Second Round Of Euroleague Starts

Euroleague has entered the second round. There were no surprised in the first three games. CSKA, Olympiakos, and Roma chalked victories.

Even though Lottomatica was the last team to qualify for the second round of the Euroleague as the best ranking sixth team, this could not be felt at last night's game against Pau-Orthez. Even though they were weakened by Bodiroga's absence caused by a broken thumb, the Romans set their own pace in the first quarter and had a significant 10-point lead by the half of the game. They maintained that lead until the end, even though the French came close to a suspenseful 72-68 for 48 seconds before the end. With a series of six successive shots, Roma brought the game to an end. Even though they did not start the game, the best individual players of the winning team were Righetti with 16 point, Garri with eight points, seven jump shots, and five steals, and the new player, Stefansson with 11 points. The most efficient Pau-Ortherz player was Johnsen, with 16 points.

- This was a decisive start in the Top 16. It was difficult without Bodiroga, but the new player Stefansson stepped up to the plate. We lost focus in the last quarter, and that is not good when you are playing against teams like this one- said the coach of Roma and Croatian National Team, Jasmin Repesa.

CSKA, the favourite team, struggled with Joventut for a long time. The score was even at half time, 45-45, but the game broke the impasse in the third quarter, which the Moscow team won 20-6. The final score was 81-69. The best player in the home team was Smodis with 24 points and Papaloukas with 11 points, six assists, and five steals.

Olympiakos had the only away victory in Pionir against Partizan, playing in front of 7,000 noisy fans. Olympiakos had an 18 point lead at half time and was "destroyed" by former Cibona player Penn, who scored 20 out of his 27 point in that period. The end result was 92-84. Our player Zizic spent 22 minutes in the game and scored 10 points with eight jumps.

Tonight's games:

Maccabi-Tau Ceramica

Panathinaikos-Efes Pilsen

Barcelona-Prokom

Unicaja-Benetton

Aris-Dinamo