Euroleague playoffs, other results

Regal FC Barcelona bounced back from a Game 1 loss in the best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoffs series by downing Tau Ceramica 85-62 in front of a wild sellout crowd at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday night. The series is now tied at 1-1, but Tau hosts Games 3 and 4 in Vitoria next week, with the chance to make it to the Final Four in front of its fans. Barcelona needs to steal a road win to keep its Final Four chances alive. Tau overcame a slow start, as free throws by Igor Rakocevic and Will McDonald gave the guests a 23-24 edge after 10 minutes. Tiago Splitter went to the bench with early foul trouble and Ersan Ilyasova and Roger Grimau helped Barcelona to a 36-29 edge. An outstanding Jaka Lakovic helped Barcelona keep a 46-40 lead at halftime. Splitter picked up his fourth foul early in the fourth quarter and Barcelona opted to power the offensive boards through an unstoppable Ilyasova to make it a double-digit game, 55-45. Barcelona boosted its margin to 60-47 after 30 minutes and managed to keep a safe margin all the way until the final buzzer. Lakovic finished with 17 points to lead the winners, Ilyasova posted 16 points and 10 rebounds, Fran Vazquez had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks and Juan Carlos Navarro scored 14 and dished 6 assists. Rakocevic led Tau with 18 points and Will McDonald added 14 in defeat.

Igor Rakocevic - Tau CeramicaSplitter got Tau going with a three-point play as Barcelona picked up three fouls in the opening 24 seconds. Lakovic answered from downtown, but a jump hook by Splitter gave Tau a 3-5 lead. Ilyasova took over with a driving layup and Daniel Santiago gave Barcelona its first lead in the series, 7-5. McDonald hit a turnaround jumper, but back-to-back jump hooks by Santiago put the hosts back ahead, 11-7. Rakocevic hit his first three-pointer only for an unstoppable Santiago to answer with a fast break layup for a 13-10 Barcelona lead. Mirza Teletovic came off the bench and immediately fired in a wide-open triple. Ilyasova also joined the three-point shootout. Rakocevic nailed a stop-and-pop jumper and Pablo Prigioni added a layup off a steal to help Tau regain the lead, 16-17. Lakovic buried a corner triple and Vazquez sent the crowd to its feet with a fast break dunk. McDonald nailed a three-pointer after a Tau timeout, but an acrobatic layup by Ilyasova gave Barcelona a 23-20 edge. Free throws by Rakocevic and McDonald provided another lead change, 23-24, after 10 minutes.

Grimau shined with a driving layup early in the second quarter as Barcelona improved its intensity at both ends with Victor Sada, Ilyasova and Vazquez together on court. Navarro buried a three-pointer, but Rakocevic quickly answered from downtown. Grimau paced Barcelona with another layup in transition and Navarro provided a highlight with an outstanding driving basket. Sergi Vidal rescued Tau with a five-meter jumper, however Ilyasova scored again in penetration. Splitter returned to the bench with 3 fouls and Vazquez hit a floating layup to make it 36-29. Vidal tried to change things with a triple and Teletovic also struck from downtown, causing Barcelona to call timeout, 36-35. Vazquez took over with a put-back dunk and Lakovic added free throws to give the hosts some fresh air, 40-35. Navarro scored off a steal, but McDonald quickly answered with a power layup. David Andersen stepped up with a put-back layup, which McDonald bettered with a three-point play. Lakovic beat the shot clock with a driving layup to give Barcelona a 46-40 edge at halftime.

Ersan Ilyasova - Regal FC BarcelonaPete Mickeal stepped up with a put-back layup after the break as Tau improved its defense. Gianluca Basile buried a fallaway jumper, but he didn't find much help around. Meanwhile, a three-pointer by Mickeal brought Tau back to life, 48-45. Barcelona quickly adjusted its defense while a put-back layup by Basile kept the hosts ahead. Splitter sat down with 4 fouls and Barcelona kept powering the offensive boards. Ilyasova scored around the basket, while Tau even missed open shots now. Teletovic picked up a huge block on Basile, but a layup-plus-foul by Ilyasova made it a double-digit game, 55-45. McDonald tried to change things with a layup that Vazquez matched in the other end. Grimau made free throws after a Tau timeout, but the guests kept having trouble locking up the defensive rebounds without Splitter on the floor. Vazquez set the crowd on fire with a big block on McDonald, as Tau opted for a small lineup with Mickeal at power forward. The guests could not match Barcelona's intensity, however, and a free throw by Grimau gave his team a 60-47 margin after three quarters.

Vazquez downed a jump hook early in the fourth quarter as the hosts stayed in control. Tau needed an outstanding comeback to return to the game and Mickeal tried to ignite it with free throws, but Basile answered from way downtown to break the game open, 65-49. Rakocevic beat the shot-clock buzzer with a three-pointer, but another jump hook by Vazquez kept Barcelona out of trouble, 67-52, with less than eight minutes remaining. Vazquez added free throws as Barcelona started to use long possessions to run the game clock down. A left-handed 'bomba' by Navarro sealed the outcome, 71-54, with six minutes to go. Vlado Ilievski sank a three-pointer from the corner, but Barcelona excelled in defense, not allowing any easy shots. Lakovic capped his big game with a big triple and even when Splitter returned to the court, everything was already said and done and the Barcelona fans celebrated their first win in the series.

Olympiacos moved within a single victory of its first Final Four in a decade by again outlasting never-say-die Real Madrid 79-73 at home in Piraeus, Greece, to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoff series. Game 3 is next Tuesday in Madrid, to be follow on Thursday, if necessary, by Game 4. As in their opening-game victory, the Reds again nursed small leads before relying on big plays to seize victory from what was a close game down the stretch. at 70-69 with just over 3 minutes remaining, Nikola Vujcic found Georgios Printezis for one inside basket and scored another himself to give Olympiacos the cushion it needed to win. Lynn Greer led the winners with 21 points, including 3 of 6 three-point shooting. Printezis followed with 18 points and 6 rebounds, Vujcic with 14 points and Theodoros Papaloukas with 12. For Real Madrid, Felipe Reyes was the catalyst inside all game, with 23 points and 9 rebounds, while Louis Bullock rifled in 22 points from the perimeter. No other Madrid player scored more than 6. The Olympiacos bench proved the difference, however, as it outscored Madrid 45-18.

Felipe Reyes - Real MadridRaul Lopez scored off-balance to get Madrid's side of the scoreboard going after tipoff, but soon Yotam Halperin dished twice to Printezis for a 4-2 Olympiacos lead. Real Madrid was setting up its defense well, while at the other end Kennedy Winston and Reyes found good options to put the guests ahead 5-6. The Reds used side pick-and-rolls in order to feed the ball inside to Vujcic, who bore offensive responsibility with mixed results. Reyes, on the other hand, was more efficient as he helped Madrid regain the lead at 10-11. Olympiacos starter Jannero Pargo was called for his third personal foul after 6 minutes and replaced by Papaloukas. who joined Printezis in splitting a pair of baskets from the paint. Another substitute, big man Ioannis Bourousis, found 4 points at the free-throw line as Olympiacos stayed ahead 18-15 at the end of one quarter.

Bourousis and Reyes exchanged baskets to open the second quarter before Papaloukas used his height to post up Sergo Llull and make it 22-17. Reyes continued to prove unstoppable, though, as the Madrid captain kept on connecting, lastly on a nice jumper at 22-19. Bourousis answered with a three-pointer for the biggest lead yet, 25-19, but Reyes again answered for Madrid in close. Lopez then brought Madrid within 25-23 before Greer chipped in a triple to curb the visitors' enthusiasm. Bullock exploded then for three-pointer and a driving lay-up to forge a 30-30 tie. Olympiacos score only on 1 of 4 free throws then, allowing Bullock to give Madrid the lead at 31-32. Vujcic and Papaloukas had seen enough, however, and combined for 5 straight points to make it 36-32. Both teams were playing excellent defense not allowing open opportunities, but Madrid got the better of a late exchange of free throws to trim the difference to 38-36.

Georgios Printezis - OlympiacosGreer created room for a three-pointer earlier in the second half, making it 41-37. The real bad news for Madrid was third fouls for both Reyes and Lopez, who were replaced. Printezis continued to shine, hitting another jumper for 43-37. Llull nailed a triple to keep Madrid from falling further gack, but Printezis connected on his third consecutive basket for a 47-40 lead. Olympiacos was now facing foul trouble, too, as Vasilopoulos, Bourousis and Halperin went to the bench with their third each, but Greer sent the difference into double digits with a corner triple at 50-40. The Olympiacos defense was even better, holding Madrid to just 3 points through 6 minutes of the third quarter. Vujcic scored on a nice pass by Papaloukas and then added free throws to make it 54-41. Reyes and Alex Mumbru stepped up for Madrid to with 5 points, but Olympiacos was finding solutions to the visitors' zone defense. Vujcic lobbed back-door for an alley-oop dunk by Josh Childress while Papaloukas bagged a three-pointer to keep the Reds ahead 59-49 after 30 minutes.

Alex Hervelle's tip-in set the tone at the start of the fourth quarter, although Greer beat the shot-clock buzzer to rebuild the 10-point Olympiacos margin. Madrid tightened its defense, while Reyes and Mumbru connected while drawing the third and fourth fouls of Papaloukas, who was substituted at 61-55, still 8 minutes to play. Without him, Olympiacos struggled to attack Madrid's zone, and when Mumbru scored in traffic, the guests were as close as 63-59. The fourth-quarter hero from Game 1, Vasilopoulos, offered Olympiacos a solution again from behind the arc, making it 66-59. Madrid did not panic, though, and kept dictating the fourth-quarter tempo. Bullock nailed a difficult, off-balance jumper and follwed it with a three-pointer in transition to cut it to 68-66. Olympiacos head coach Panagiotis Giannakis put Papaloukas back in and Greer scored for 70-66, but a confident Bullock blasted another triple for a one-point-game at 70-69. With every point worth gold, Vujcic made a brilliant pass to Printezis for another left-handed layup. Next, the veteran center canned a jump-hook in the paint, giving Olympiacos control again at 74-69 with 1 minute, 10 seconds to play. Vasilopoulos stole, although Printezis missed twice from the free-throw line, keeping Madrid alive. Bullock's free throws made it 74-71 with 28 seconds left, Vujcic made 1 of 2 at the line, then Vasilopoulos had a great rebound on a miss by Lopez, leading to free throws by Greer that meant a 77-71 score with 16 seconds remaining, enough for Olympiacos to capture a 2-0 lead before traveling to Madrid next week as the Quarterfinal best-of-five series moves to Spain.

A second defensive clinic in as many games led CSKA Moscow to a convincing 77-50 win over Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday and a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five Quarterfinal Playoffs series. After two games in the Russian capital, the series heads to Serbia next week where CSKA can close it out and advance to its seventh consecutive Final Four with one more win. CSKA never trailed, pulling away early and relying on its defense to coast to the win. After a Uros Tripkovic triple made it 8-5 in the opening minutes, CSKA went on a 22-3 tear to take control for good. The hosts led 43-22 at halftime and scored the first 10 points of the second half to erase any doubts. The lead peaked at 33 before Stephane Lasme tried to ignite a Partizan comeback. But that wasn’t in the cards as the champs continued to dominate the rest of the way, never letting Partizan closer than 20 in the second half. Erazem Lorbek paced the winners with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Ramunas Siskauskas and Terence Morris added 11 points each and Nikos Zisis scored 10 for the winners, who outrebounded Partizan 40-25. Lasme led the Serbian champs with 15 points. He was one of three Partizan players that fouled out.

Uros Tripkovic - PartizanCSKA won the opening tip and went inside, drawing a quick foul from Partizan’s top shot-blocking threat, Lasme, who started in place of center Slavko Vranes. Lorbek put the hosts on the scoreboard, before Lasme fed a cutting Jan Vesely for a dunk and Partizan’s first points. Matjaz Smodis drained a three and Viktor Khryapa and Lorbek added free throws as the champs showed patience on offense and an aggressive temperament on defense that stifled Partizan. Tripkovic came off the bench to drill a three-pointer for the visitors, however a defensive lapse allowed Lorbek an uncontested slam at the other end. Siskauskas started to heat up with a three-point play and a jumper to give CSKA a 15-5 lead. A Tripkovic free throw ended a 9-0 CKSA charge, but Morris completed a rare four-point play and gave the hosts a 21-6 lead after 10 minutes.

Milenko Tepic penetrated to start the second quarter in promising fashion, but a technical foul on the visiting bench allowed Siskauskas to add 2 free throws and Zisis to stretch the lead to 17 with a jumper. Zoran Planinic fed Lorbek for a slam and Morris hit his second three – already matching his team’s total from Game 1 – as CSKA took total control of the game, 30-8. Zarko Rakocevic showed signs of life for Partizan with a pair of baskets and Lasme added another bucket and later 2 free throws to complete a 0-8 Partizan push. Trajan Langdon got a friendly roll and Lorbek scored over Vranes to reassert the hosts’ dominance. Lasme attacked the rim for a vicious slam and foul, however the momentum switched hands when head coach Dusko Vujosevic was slapped with a technical foul and Siskauskas nailed 2 free throws. Zisis flew in for a layup and later added free throws to increase the gap to 20. A pair of Smodis free throws and 1 from Vesely made it 43-22 at the half.

Ramunas Siskauskas - CSKA Moscow and Stephane Lasme - PartizanA combination of strong defense and poor shooting produced a slow start to the third quarter, with the first field goal coming only after three-and-a-half minutes when Lorbek made a long jumper. A second Lorbek three and 4 Khryapa free throws capped a 10-0 run that put the champs up 31. Tripkovic ended Partizan’s drought, but CSKA continued to get to the line and score. Strahinja Milosevic and Vranes scored for the visitors only for Planinic’s three to keep CSKA ahead by more than 30. Tripkovic became the first Partizan player to foul out. Threes by Tepic and Lasme only narrowed the gap to 61-34 after three quarters.

Lasme led Partizan on a last-effort run to save the game and his three brought the visitors within 20, 61-41. Langdon answered with a jumper before Partizan used a timeout to plan one last attack. CSKA restored a 25-point gap when Zisis scored on the break and then added a basket on the offensive glass. Lasme fouled out with five-minutes to go, signaling the end for Partizan. Both teams emptied their benches in the final minutes with a steal and three by Cedomir Vitkovac in the closing seconds that denied CSKA another defensive record the only highlight in the end.