running for — and should win — Coach of the Year.
NBA Level Players:
- Khem Birch
- Erick Green (these were their small signings).
Good Players:
- Spanoulis (he’s past his prime, NBA players would throttle his current broken down body)
- Papanikolau
- Printezis
- Matt Lojeski.
Notable Wins:
- At Baskonia in Round 4
- Won both rivalry games with The Greens in Round 8 and 16
- Versus Fenerbahce in Round 15.
Bad Losses:
- Lost to Galatasaray twice in Round 6 and 26
- Versus Maccabi in Round 9
- At Brose in Round 14
- At Milan in Round 19.
2. CSKA Moscow
Country: Russia
Common Names: CSKA
Current Record: 19–7
Budget: 35 million (largest)
Head Coach: Dimtris Itoudis
Season Summary: After winning the title last season CSKA picked-up where they left off as they started out 6–0. Itoudis was an apprentice to Obradovic for a long time and now he’s one of the best coaches in EuroLeague.
The team is built around the back-court pairing of Milos Teodosic — who was voted as the best international player not playing in the NBA in the most recent NBA GM survey — and Nando De Colo who’s the reigning MVP.
They also have 6' 6" Center (that’s not a typo) Kyle Hines who was last years Defensive Player of the Year and back-up point guard Aaron Jackson who went to high school fifteen minutes from my house.
NBA Level Players: Teodosic (but I’m not going to lie, I’m worried about how he’d translate to the NBA game).
Good Players:
- De Colo (he can’t create his own shot consistently in the NBA)
- Jackson
- Cory Higgins
- Hines
- Victor Khryapa.
Notable Wins:
- Started season 6–0 which included a win at Olympiacos in Round 5
- Versus Real Madrid in Round 6.
Bad Losses:
- At Dacka in Round 7
- Lost to Fenerbahce twice in Round 14 and 21
1. Real Madrid Baloncesto
Country: Spain
Common Names: Real, Madrid, Los Blancos.
Current Record: 19–7
Budget: 27 million (second largest)
Head Coach: Pablo Laso
Season Summary: Los Blancos easily have the best roster from player A-Z in EuroLeague this season and they also have my pick for this seasons MVP, Sergio Llull. They also have the runaway winner for the Rising Star award in eighteen year old point god Luka Doncic who’s been dubbed by some as the first pick of the 2018 NBA draft.
They also have NBA bust Anthony Randolph who’s dominated in EuroLeague and has made arguably the two best highlight reel plays of the season.
This first highlight reel play shows one of his two great plays.
This is definitely the highlight reel play of the season.
This wasn’t in EuroLeague, it was in Liga ACB action. But there’s no way I wasn’t including a dunk that even Vince Carter would jump out of his seat for.
Anyway, I firmly believe that if you put a top five NBA player on Real’s roster and put them in the NBA they could win 50 games.
NBA Level Players:
- Llull (the only guy in EuroLeague who would definitely start on multiple NBA teams)
- Doncic
- Randolph
- Gustavo Ayon.
Good Players:
- Rudy Fernandez
- Jeffrey Taylor
- Jonas Maciulis
- Felipe Reyes
- Othello Hunter
- Andres Nocioni
- Suffice to say, everyone on their roster is a good player and that’s why I think they’ll win the championship this season.
Notable Wins:
- Versus Olympiacos in opener
- Slaughtered Barcelona in El Clasico, 102–63, in Round 8,
- Versus CSKA Moscow in Round 16
- At Baskonia in Round 21
- Los Blancos had a 9-game winning-streak from Round 15 to 23.
Bad Losses:
- Versus Baskonia in Round 3
- At Dacka in Round 12
- At Zvezda in Round 14
- At Galatasaray in Round 24.
That wraps up 16 Wins a Ring first EuroLeague post. This provides you with all the intel necessary to know enough about EuroLeague basketball. It will allow you follow the final 4-games, pick a team to root for, tune in to the end of the regular season, the playoffs and Final Four weekend.
I’ll be back to cover the remaining games and post season action here at Sixteen Wins A Ring. Please interact with your comments and questions for future entries.
