The Games of week 8:

Anadolu Efes vs FC Barcelona

Istanbul hosted the opening game of the round, and the spotlight was on the start of a new Xavi Pascual era on Barcelona’s bench.

The game opened slow. Both teams struggled to get shots to fall until Isaia Cordinier, in an isolation, scored the first points of the night. Barcelona looked to feed Clyburn in the low post, but it was Vesely who made the early impact, scoring 8 of the team’s first 11 points without a miss. Anadolu had a different plan: attack Barcelona’s bigs in the pick-and-roll, and it worked well enough for them to lead 19-18 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter kept the same pattern. Baskets were traded until Nico Laprovittola went on a 5-0 run. Efes went to the middle PnR to stop the bleeding but managed only 2 points before Barcelona responded with a 7-2 run, capped by a Hernangomez score that forced a Kokoskov time-out. Efes found ways to score, with Cordinier adding 8 points in the final five minutes, but Barcelona’s bigs, Hernangomez in particular, kept them honest, helping the Culés to a 46-35 halftime lead. The numbers told the story: Barcelona had six offensive rebounds, turned the ball over only 4 times versus Efes’ 8, and racked up 13 assists compared to Efes’ 7.

Efes struck first in the second half. Loyd hit a 2+1 to cut the lead to 5 and drew Shengelia’s third foul. Shengelia, who scored Barcelona’s first 4 points of the quarter, wasn’t enough to stop Efes’ surge, including a Dessert lob dunk off a middle PnR. Efes dominated the quarter 23-9, finishing ahead 58-55. Barcelona struggled: four turnovers, only three made field goals, and 0/7 from three.

The fourth quarter became a back-and-forth battle. Pascual drew from his playbook, with Brizuela hitting a three and Willy Hernangomez active in the paint, putting Barcelona back in front with 7:15 to play. Efes answered, Osmani converting a tap-in after a missed free throw to push the lead to five. Barcelona rallied, taking a one-point lead with just over two minutes remaining. Loyd tied it with a split pair at the line with 1:50 remaining. Satoransky hit a corner three to break the tie briefly, but Dessert calmly made two free throws, cutting the deficit to one. On the next trip, Cordinier drove, drew a foul with .3 seconds to go, and calmly hit both free throws to seal a 74-73 win.

Efes had five players in double figures, a depth advantage that proved decisive. For Barcelona, only the bigs showed up statistically: Vesely with 16 and Hernangomez with 10. In the end, Efes’ collective scoring and late-game composure edged out the Catalans in a game full of adjustments, strategies and drama.

 

Asvel vs Monaco

Some games don’t unfurl so much as they clank their way into existence, and this one opened with the full symphony of misfires and miscues. Both teams stumbled out of the gate, but the spotlight naturally swung toward Thomas Heurtel, playing his first EuroLeague minutes since his departure, coming off the bench to stabilize things… and instead bringing equal parts clarity and chaos. Monaco, for their part, played with all the urgency of a Tuesday walkthrough. Five turnovers and just 14 points in the first quarter told the story.

Asvel, though? They were staying afloat by doing the basketball equivalent of bailing water with both hands. They snagged eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone, because creating a shot off the dribble was basically a myth at that point. Monaco’s defensive approach was simple: go under every pick-and-roll. Shaq Harrison can’t hurt you from deep, and none of his teammates looked interested in disproving that (0% from three in the quarter).

Monaco finally woke up in the second, more intensity, more juice and finally some threes falling. Only one turnover in the quarter, even though Asvel kept switching every screen with a taller, mobile lineup. But all that switching opened the paint like a gift box. Mike James tore apart mismatches, dragged Asvel’s centers into foul trouble, and Monaco just kept pounding it inside.

Asvel’s offensive issues? Same script, just louder. Fifteen turnovers by halftime.
Zero made threes (0/13).
Eight made twos (8/24).
Their real scoring engine was the offensive glass: another seven O-boards in the second quarter, 15 in the half. And, to their credit, they went after every loose ball like it owed them money.

Halftime brought the quote of the night. Asked what Asvel was missing, Pierric Poupet shrugged it off with a wonderfully blunt: “just play basket.”
In a way, he wasn’t wrong.

But the third quarter stretched Monaco’s cushion. The threes kept falling at a respectable clip, and while Asvel found a little more scoring, they couldn’t string together stops. Every basket they scratched out was answered by Monaco with ease. Heurtel checked back in and this time brought that veteran steering wheel, pairing nicely with EL rookie Vautier to give Asvel’s pick-and-roll game some actual life. He even hit Asvel’s first three of the night, on attempt number 18 to trim the deficit to 20.

Still, the switching defense kept hurting them, giving Monaco matchup advantages on every trip. Asvel scored 19 in the quarter, which was nearly their entire first-half output but they surrendered 30.

The fourth quarter? A remix of the previous 30 minutes. Asvel made just two more threes the rest of the way, Monaco didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard either, but the divide in talent and creation was baked into every possession. Asvel had more offensive rebounds, more second-chance opportunities, and even took fewer shots than Monaco, but they had to work twice as hard to get anything clean. Monaco didn’t.

And that’s the problem. Poupet deserves goals loftier than just “exist in EuroLeague,” but this roster isn’t doing him many favors.

Monaco brought production from the entire roster. Mike James and Nikola Mirotic both finished with 12 and plenty of teammates chipped in. Asvel’s top scorers? Seven points: Heurtel, Seljaas and Watson. That’s the whole list.

Sometimes a game is defined by tactics or adjustments or late-game orchestration.
This one was defined by talent and the gap in it.

 

Real Madrid vs Zalgiris

Madrid doesn’t always give you drama, but when it does, it delivers the full telenovela package. Real Madrid and Zalgiris turned the biggest game of the round into a gripping, late-night roller coaster, lead changes, wild swings, late-game shot-making and a finish that felt like it was running on caffeine and chaos.

From the opening tip, Zalgiris had a clear idea: drag Walter Tavares into space, force him to defend laterally, and see if they could pry Real out of their comfort zones. Real countered by leaning heavily on the Spain pick-and-roll, letting Facundo Campazzo run the show like he had the remote in his hand. He accounted for 14 of Real’s first 18 points before heading to the bench, directing traffic, hunting mismatches and spearheading the pressure defense that helped open an 18–8 cushion with just over three minutes left in the first.

But the moment Campazzo sat, Zalgiris exhaled and punched back with an 8-4 run to trim the quarter deficit to six. They shot just 1-of-6 from deep, while Real’s entire offensive identity in the first 10 minutes could be summarized as: attack the rim, attack the rim again, shoot one three, repeat. It worked well enough for a 22–16 edge.

The second quarter opened with a Real Madrid burst, two Zalgiris turnovers in two possessions, a quick 4-0 run, and an emergency timeout from coach Masiulis. The reset worked: Zalgiris nailed back-to-back threes. But Francisco picked up his second foul with 6:10 left, and everything unraveled. Theo Maledon carved up the Lithuanian defense, getting downhill with ease, and Real entered halftime up 43-37 without hitting a single three (0/4). Zalgiris’ five live-ball turnovers in the half were the kind that turn coaches prematurely gray.

Then came the swing.

Zalgiris stormed out of the locker room with an 8–1 run in two minutes, finally grabbing the lead. Real stopped the bleeding with an Abalde three, their first of the night, but Tubelis took over the quarter. He bottled up Lyles, scored efficiently, and powered Zalgiris to a 54-47 advantage with just under five minutes in the period. Then Francisco picked up his third foul. Back to the bench he went. And back came Real Madrid.

Sergio Scariolo dusted off the 3-2 zone, and it worked like a charm: a 10-4 Real run built off Zalgiris’ lack of downhill creation without Francisco. After 30 minutes: 62-62. A deadlock with the tension of a Champions League knockout.

Then came the fourth, where both teams started landing punches like it was the final round of a title fight. No empty possessions until the 4:55 mark, a Francisco turnover and Maledon and Campazzo took turns rewriting the script. Maledon manipulated the Zalgiris defense like a seasoned puppeteer, but then Campazzo went full supernova: a scoring burst that pushed Real ahead by eight with 2:22 remaining, forcing another Zalgiris timeout.

The response? Back-to-back threes. Lead cut to two. And still Campazzo kept coming.

Real nudged it to a two-possession game, but Francisco drilled a quick three. Maledon answered with a 2+1. Ulanovas responded with his 2+1. Suddenly the gap was back to one. Then came the chaos sequence: Real came up empty, a controversial offensive foul on Lo, two technicals on the Zalgiris bench and two made free throws later the lead ballooned to three. Lyles added two more. Real by five.

Francisco, because of course, hit another three. Two-point game, 10 seconds left.

Zalgiris gambled on the trap, and Real punished it with a wide-open Lyles layup. But Francisco simply refused to blink, splashing yet another three to cut it back to one with 2.6 seconds left. Campazzo was fouled, missed both, and the entire building inhaled as Brazdeikis launched a prayer from behind half court.

It missed.
Real Madrid survived.
100-99.

A heavyweight brawl, one more reminder of how fragile margins can be when stars start trading haymakers. Madrid got the win, but Zalgiris left the floor with nothing to regret, except maybe being born a few centimeters short on that final heave.

 

Key Performances of the Past Week:

Sylvain Francisco vs Real Madrid

Sometimes a performance is so outrageous, so defiant, so bursting with competitive fire that even the home crowd, one of the toughest, most demanding fanbases in Europe, just throws its hands up and applauds. That was Sylvain Francisco in Madrid.

The box score says 33 points and 11 assists, a monster double-double in one of the hardest arenas to thrive in. But the numbers only hint at the electricity he generated. He was super efficient, hitting 3-of-6 inside the arc and an absurd 7-of-9 from deep, including three daggers in the final 80 seconds that felt like he was trying to single-handedly pry the game open with a crowbar. Every time Real tried to breathe, Francisco threw another punch.

The playmaking was just as sharp. His pick-and-roll reads sliced Real’s coverages wide open, touch the paint, collapse the defense, kick to shooters, drop it off to the big. Rinse, repeat, panic the defense. He made it look easy, which is the ultimate sign that it very much wasn’t.

And then the moment that elevates a great stat night into a great memory: when Francisco fouled out, the Real Madrid fans, the same ones who boo legends when they feel like it, rose to their feet and clapped. Respecting greatness when they saw it. Respecting a performance that almost stole the game from them. Respecting a guard who played like he had no intention of leaving that court quietly.

A loss on the standings. A win for anyone who loves competitive basketball. A night where Francisco didn’t just play, he owned the spotlight.

 

Standings Watch:

Partizan’s season has entered that uneasy stage where fans stop obsessively refreshing the standings and start studying them like war maps. Four wins in twelve games, buried in the bottom four and already two games off the Play-In pace. But it’s not just the gap, it’s the traffic jam of teams stacked between them and those postseason lifelines. Partizan doesn’t just need wins; they need a minor continental miracle.

The numbers don’t offer much comfort. Bottom five in both offensive and defensive rating, that’s a double-red flag usually reserved for rebuilding teams, not a Zeljko Obradovic roster brimming with expectations and pedigree. They’re struggling to generate efficient offense, string together stops, or even look like the kind of bully they were supposed to be.

This is the point in the season that forces the existential question: can Zeljko pull another rabbit out of the hat? If anyone in Europe has earned the right to inspire late-season faith, it’s him. But right now, Partizan isn’t just losing games, they’re losing the underlying statistical battles that indicate whether a turnaround is sustainable.

The Grobari still believe he can fix it. The standings? They’re starting to whisper that time is running out.

 

Week 9 Games to Watch:

Hapoel vs Real Madrid

Week 9 doesn’t ease you in, it throws you straight into a heavyweight matchup with real “circle this on the calendar” energy. Hapoel, the lone leader of the competition and the team playing the most complete basketball so far, gets Real Madrid at home. That’s not just a game; that’s a tone-setter for the entire round.

Hapoel has been a machine to this point, sporting a league-best +10 NET Rating and looking every bit like the team that understands exactly who it is and how it wants to play. They impose their rhythm, they control possessions, and when they hit their stride, opponents spend entire quarters trying to claw their way back to neutral.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, arrives in that familiar space where their defense is sturdy but the offense still feels like it’s tapping the brakes. And yet, this is the part that feels almost unfair, Los Blancos live for nights like this. They’ve built an entire decade of dominance on showing up in high-pressure environments, absorbing the punch from a challenger, and responding with a deliberate, almost inevitable slow burn of winning basketball.

So here we are: the early juggernaut against the perennial champion, the team with all the metrics vs. the team with all the muscle memory. Who comes out on top in this can’t-miss game?

 

Crvena Zvezda vs Olympiacos

Belgrade Arena is going to sound like it’s running on jet engines when Crvena Zvezda hosts Olympiacos in Round 13, and for good reason. This is a matchup with real standings weight behind it, second vs. third, two teams staring directly at each other across the top tier of the table, fully aware that this isn’t just another midseason checkpoint. Games like this linger. They shape tiebreakers, playoff routes, and the psychology of who actually belongs in that upper crust.

Both teams are built from the back forward: elite defensive groups that bend games in their direction possession by possession, then layer on an offense that, while not flashy for the sake of it, is comfortably above average and ruthlessly efficient when it matters. There’s a kind of mirrored tension here, two rosters that pride themselves on toughness, discipline, and forcing opponents into uncomfortable decisions.

Put that inside a Belgrade crowd and you have a recipe for one of those EuroLeague nights where the atmosphere becomes part of the scouting report. This is exactly the sort of game that rewards every fan who cancels plans and settles in.

 

What’s at Stake:

Dubai BC is hovering just outside the Play-In spots at 5-7, and the question on everyone’s mind is simple: when will Dzanan Musa step back onto the court? The Bosnian guard has been day-to-day for a while now, yet the team has managed to stay afloat without their main star. That’s no small feat for a first-year EuroLeague squad.

Offensively, Dubai has been humming, but Musa’s return could unlock another level. His PnR game isn’t just about scoring, it stretches defenses, creates space for the bigs, and takes some pressure off the supporting cast. The timing couldn’t be more crucial: one win separates them from a Play-In berth, and having Musa back sooner rather than later might be the difference between a first-season playoff run and a midtable finish.

It’s a mix of anticipation and urgency. Can Musa return in time to steer this Dubai squad into uncharted waters? For fans and the league alike, it’s a storyline worth watching.

 

EuroLeague Headlines:

Virtus is making their home court a fortress. Five games, five wins, undefeated at home and it’s the reason they’re still hanging in the EuroLeague conversation, tied with Real Madrid and EA7 Milano for the final Play-In spot.

But there’s a catch: staying perfect at home only gets you so far. If Virtus wants to punch a ticket to the postseason, they’ll need to take some of that magic on the road. The question now isn’t just about defending Bologna, it’s whether they can translate that dominance away from their crowd. Can they steal a few games and make their mark, or will that home-only success leave them stranded outside the playoffs? For a team on the bubble, every road trip is suddenly high-stakes.

 

This article was written by the European Hoops team: Tiago Cordeiro, João Caeiro and André Lemos. Make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @EthosEuroleague!

The Games of week 7:

Hapoel vs Baskonia

Week 6 delivered plenty, but nothing came with quite the same blend of tactics, pace manipulation and outright shotmaking chaos as Hapoel vs Baskonia in Sofia. Two teams sitting far apart in the standings but entering with the same momentum, both fresh off wins, set the tone for a game that never quite settled into a single rhythm because neither coach wanted it to.

Hapoel opened with a 6–2 run, and from there the first quarter became a series of traded punches. The Israelis leaned into a two-big lineup with Motley and Oturu bullying the paint, crashing the offensive glass for extra possessions and forcing Baskonia’s defense to bend early. On the other end, Hapoel switched everything, daring Baskonia to hunt matchups and isolations rather than flow into their trademark ball movement. For a stretch it worked. Then Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot entered and shifted the tenor of the quarter, throwing down five fast points, sparking stops and giving Baskonia the transition runway they desperately needed. The Basques hit an absurd 9-of-11 inside the arc in the quarter, almost all of it fueled by early offense. But Chris Jones’ half-court heave at the horn put Hapoel up 26–24 after one, a snapshot of the knife-edge balance between the teams.

The second quarter was where Hapoel went hunting. With Nowell on the floor, they targeted the 5-foot-7 point guard possession after possession, especially on the low block, and ripped off an 8–2 run in barely a minute. Markus Howard briefly stemmed the bleeding with a three, but it never turned the tide because Baskonia’s pick-and-roll defense continued to leak and the rebounding imbalance stayed tilted. Eventually Micic took command, threading into the paint, spraying passes, then unleashing the classic step-back three that finally nudged Hapoel’s lead into double digits. And the free throws mattered: Hapoel a perfect 12-for-12 at halftime, Baskonia only 5-for-6, helping explain the 58–48 lead at the break.

The second half opened like the first, basket trading both ways until Hamidou Diallo detonated into the game. Galbiatti engineered a weak-side skip action that isolated Diallo against Micic in space, and the American carved him up for six points across five minutes, trimming the Hapoel lead to five and forcing an Itoudis time-out. Itoudis hit the right button. Elijah Bryant took over, scoring six of Hapoel’s eight points in a quick 8–2 surge, restoring the double-digit cushion and reestablishing control heading into a third-quarter finish of 86–74.

In the fourth Hapoel found yet another pressure point. This time the target was Markus Howard, and every possession seemed designed to drag him into the action. It worked mercilessly. A 10–2 run ballooned the lead to 20, sending Galbiatti scrambling for a time-out. Baskonia gave the expected counterpunch, trimming the gap to 12, but they never fully closed it. A final 14–3 burst from Hapoel, powered by Tyler Ennis scoring 10 of those points, slammed the door and sealed a 114–89 win.

The Hapoel offense practically floated. They shot a ridiculous 63.6 percent from two, 57.1 percent from three, and 95.7 percent from the line, with seven players in double figures. Elijah Bryant led the charge with a stunning performance: 24 points, nine boards and four assists, a complete takeover without ever feeling forced.

For Baskonia, TLC’s 19 and four other teammates in double digits offered positives, but the elephant in the room was the three-point shooting: 5-for-18, just 27.8 percent, not nearly enough to keep pace when the opponent simply refuses to miss. Baskonia is still chasing that first road win. Hapoel is headed back to the top of the table.

 

Real Madrid vs Panathinaikos

Real Madrid walked into this one knowing Panathinaikos was wounded, thin up front and still the kind of team that forces you to solve a new puzzle every trip down the floor. What they didn’t quite expect was to get carved up by a wave of lefties who treated the first half like a showcase of angles, pace changes and surgical pick-and-roll reads.

Madrid opened the game by going straight at Kendrick Nunn, and the early math worked: two quick fouls. The problem was everything happening behind him. Len offered almost no resistance, piling up defensive mistakes and letting Mitoglou walk into comfortable looks. It had that NBA-late-on-a-Wednesday feel, the “Memphis-or-Sacramento-road-night” brand of defense where a big just sort of drifts and hopes no one notices. Panathinaikos noticed. And punished it.

TJ Shorts’ form returned along with his grin. He looked like the Paris version of himself: freer, faster and always one dribble away from bending the entire floor. Together with Sloukas, the PAO lefties were dismantling Madrid’s defense for two straight quarters, scoring and spraying passes like clockwork. By the time the second quarter hit the final minute, Panathinaikos was shooting a wild 71 percent inside the arc. Real? Stuck at 48 percent. And the PnR between those guards and Faried kept generating angles Llull simply couldn’t navigate; every screen felt like a trapdoor opening under Madrid’s base. Two or three posters on Tavares later, the building knew exactly who controlled the tempo.

The lone Madrid spark was Maledon, who stacked eight straight to cut the margin, but it barely registered. Scariolo again went to his recent go-to: the 3×2 zone he tried against Barça and Valencia. Against Valencia and now PAO, the ball pinged side to side too fast; the zone never had time to form its teeth. PAO hit the break up 14. Zero turnovers. Madrid had five.

The third quarter didn’t change much. The same problems persisted for Real, though Panathinaikos did gift them a small path back with a stretch of sloppy possessions. Madrid closed the gap but never made the leaders sweat. Midway through the quarter Scariolo pivoted, rolling out small-ball with Okeke at the five to get more switchable length on the floor, bodies that could chase PAO’s giant wings like Cedi and still have a chance of running with Faried.

Feliz used that window to stack a career-high night, but on the other side Sloukas was playing puppet master. He controlled every detail: buzzer-beaters, drives into bigger bodies, off-rhythm jumpers, everything. It was veteran command and it kept Madrid at arm’s length.

Madrid won the fourth by four, but the late push never threatened the outcome. Panathinaikos simply managed the lead with the steadiness of a team that knew its matchup advantages and rode them until the final whistle.

By the numbers PAO’s blueprint was obvious: only four turnovers, 36 percent from deep on strong volume, and a ruthless 61 percent inside. Real trimmed their miscues to nine but hit just 33 percent from three, nowhere near enough to offset the defensive issues that never stopped snowballing.

TJ Shorts walked away MVP with a PIR of 24, a sharp 19 points, six assists and only one turnover. Hernangómez (11 rebounds) and Faried (four offensive boards) gave PAO the interior consistency they needed. Madrid had pockets of resistance, but Panathinaikos controlled everything that truly dictated the game.

 

Valencia vs Real Madrid

Valencia vs Real Madrid delivered exactly the kind of edge you expect when an in-country rivalry spills onto the biggest European stage. The game carried that familiar mix of tactical brinkmanship and emotional undertow, and even before the ball went up you could feel both coaches moving their pieces.

Pedro Martínez made the first gambit by inserting Pradilla into the starting lineup to mirror Lyles, while using Reuvers to stretch the floor and tempt Tavares out of the paint. Scariolo countered by stashing Tavares on Pradilla, an effort to hide his anchor and keep Real’s last line of defense intact.

Madrid opened with a crisp 5–0 run while grinding late into the clock to dictate tempo. Valencia’s start wasn’t pretty, but their path into the game was. Stops first, then transition, then rhythm. Scariolo tried to slow the rising Valencia tide with a 3–2 zone after dead balls, planting a big wing up top to muddy the view. The wrinkle lasted only until Mario Hezonja arrived and immediately torched the game with seven points in roughly a minute.

Valencia didn’t flinch. They kept pushing off every rebound and even after makes, refusing to let Real organize. The first quarter ended with the home team up 22–21.

The second quarter opened 7–2 for Valencia, but Theo Maledon stepped in and started reorganizing the chessboard with three straight assists. He manipulated Valencia’s help with his eyes, nudging Real back in front 30–29 and forcing Martínez into a timeout. The answer was clean and clever. Pradilla hit back-to-back threes, and Valencia dialed up a sharp zone-attack set that dragged Tavares out of the lane. The signature sequence of the half came next: Reuvers hammering home a lob dunk over Tavares, a momentum spike that propelled Valencia into the break.

Madrid’s second-quarter shooting was ice cold, going 0-for-7 from deep. Their perfect 11-for-11 from the line kept them alive while Valencia sat at 3-for-6. Hezonja and Lyles produced 19 of Madrid’s 38 points. Valencia’s 10-for-24 from three and only four turnovers spelled out the 45–38 halftime lead.

The third quarter opened with the Trey Lyles show, the former NBA forward piling up seven points in two minutes to pull the margin to four. Valencia slowed down and struggled to manufacture clean looks until Moore checked in and brought instant scoring pop. It steadied them enough to keep the same seven-point cushion entering the final quarter.

The fourth became a sequence of swings. Taylor’s and-one capped a 5–0 run and pushed the margin to 12, forcing Scariolo into a timeout. Campazzo engineered Real’s response with a quick 5–0 burst, but Valencia answered with four unanswered of their own and nudged the lead back into double digits. Scariolo tried one last shape shift, moving Lyles to the five and Deck to the four for the final minutes, but nothing budged. A Taylor layup in the final minute sealed it. Valencia moves to 2–0 against Real Madrid this season and Real continues to labor on the road.

Hezonja’s first-half brilliance turned into a rough second half full of shaky decisions. Lyles, Maledon and Campazzo scored 35 of Madrid’s 38 second-half points. The bigger issue was shooting: just 38 percent on twos and 23 percent on threes. Only the 29-for-34 from the free throw line kept the score within reach.

Valencia simply played cleaner. Fifty percent on twos, thirty-nine percent on threes and a tidy nine turnovers. That was the difference. The margins in this rivalry are always small, and Valencia owned the ones that mattered.

 

Key Performances of the Past Week:

Isaia Cordinier’s night against FC Bayern felt like one of those games where a player doesn’t just rise to the moment, he bends the entire night around his energy. Anadolu Efes walked in carrying a three-game losing streak and the weight of a season slipping into uncomfortable territory. They needed someone to punch a hole in the fog. Cordinier didn’t just do that; he tore the whole thing open.

With Shane Larkin forced to leave the game, the French wing saw his usage skyrocket and posted the highest usage rate of the entire EuroLeague season by a wide margin. He responded with a career-high 26 points on a ruthlessly efficient line: 7 of 9 on twos, 2 of 4 from beyond the arc and a perfect 6 of 6 at the line. He attacked the paint fearlessly, finishing strong, hunting contact and converting everything he earned.

Yet the part that will make the Efes coaching staff exhale was the two-way commitment. On defense he made his presence felt, producing two steals and anchoring an elite team defensive rating of 107.3 while he was on the floor. This was the best version of Cordinier, the one who lifts the floor of everyone around him. Efes need this version to show up with regularity if they want to pull themselves out of the early-season mud.

Elijah Bryant also demanded attention with his performance in Round 10 against Baskonia. His PIR of 38 was the kind you circle immediately on the box score. He gave Baskonia 24 points with an efficiency line fit for a top five daily fantasy slot, added 9 rebounds and 4 assists and carried the offense whenever it needed stabilizing. Kamenja earned an honorable mention with 20 points on 9 of 12 shooting and 9 rebounds, 4 of them on the offensive glass.

Round 11 belonged to TJ Shorts. Not because it was the most explosive line of the week; it wasn’t. But because it was an “amazing game” in every way that matters for a guard of his style and responsibility. Shorts scored 19 points, played efficiently, and in stretches somewhat outplayed Kendrick Nunn and overshadowed the former MVP. He added 6 assists and had only one turnover in 30 minutes. It was the kind of poised, electric performance that tilts a matchup without needing monster numbers to tell the story.

 

Standings Watch:

What is happening in Madrid? That is the question circling around the league after a brutal double week that sent Real Madrid tumbling below the .500 mark and out of the play-in zone. For a roster with this much talent, this is unfamiliar and frankly strange territory.

The defense has stayed strong, still rating as a top 5 unit in the EuroLeague, contesting well, rotating with purpose and generally doing enough to win. The problem is everything on the other side of the ball. Their offense has struggled badly and has been the culprit in most of their defeats. Even on nights when the stops are there and the structure holds, they simply cannot score enough to come out on top. Scariolo has to put an offensive revamp at the top of his priority chart because this section of the schedule can make or break Madrid’s season.

On the other end of the spectrum we have Fenerbahce trending upward. After that blowout loss to Madrid three rounds ago something clicked. They have now won three straight. If we are being honest, among those three opponents only Hapoel fits the description of a proper team to beat, since Asvel and Maccabi are not competing at the same level right now. Even then there were warning signs, like the 17 turnovers they committed against Maccabi, though they still managed to win. The next round they cleaned it up, cutting it to 12 turnovers against a much better team like Hapoel. That game in particular felt like a complete team effort, each and every player helping on the box score. The reward is visible. They sit in the tenth spot and have already climbed into play-in position.

 

Week 8 Games to Watch:

Anadolu Efes against FC Barcelona in Istanbul suddenly feels like one of the most intriguing games of the entire round. Efes finally crawled back into the win column but lost Larkin for the foreseeable future, a plot twist that reshapes everything they do offensively. On the other side Barcelona arrive having taken both games last week with interim coach Oscar Orellana, but this time Xavi Pascual is back on the bench and there is an expectation of structure returning to their rotations and late game decisions. Both teams struggle to defend for long stretches and both can get outrageously hot on offense in a matter of possessions, the kind of matchup that morphs into a high scoring track meet before you even realize it. It fits every description of a must watch.

Olympiacos against Paris is another one that jumps off the page. Paris snapped their losing streak with an impressive win over Valencia and now step into one of the toughest buildings in the league. The contrast in styles is pure basketball theater. Paris lean on their lead guards to control everything, tempo, spacing, creation, all of it. Olympiacos exist on the opposite end of that spectrum, a movement heavy, ball sharing system that flows possession to possession without relying on on-ball creators. Polar opposites, meeting on the same court, and both needing a statement win. It is hard not to circle it as one of the games of the week.

Round twelve adds even more spice. Wednesday opens with a French derby between Asvel and Monaco and that alone earns a place on any must watch list. These games tend to get emotional, fast, and you can usually toss the standings out the window. Hapoel against Milano belongs in this category as well. Milano have quietly won four in a row and now face the first seed. Hapoel dropped their last game against Fener and this becomes a game both teams appear to need. The stakes, the form, the tension, it all lines up.

 

What’s at Stake:

Barcelona, post-Peñarroya, suddenly look like a team that forgot how to lose. Two wins in the double week: one over Virtus, one over Bayern by a single point and the most telling change isn’t some tactical overhaul or a shiny new offensive wrinkle. It’s that everyone, genuinely everyone, stepped up and contributed scoring-wise instead of relying on the same five guys to bail them out. It feels more balanced, more democratic, more resilient.

But the problems they carried before the coaching change didn’t magically vanish. They still lack real interior presence, and the rebounding numbers keep screaming the same thing: this team can’t consistently win the battle on the glass. They take care of the ball well, they move it, they create good looks, but every defensive stop becomes a coin flip because someone is sneaking in for an offensive board. It’s the kind of flaw that doesn’t just disappear, it needs personnel. A rebound-first center, more size on the wings, someone who can tilt the physics of the game back in their favor.

Xavi Pascual inherits a good situation but not an easy one. Barcelona sit in sixth, stable for now, and trending in the right direction. But if they want to climb, if they want to look like a true contender again, strengthening the interior isn’t optional, it’s the key that determines how high this resurgence can actually go.

 

EuroLeague Headlines:

EuroLeague beware: TJ Shorts might have just found his groove in Athens, and when he finds his groove, entire defenses start looking like they’re on roller skates. The American point guard looked more comfortable than ever this past double week, averaging 16 points and 6 assists while playing like someone who finally figured out exactly how to steer this Panathinaikos machine. His scoring pop adds yet another weapon to an offense already stacked with firepower, but it’s the subtler stuff that could truly elevate the Greens. The pace control. The feel. The way he tilts the floor to create advantages others cash in on. If this wasn’t a one-off but the beginning of a trend, Panathinaikos may have just unlocked a new level.

While Shorts is rising, the EuroLeague guard landscape keeps getting hit with body blows. Kennan Evans’ long-awaited return ended in heartbreak with a season-ending Achilles tear, a gut punch for both him and Zalgiris. Shane Larkin’s injury adds another layer of trouble, sidelining him for two months at a moment when Efes desperately needs stability, shot creation and leadership.

Olympiacos is trying to get ahead of their own issues, searching for what they’re calling a “playoff level guard,” which sounds great until you remember how late in the calendar we already are. Those guys don’t exactly sit on shelves waiting to be picked up.

And then there’s the whisper making the rounds: Malachi Flynn might be on his way out of Bahçeşehir. If that door really cracks open, don’t be surprised if several teams start sprinting toward it. In a season where backcourts are getting tested everywhere, one move could reshape an entire playoff race.

 

This article was written by the European Hoops team: Tiago Cordeiro, João Caeiro and André Lemos. Make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @EthosEuroleague!

The Games of week 6:

Baskonia vs Virtus Bologna

Sometimes, even before the ball goes up, a basketball game reminds you that it’s more than just a sport. At Buesa Arena, before Baskonia and Virtus Bologna tipped off, players from both sides came together at half court, holding a banner that read “Forza Achi.” It was a tribute to Achille Polonara, a player who’s worn both jerseys and is now fighting cancer once again. The crowd rose, applauded, and for a brief moment, rivalry faded into something bigger. Then the ball went up and Baskonia came out like a team on a mission.

From the opening possession, the Basques played with energy, clarity, and purpose. They blitzed Virtus 11–2 out of the gate, attacking mismatches, pushing the tempo, and moving the ball with intent. On the defensive end, Rafa Villar, getting the start and the Carsen Edwards assignment, was a spark plug, forcing Dusko Ivanovic to burn a timeout just 3½ minutes in. Virtus clawed back through their bench, Niang and Diouf brought some much-needed toughness, and Morgan chipped in six of the team’s first 10 points, but Baskonia’s shot-making and glass dominance (11–3 in total rebounds, including four on the offensive glass) kept them firmly in control, 23–14 after one. Six of 11 from two, three of five from deep, and nearly every possession humming, this was the Baskonia that had been missing earlier in the year.

Virtus started the second quarter with a punch, a quick 5–0 run, but Baskonia absorbed it and threw a heavier counterpunch, 7–2 of their own. The ball zipped from side to side, everyone touching it, everyone contributing. Edwards finally found some rhythm, dropping seven straight points, and Diouf flashed impressive short-roll passing, dishing out three assists. Still, Virtus couldn’t get stops. Baskonia went into halftime up 12, 46–34, with only one unassisted field goal in the entire half, a masterclass in collective offense.

Dusko adjusted at the break, rolling with Niang at the 5, and Virtus again came out strong with a 7–2 burst. But Marco Galbiati trusted his bench to settle things, and once again, the group responded, fast decisions, crisp cuts, the kind of offense that bends defenses without ever forcing the issue. Virtus made another push, trimming the lead to four with just over three minutes left in the third, but Baskonia answered with a 7–0 run to close the quarter, heading into the final frame up 65–57.

From there, the Buesa crowd took over. Nowell hit a pull-up three to push the lead to 16, and even when Virtus strung together a couple of threes to get it back to 10, the energy in the arena never wavered. TLC, because of course it was him, buried a dagger three with three minutes left, sealing the deal before the final buzzer made it official: Baskonia 87, Virtus 76.

Virtus’ road woes continue, their defense springing leaks everywhere (an ugly 129.9 defensive rating on the night). Niang was their lone constant, finishing with 18 and 12, but the rest of the team never quite matched Baskonia’s rhythm.

For the Basques, it’s now three straight wins, not just wins, but team wins. TLC led with 16, but this was a “we’re all in this together” kind of performance, the type of complete effort that can quietly turn a season around. The best teams find their flow, and for Baskonia, it finally feels like the music’s back on.

 

Barcelona vs Rel Madrid

There’s something almost cinematic about Real Madrid and Barcelona tipping off in a packed Palau Blaugrana. The tension is thick before the ball even goes up. And then, bang, Facundo Campazzo opens the night with a one-footed, bank-shot three like it’s a horse trick shot contest. That was the tone-setter. Madrid didn’t blink, didn’t wait. They roared out 9–2 in the first four minutes, pounding the ball inside to Walter Tavares and Trey Lyles, running that clean inside-out rhythm that immediately brought back memories of the Yabusele days.

Barcelona tried to answer in kind,Toko Shengelia working on the block, trying to get his looks, but Lyles’ size and mobility were too much. Jan Vesely gave them a pulse, hitting those silky midrange jumpers (3-of-4 early), but Lyles was everywhere: seven points in his first El Clásico, playing like he’d been doing this for years. A timeout didn’t cool Madrid off. Campazzo came out and splashed back-to-back threes, and suddenly the rhythm belonged entirely to the visiting side.

Barça wasn’t playing poorly, 60% shooting in the first quarter would normally mean good things, but Madrid was in flamethrower mode, hitting 71% from deep. The difference was in creation: Barcelona depended on their guards to manufacture everything, while Madrid could create from every position. Every catch was a threat. Every cut had intent. When the horn sounded to end the first quarter, Okeke banked in a half-court three, increasing the Madrid lead to 34–24. The benches told the story early, Madrid’s reserves had already poured in 10 points; Barça’s had just three.

That gap in depth? It only got louder as the game went on. When Barça’s best five were on the floor, Vesely, Clyburn, Punter, Toko and Satoransky, they could go toe-to-toe with Madrid. That lineup had everything: stretch, shot creation, playmaking, toughness. But as soon as the rotations hit, the cracks showed.

Still, Vesely kept them alive. He went 5-for-6 from the field, and a flurry of threes from the home team cut the Madrid lead to single digits midway through the second quarter. Real got sloppy, five turnovers in that period alone and the crowd started to hum again. But Madrid closed the half with veteran poise, switching into a 3-2 zone that forced two rushed possessions and a scoreless Barça stretch. Halftime: 58–48 Madrid. Lyles had 16, Vesely 13, and one worrying stat lingered for Los Blancos: they were the lowest second-half scoring team in the EuroLeague at just 36.8 points per game.

For a few moments, it looked like that curse might creep in again. The third quarter began messy, turnovers on each team’s opening possession, but Madrid steadied through Theo Maledon, whose pace and decisiveness gave them a fresh offensive burst. Lyles? Still cooking. He and Maledon built the lead back to 16 as Madrid hit an absurd 11-of-16 from deep. The rebound numbers were starting to feel cruel: Madrid 27, Barça 15, including eight offensive boards. Their bench scoring? 35–12 by the end of the third.

By the fourth, it was mostly academic. Barcelona could only trade threes to stay afloat, shooting them well (over 50%), but relying entirely on perimeter offense while losing the rebounding battle 36–21 is basketball’s version of trying to win a fistfight with one hand tied. Punter led a valiant mini-run, a 10–4 burst that cut the margin to 10, but Madrid’s composure and depth held.

Barcelona did keep turnovers under control, which is something, but the lack of interior aggression killed them. They passed around the arc, waiting for something to appear that never did. Madrid’s length on the wings just smothered them. On the other end, Madrid got whatever they wanted at the rim.

There were still things for Scariolo to grimace about, 17 turnovers are 17 too many, but when you shoot 58% from three and dominate the glass, it’s easier to sleep at night. Alex Len, in his debut, looked understandably lost in the system, four minutes of visible confusion both offensively and defensively, but that’s to be expected. Scariolo’s schemes are a Rubik’s Cube even for veterans.

The headline of the night, though, belonged to Trey Lyles. Twenty-nine points. Efficient, poised, patient. The kind of “Vezenkov-type” game that unfolds naturally: no forcing, no demanding the ball, just letting it come to him and making it look easy. Madrid may have already found their new Yabusele, and if Len eventually becomes their Poirier, this team’s depth might border on unfair.

And just when the night felt like it could settle, the real off-court bomb dropped: Joan Peñarroya was fired. The whispers around Palau already had a name: Xavi Pascual, possibly next in line.

Classic El Clásico. High-level basketball, a touch of chaos and a reminder that in Spain, drama doesn’t end at the buzzer.

 

Paris vs Bayern

In Paris, the lights were bright, the tempo was frantic, and the chess match started the second the ball went up. Two teams, equal in the standings, opposite in temperament, walked into the French capital for a game that promised pace versus precision, chaos versus control.

From the jump, Paris tried to dictate the terms of engagement. Full-court pressure, aggressive traps, bodies flying around, it was their signature brand of high-speed basketball. But Bayern refused to be sped up. Gordon Herbert’s squad operated like a team wearing noise-canceling headphones: unbothered, unhurried. They controlled rhythm beautifully, picking their spots to run and carving up Paris’ aggression in the half court with smart spacing and ball movement. When the quarter ended 22–19 Bayern, it already felt like a small victory for their game plan.

The second quarter was the Spencer Dinwiddie Show. For a few shining minutes, he looked like a man who finally found the EuroLeague groove. Dinwiddie was slicing through the defense like a surgeon, touching the paint, creating for others, and then casually stepping back for a three that pushed Bayern’s lead into double digits and forced a Paris timeout. Paris, meanwhile, couldn’t buy a bucket early in the quarter. Three long minutes without a single point, and their defense wasn’t doing much better. Bayern, a team not exactly known for their offensive fireworks, dropped 53 in the first half on dazzling efficiency: 9-of-17 inside, 9-of-16 from deep. Paris hit just 3-of-12 from beyond the arc, a stat that practically wrote the halftime score by itself, 53–42 Bayern.

But whatever Francesco Tabellini said at halftime, it worked. Paris came out swinging, ripping off an 11–4 run in three minutes. They played faster, tougher, smarter. Bayern looked rattled for the first time all night. Herbert’s timeout didn’t help, Paris tied the game and were a single possession from taking the lead before Gabriel decided to make a statement. A monster block that sent the ball flying and the momentum with it. Bayern turned that play into a 5–0 run, forcing Tabellini to huddle his team again.

Paris, to their credit, didn’t wilt. They regrouped and hit Bayern right back, ending the third quarter on a wave of energy and confidence. They led 68–64 after holding Bayern to just 11 points in the frame and forcing seven turnovers. From 53 in the first half to 11 in one quarter, that’s a defensive revival.

But Bayern didn’t make the trip to Paris to leave empty-handed. Two minutes into the fourth, they were back in front with a 5–0 spurt and had the locals on their heels. Paris suddenly couldn’t get anything going again, seven minutes into the quarter and they’d scored just four points, all from the free throw line. Their first field goal came with only two minutes left. Still, they kept the fight alive. Andres Herrera buried a three to cut it to two, but Dinwiddie immediately silenced the crowd with a three of his own. Then, as if trying to one-up each other, Herrera answered again. With under a minute to play, the ball found its way into T.J. Robinson’s hands, game on the line, with the arena buzzing. His three rimmed out, and Vladimir Lucic sprinted the other way to punctuate the night with a dunk. Bayern escaped, 86–82.

The numbers told the story as much as the game did. Bayern shot 44.4% from deep; Paris only 26.7%. The Germans hit twice as many threes and that’s a margin that’s hard to overcome, no matter how electric the pace.

Dinwiddie was the engine, the difference-maker, the grown-up in the room. Xavier Rathan-Mayes came alive in the fourth with 16 points, backed by three other double-digit scorers, but it was Spencer’s fingerprints all over the win. Paris got the fireworks from their usual suspects: Robinson with 22, Hifi with 21, but it wasn’t enough to stop the skid.

If this was a glimpse of what Dinwiddie can become in EuroLeague, a steady hand in the chaos, dictating the terms, it might’ve been the most important win of Bayern’s season so far. Paris played their way. Bayern won theirs.

 

Key Performances of the Past Week:

Mike James

Mike James, did you really think we’d forgotten? Nights like this are why he’s still the most feared scorer in the EuroLeague jungle. Against Maccabi, he put on another masterclass, the kind of performance that reminds everyone why his name sits at the top of the all-time scoring list. Thirty-four points, each one dripping with the swagger and shotmaking that has defined his career. There were those pull-up midrange daggers that seem to defy balance and physics, the off-the-dribble threes that make defenders shake their heads, and the tough finishes at the rim where touch meets toughness.

But this wasn’t just a solo act. James orchestrated the entire Monaco offense with the kind of control that only comes from years of walking the tightrope between chaos and genius. He didn’t just score, he dismantled Maccabi’s defense piece by piece, drawing help, reading rotations, and then delivering pinpoint passes that turned possessions into poetry. Seven assists, six rebounds, and more than a few moments where it felt like he was playing the game in slow motion while everyone else was stuck in fast-forward.

Every time Maccabi thought they’d forced him into a bad shot, the ball found the bottom of the net anyway. Every time they sent help, James made the right read. This was vintage Mike James, but also something more: a reminder that he’s not just chasing numbers or living off reputation. He’s still evolving, still dictating games, still the heartbeat of Monaco basketball. Nights like this don’t just pad his legend, they reaffirm it. Mike James isn’t done, not even close.

 

Standings Watch:

Paris Basketball’s free fall continues, and it’s starting to feel like more than just a rough patch. Not long ago they were flirting with the top of the EuroLeague table, their pace and energy giving teams nightmares. Now they’ve dropped three straight and find themselves staring up at the play-in line, searching for answers on both ends.

Defensively, they’re still hanging their hat on that end, a top-five unit by most measures, but the cracks are beginning to show. The real problem, though, lives on the other side of the floor. Paris’ offense has gone flat, ranking among the EuroLeague’s bottom five. When Hifi and Robinson get cooking, things look fine, but too often it’s just those two trying to drag possessions into something productive while everyone else watches.

Inside scoring? Almost nonexistent. The numbers tell the story: Paris takes fewer shots at the rim than anyone in the league, only 8.8 percent of their attempts coming within arm’s reach of the basket. And when they do get there, they’re not exactly cashing in, sitting in the bottom four in points per shot at the rim. That’s not a stylistic quirk anymore, it’s a red flag.

This offense has become too one-dimensional, too reliant on guards creating magic against set defenses. Without an inside threat to balance things out, even great defense can’t bail them out night after night. If Paris doesn’t fix that imbalance soon, their slide down the standings might not stop at the play-in line, it might keep going.

 

Week 7 Games to Watch:

Olympiacos vs Zalgiris

The Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus is ready for a battle that feels like it carries more weight than just one game in the standings. Olympiacos, back in rhythm after two straight wins, welcomes one of the EuroLeague’s early leaders, Zalgiris, in a matchup that could shape the playoff race months down the line.

Zalgiris arrives in Greece brimming with confidence and armed with the EuroLeague’s October MVP, the heartbeat of a team that’s been playing fearless, connected basketball. But history hasn’t exactly been their friend in this rivalry. The Lithuanian club has dropped five straight to Olympiacos, and this arena has been particularly cruel to them.

Olympiacos, on the other hand, looks like a team rediscovering its identity. They’re defending with intensity, moving the ball with that trademark flow, and getting back to the kind of disciplined, physical play that made them perennial contenders. With their home crowd behind them, they’ll look to turn this into another statement night.

It’s confidence versus history, form versus familiarity. Zalgiris wants to prove the past doesn’t define them; Olympiacos wants to remind everyone that in Piraeus, they still set the tone.

 

Real Madrid vs Panathinaikos

This game is European basketball royalty in action. Real, with the most EuroLeague titles in history and Panathinaikos, sitting third on that list, meet again for another classic clash.

Los Blancos haven’t lost at home this season. There’s a rhythm to Madrid at the WiZink Center, precise, disciplined, and tough to break. Panathinaikos, meanwhile, arrive aiming to be the first team to crack that home invincibility. They aren’t in peak form and have injury issues, but Ataman’s squads never show up just to participate; they play to win.

Add to that the standings context, both teams tied and you have stakes that are immediate and intense. Every possession matters, every matchup is magnified and only one team will leave with the win. This is a game you cannot miss.

 

What’s at Stake:

What’s at stake is survival for Partizan, Efes and Dubai. These are three teams that entered the season with big expectations and now all three find themselves in the bottom six, already two wins shy of a Play-In spot. It’s not a death sentence, yet, but every win counts, a lifeline to break the cycle and climb out of this early-season trap.

 

EuroLeague Headlines:

Biggest news from the EuroLeague this week? Sylvain Francisco is the October MVP, and honestly, it’s hard to argue. The French guard has been an absolute force for Zalgiris, putting up 14.9 points and 6.8 assists per game while shooting 54.1% from two and 40.4% from three. Those numbers already tell a story, but the advanced stats make it even clearer.

His usage rate is high at 31.3%, yet he’s producing 1.053 points per possession and he’s not just a perimeter guy. 10.3% of his shots are at the rim, where he’s finishing at an insane 1.67 points per shot. Defensively, he’s just as impactful. With Francisco on the floor, Zalgiris is posting what would be the best defensive rating in the league, hands down. And yes, the eye test matches the stats, he makes the right play at the right time, every time.

The big question now: can he keep this up? If Francisco maintains this level, we might be looking at a very special season for Zalgiris.

 

This article was written by the European Hoops team: Tiago Cordeiro, João Caeiro and André Lemos. Make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @EthosEuroleague!

The Games of week 5:

Valencia vs Fenerbahçe

Roig Arena was loud, bright and buzzing as Valencia hosted the defending champions, Fenerbahçe, in a matchup between two teams entering with identical 3-3 records. But from the jump, there was nothing identical about how they played.

Valencia came out flying, attacking every switch Fenerbahçe threw their way with crisp ghost screens that opened wide driving lanes. The pace was breathtaking, a blur of orange jerseys running, cutting, and sharing the ball, and within minutes the home side was up 14–6. Fenerbahçe’s defense looked a step slow and their offense was a one-man show, with Wade Baldwin IV trying to drag them forward while everything else sputtered. When Darius Thompson drilled a three, Valencia’s fourth already, to push the lead to 19–10, Sarunas Jasikevicius had seen enough and called time. But the timeout changed nothing. Valencia went on an 8–3 run right after, finishing the quarter up 27–13 behind superior shooting (5-of-10 from three versus Fener’s 1-of-5) and a pounding on the boards (13–6).

Quarter two brought more of the same. Valencia opened with a 6–0 burst in less than two minutes, and the Roig Arena crowd could sense something brewing. Credit to Isaac Nogues, who played limited minutes but brought elite on-ball defense and energy, the type of small detail that sparks a team. If he ever adds a consistent jumper, he could be one of those quietly indispensable EuroLeague role players. Meanwhile, Fenerbahçe unraveled. Poor body language, offensive fouls born out of frustration, technicals, it was a meltdown in slow motion. Valencia just kept punishing mismatches, hunting Bacot Jr. in space and stretching the lead to 21 with under four minutes in the half. Saras had to burn another timeout and this one helped at least steady the bleeding, closing the half on a 14–7 run. Still, 10 turnovers and 2-of-9 shooting from deep told the story: Fenerbahçe trailed 51–35 and it could’ve been worse.

Fenerbahçe came out of the break with renewed defensive fire, communicating better and playing with more purpose. But Valencia’s offense is relentless, constant motion, constant pressure. You might slow them for a possession or two, maybe a minute, but not for long stretches. Eventually, the pace cracked Fener again. Valencia took the third quarter 25–21 and stretched the margin to 20 (76–56), turning what should’ve been a grind into another statement of superiority.

To their credit, the champions still had one last swing left. Biberovic exploded to start the fourth with a personal 6–0 run, and suddenly there was a flicker of life. Valencia lost their rhythm, milking the clock too early and struggling to find clean looks, going more than four minutes without a field goal. Biberovic caught fire, dropping 16 points in the quarter alone, but it was too late. Even after winning the frame, Fenerbahçe never got close enough to make it uncomfortable. Valencia coasted home 94–79 in a game that they controlled from wire to wire.

The locals won this one with glass work and precision. Kameron Taylor led the way with 17 points and 6 rebounds, and three more players joined him in double figures. For Fenerbahçe, Biberovic’s late surge and solid outings from Talen Horton-Tucker and Baldwin weren’t enough.

The champions left the floor frustrated, while Valencia walked off looking every bit like a team that knows who it is: fast, fearless and just maybe a little bit special.

 

Virtus vs Zalgiris

Zalgiris came into this one like a team that knew exactly what was at stake, and how to seize it. You could feel the urgency from the opening tip, the kind that hums through an arena before the scoreboard even catches up. Seven minutes in, it was 17–2. The Kaunas crowd was roaring, Virtus looked stunned and it already felt like the game was being played at only one team’s tempo.

From the very beginning, Zalgiris had a plan and it was as clear as it was effective: contain Carsen Edwards. The assignment fell to Francisco and he put on a defensive clinic, shadowing Edwards everywhere, contesting every jumper, making him work for air. By the end of the quarter, Edwards hadn’t scored and Francisco looked like he could’ve run another full game. On the other end, Zalgiris went to work with their bigger wings, hunting Edwards in mismatches and pounding the interior. Tubelis feasted early, drawing contact and finishing plays, and once Virtus began to collapse inside, the perimeter opened wide. Syrvidis hit two straight threes as Zalgiris went 4-of-6 from deep in the first, running Virtus off the floor in transition and looking every bit like a team that had found its rhythm and joy. Things were going so fast that Dusko Ivanovic had to yank Smailagic after just two minutes, the message was clear: find someone who could actually run with these guys.

Virtus finally showed some fight in the second quarter. They started 15–8, trimming the gap to seven and, for the first time, looking like they might get their footing. Francisco, electric in the first, began forcing plays and those poor decisions spread like a bad cold. Rookie Brandon Taylor stepped into the spotlight, hitting back-to-back threes, a small miracle considering he’d never scored more than three points in a EuroLeague game, and suddenly Virtus was within striking distance. Carsen Edwards finally got on the board 17 minutes in, but that was as far as the comeback went. Zalgiris’ versatile wings reasserted control, smothering Virtus on defense and rebuilding a double-digit lead before halftime.

The subplot of the night, Smailagic’s return to Kaunas, added extra spice. The boos rained down, and he answered by helping Virtus on both ends of the court and being particularly effective stretching the floor.

By the third, Virtus’ defensive structure started to crumble. You could see the confusion, miscommunications, switches that came half a second too late, rotations that never finished. Mathew Morgan tried to play savior, finally giving Edwards some much-needed scoring support, trimming the deficit to six. But Francisco wasn’t having it. He took back control of the game with a blend of poise and fire, scoring when he needed to, creating when the moment called for it and orchestrating the offense like a maestro who knows every note by heart.

Virtus’ late scoring made the box score look kinder than it should have, but anyone watching knew the truth, Zalgiris dominated from tip to buzzer. Even without NWG, out with injury, they still had a guard who could set the tone, control pace, and close the game. Francisco was that guy, the heartbeat of the win and the clear player of the round.

Zalgiris didn’t just win, they imposed their will. Virtus was left chasing shadows, out-hustled, out-thought and out-executed. If you wanted to see how urgency looks when channeled into beautiful basketball, Kaunas gave you the blueprint.

 

Monaco vs Olympiacos

This one started like a Monaco highlight reel and an Olympiacos blooper tape spliced together. Three minutes in, the scoreboard read 8–1 and the early energy in the Salle Gaston Médecin was all red and white, Monaco’s red and white, that is. Olympiacos looked flat, coughing up turnovers and struggling to organize anything that resembled coherent offense, while Monaco came out pressing full court, Strazel harassing the ball like a mosquito you can’t swat away. Every screen was hedged hard, every post-up met with firm resistance. Even when Olympiacos tried to go to Vezenkov on the block, Monaco’s smaller guards: Strazel and Mike James, held their ground with those strong, low bases, forcing him deeper and deeper under the rim.

Eventually, though, Olympiacos did what veteran teams do, they steadied the ship. Bartzokas adjusted, taking out Walkup to inject some spacing and rolling out a bigger lineup to better match Monaco’s length. Slowly, they crept back in, closing the first quarter on a high. Up by one with 30 seconds left, Vezenkov capped the period with his first three of the night, fittingly, the first made three for either side, a smooth pull-up from the top of the key that gave the Greeks a 4-point edge after 10 minutes of chaotic basketball.

The second quarter was a series of mini runs, momentum bouncing between teams like a pinball. Olympiacos opened strong, building a 6–7 point cushion, their best stretch so far, but the tempo and composure that carried them there soon evaporated. A few rushed decisions, a few lazy passes, and suddenly Monaco was back in business. Donta Hall, interestingly, spent time as an offensive hub at the top of the key, a bit of a Fall tribute act, looking for cutters and trying to facilitate. The problem: he’s not Fall and that creative load doesn’t fit him. Even as a screener, the rhythm felt off, the actions too labored for Olympiacos’ usual precision. Neither team could buy a jumper, just four total made threes in the entire first half and the scoreboard reflected the grind: 38–37 Olympiacos at the break.

Then the tone flipped. Monaco came out of halftime attacking everything. They got aggressive going downhill, putting pressure on the refs and the defense alike, and Coach Spanoulis’ technical foul only added fuel to that fire, the kind that turns into free throws and fast breaks. Mike James, already cooking with 16 points, leaned into full Mike James mode: isolation daggers, step-backs off staggers, impossible heat-checks that suddenly looked routine. The sequence that defined the night came midway through the third: Olympiacos threw away a lazy pass, Mike grabbed it, raced upcourt, pulled a wild transition three that rimmed out… and Strazel came flying in for the offensive rebound. Every Olympiacos player froze, ball-watching, as Diallo slipped behind them for the put-back. The nearest person reacting in red wasn’t a defender, it was Bartzokas, sprinting down the sideline to call timeout. That was the heart of a 9–0 Monaco run and the turning point.

And just when you thought emotions couldn’t boil any higher, they did. Strazel and Dorsey got tangled up after the whistle, chests bumped, words exchanged and Dorsey shoved Strazel with the ball still in his hands. Unsportsmanlike foul, more Monaco points and more unraveling from Olympiacos. The discipline was gone: silly fouls, wild reaches, frustration boiling over. Monaco’s lead ballooned into double digits for the first time. To his credit, Dorsey used that same fire to claw them back, drilling two clutch shots to close the third and trimming the gap to four.

By then, though, the math wasn’t pretty. Monaco was 6-for-18 from deep; Olympiacos, just 3-for-18. At one point in the half, Monaco hit 6 of 9 from outside, the kind of swing that changes everything.

In the fourth, Olympiacos tried to slow it down, put Walkup back in to manage tempo, but it just made them predictable. Their turnovers (13) piled up against Monaco’s discipline (only 6 at the midway point of the quarter) and every mistake felt like a small dagger. The sequence that sealed it: Monaco’s 18th assist, a simple yet beautiful set, Mike James parked in the corner, Okobo and Mirotic screening for each other, Mirotic popping to Mike’s side, drawing both defenders… and leaving James all alone for a dagger three. Classic misdirection, executed with calm.

Dorsey, again, refused to quit, leading a 10–2 burst that gave Olympiacos one last pulse, but it wasn’t enough. Hayes’ activity down the stretch, sprinting the floor, switching everything, making Milutinov work, made the difference forcing Olympiacos to lose their defensive anchor and their composure.

When the dust settled, Monaco had the cleaner game, fewer mistakes, better ball movement, sharper reads. Olympiacos showed flashes, but their inconsistency still defines them. Without Dorsey’s personal heroics, this one might’ve turned ugly. Monaco, meanwhile, just looked like a team that knew who they were and who wasn’t going to beat them that night.

 

Key Performances of the Past Week:

Tornike Shengelia vs Partizan

Every once in a while, EuroLeague gives us a performance that feels less like a box score and more like a statement. Last week it came from youth, from a kid breaking through. This week? It came from experience, from a man who’s been carving up defenses for over a decade. Tornike Shengelia reminded everyone why he’s still one of the most complete forwards in Europe.

Against Partizan, the Georgian veteran was everywhere. He dropped 24 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, handed out 5 assists and swiped 4 steals, basically filling every column on the stat sheet with his fingerprints. But the number that really tells the story isn’t any of those. It’s +22. In 29:45 of action, Barcelona outscored Partizan by twenty-two points with Shengelia on the floor and lost the ten minutes he sat by twenty. That’s the kind of gravitational pull you can’t fake.

It wasn’t just the scoring, though he hit big shots and made defenders look like they were stuck in slow motion, it was the control. The reads. The physicality that comes with knowing how to use your body, not just having one. He directed traffic like a point forward, found cutters in tight spaces and bullied mismatches with that quiet, methodical relentlessness that has defined his career.

At 34, Shengelia might not jump as high or run as fast as he once did, but nights like this prove that wisdom and versatility still win games. He’s seen every coverage, solved every defensive riddle and against Partizan, he turned that experience into dominance.

There are stars who flash for a moment and then there are pros who just keep delivering. Shengelia, once again, showed he belongs firmly in that second category.

 

Standings Watch:

Crvena Zvezda is at the top of the standings.
Read that again. Crvena Zvezda, the same team that looked utterly lost through the first two rounds, the same team that couldn’t string together a defensive stop or a coherent offensive possession, now sits atop the EuroLeague mountain.

What changed? Everything, really. A coaching switch flipped the script and suddenly this team looks like it knows exactly who it is. The defense, once a mess of late rotations and soft coverages, has transformed into a wall, the second-best defensive rating in the entire competition. The offense? Not exactly high-octane, but it’s found a rhythm, a pace that suits the roster’s balance and allows their guards to dictate tempo instead of chase it. And just like that, six straight wins later, Zvezda has gone from punchline to powerhouse.

The latest addition of Jared Butler feels less like a panic move and more like a precise tweak. Another guard presence, another creator who actually fits the team’s new identity, one built on poise, control and playing both sides of the floor.

Now the only question left is how far this goes. Is this version of Crvena Zvezda here to stay, a legitimate contender ready to fight for Final Four dreams? Or, like Icarus, will they fly too close to the sun, feel the heat, and see their wings melt away? Either way, after that miserable start, this turnaround already feels like one of the stories of the EuroLeague season.

 

Week 6 Games to Watch:

Dubai vs Hapoel

Circle this one. Dubai vs Hapoel, the EuroLeague’s battle of the newcomers, two debutants who’ve decided that “rookie season” doesn’t have to mean “take your lumps.”

Hapoel has been one of the revelations of the early campaign, sitting at the top of the standings behind a flamethrower of an offense. Their spacing, their confidence, that relentless three-point barrage, it’s been the league’s version of a neon sign flashing we belong here. They’re one of just three teams at the summit and they’ve earned it with discipline and rhythm on both ends.

Dubai, meanwhile, started hot before an injury to Dzanan Musa threw a wrench into the rotation. Still, their frontcourt duo, Filip Petrusev and Mfiondu Kabengele, has been a nightmare for opponents. They’re physical, active and relentless on the glass, the kind of bigs who make you rethink whether you really want to drive into the paint.

This first-ever clash between these two sides isn’t just a matchup of expansion teams, it’s a statement game. Dubai wants to show their early success wasn’t a mirage in the desert; Hapoel wants to keep proving they’re not just hot, they’re for real. Two upstarts, one stage and forty minutes to say we’re here to stay.

Crvena Zvezda vs Panathinaikos

Crvena Zvezda have completely flipped the script after a brutal start to the season. What once looked like a team struggling to find its rhythm now sits comfortably at the top of the standings and doing it with confidence and swagger. The defense has tightened, the ball movement is sharper and the addition of Jared Butler has added exactly the kind of guard play and scoring punch they were missing. He’s made them not just better, but more fun, a word rarely associated with this kind of grind-it-out defensive juggernaut.

On the other side, Panathinaikos enter this one in a real bind. No centers. None. Coach Ataman will have to get creative, going small and leaning on Mitoglu, Juancho Hernangómez and Samodurov to hold the fort inside. It’s an experiment that might work in spurts, especially with their offensive versatility, but it’s also a dangerous one against a Zvezda team that punishes mismatches and dominates the physical battles.

This game is the perfect cocktail of intrigue: a surging Zvezda, a shorthanded Panathinaikos forced to improvise and two passionate fanbases that live and die with every possession. Expect noise, chaos and a little bit of basketball madness, exactly what EuroLeague nights are made of.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid

You can change the sport, the arena, or even the rules, but when these two meet, it’s always a classic. Whether it’s football, basketball, or even a pickup game of cards, every Barça–Madrid clash feels like it carries the weight of history. Pride, prestige and bragging rights, they’re all on the line.

This time, the stakes are different but no less fascinating. Both teams have been inconsistent, sitting in the 8th and 9th spots in the standings, still trying to find rhythm in a season that hasn’t yet gone as planned. Real Madrid, though, comes in riding a wave after a dominant 26-point win over Fenerbahçe.

Barcelona, meanwhile, arrives just as motivated, if not more. Their dramatic win over Partizan, capped by a Clyburn buzzer-beater after trailing by six in the final minute, was one of those moments that can shift a team’s belief overnight. Add that to a perfect double-header week and suddenly this Barça team feels like it’s regaining its bite.

So here we are again: the Spanish classic, another chapter in a rivalry that refuses to lose its fire. Two proud clubs, one court and at least forty minutes that will feel like a heavyweight title fight, because, well, in Spain, it always is.

Zalgiris vs Valencia

Zalgiris vs Valencia might not make the casual fan’s pulse jump off the page like a Madrid–Barça showdown, but for anyone who actually watches the EuroLeague, this is the kind of game you circle in red ink. Not the biggest names, sure, but both teams have been playing absolutely stellar basketball, and that’s exactly why this is must-see TV.

These two couldn’t be more different in personality. Valencia wants to run, pace, spacing, ball movement and finding early offense before the defense even realizes what hit it. Zalgiris, on the other hand, is deliberate and surgical, like a chess master who enjoys watching opponents squirm as they try to guess what’s coming next. Their guards orchestrate everything, breaking you down piece by piece in the half court until a high-percentage look materializes from the chaos.

And this one matters. Zalgiris walks in looking to defend their top spot, while Valencia, just one win away from the summit, wants to crash the party and remind everyone they belong among the elite. Style clash, standings implications and two teams that refuse to back down. It’s brains versus tempo, calculation versus chaos and it’s exactly the kind of EuroLeague basketball that hooks you for all forty minutes.

 

What’s at Stake:

Baskonia’s season finally has a pulse. After a brutal start that left them buried at the bottom of the table, the Basque club came out of the double week with not one, but two statement wins: against Dubai and Anadolu Efes, no less. Two opponents loaded with talent, two teams with playoff aspirations, and Baskonia just walked right through both of them.

The catalyst? Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, he was the main man offensively: 25 points against Dubai, 20 more against Efes, but this was far from a solo act. For the first time all season, this felt like a team performance and the defense, yes, that long-missing defense, finally made its presence felt. Holding Dubai to 85 and Efes to 75 points marked Baskonia’s two best defensive outings of the year, a sign that something might be starting to click.

Now the question that lingers: is it too late? In a season as wild and balanced as this one, a play-in push isn’t out of the question. If this version of Baskonia, the one that defends, runs, and shares the load, is here to stay, then maybe, just maybe, their EuroLeague story is far from over.

 

EuroLeague Headlines:

Alarm bells in Athens. Panathinaikos just got hit with another center injury, this time Omar Yurtseven with a grade-2 adductor strain, expected to be out around three weeks. That joins Lessort and Holmes on the sidelines, leaving the Greek giants paper-thin at the 5.

Lessort’s comeback is looming, but after such a long hiatus, easing him in will be the name of the game. That likely means Panathinaikos is going shopping for a center who can give them playable minutes. The real question: can they pull it off before Wednesday’s game? If not, it’s Mitoglou and Juancho at center. Mitoglou has some experience there, but Juancho? Absolutely not a 5. The floor will be tilted and opponents will know exactly where to attack.

This isn’t just bad luck, it’s a potential tactical nightmare for a team that’s trying to stay competitive in a tight EuroLeague season. How Panathinaikos navigates this could define the next few weeks of their campaign.

 

This article was written by the European Hoops team: Tiago Cordeiro, João Caeiro and André Lemos. Make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @EthosEuroleague!

The Games of week 4:

EA7 Milano vs Valencia: Valencia Survives Milano Comeback in Thrilling 103-100 Win

EA7 Milano vs Valencia delivered exactly the kind of EuroLeague thriller you hope for, and then some. Valencia traveled to Milano hoping to snap a three-game losing streak against an Armani team with the same 2-3 record, though coming off a road win against Zalgiris. The first minutes of the game were pure Milano style, low scoring, tight defense, 5-3 after three minutes, with Valencia struggling to get out and run. Their early 1-4 PnPop with Matt Costello wasn’t clicking. Pedro Martinez went to his bench early, and suddenly Valencia’s reserves dialed the intensity meter all the way up: full-court pressure, forcing turnovers, and turning them into easy points. Milano still punished Valencia’s switches with Booker on the short roll, but by midway through the first quarter, 10 Valencia players had already touched the floor. Exploiting Empty Corner actions and moving the ball side to side, Valencia tested the limits of Milano’s defense, which resorted to switching ball screens and fronting the post, but Valencia’s guards found open shots enough to offset Milano’s five offensive rebounds, a rare sight against this team. The first quarter ended 24-18 for Valencia, with the bench contributing 10 points.

Valencia came out prepared for Milano’s switch adjustments in the second quarter, sending a guard to “ghost” after switches, a move that led directly to Montero’s wide-open three and a Sako layup in a 5-0 run. Messina called a timeout, but Valencia kept riding the momentum, punctuated by Isaac Nogués’ defensive gem: poking the ball away from Marko Guduric, diving on the floor for the loose ball, and feeding Jaime Pradilla for a score. The lead hit 15 points with seven minutes left, forcing another Milano timeout. Valencia’s offense slowed down briefly, allowing Bolmaro to make some plays, but a 14-4 Milano run to close the half still left Valencia ahead 54-48, with Bolmaro already tallying 17 points at the break.

The third quarter began like the second ended: Bolmaro creating havoc and scoring, but Valencia’s threes soon began raining down. Nathan Reuvers, Pradilla, and Darius Thompson joined the party, hitting seven straight from deep, and Valencia’s lead ballooned to 20 points, forcing another Messina timeout. Eventually, Milano found cracks in the Valencia defense with a small-ball lineup featuring Ricci at the five spot, sparking a 12-4 run in the final 2:36 of the quarter and cutting the deficit from 22 to 11. Milano had life again, and the stage was set for a classic fourth quarter.

The fourth started with Milano continuing small-ball against Valencia, opening with a 7-2 run. Brooks hit four threes, cutting the lead to just two with 3:24 remaining. Omari Moore extended it to four, but Bolmaro wasn’t done, free throws brought it back to a two-point game. The final 2:50 became a clinic in tension: after a series of missed shots, Shields was frozen by an In-and-Out dribble from last year’s EuroCup Rising Star, who drained a clutch three to put Valencia up three with 43 seconds left. Bolmaro tried to answer, but Pradilla’s heads-up play tapped the ball out after a missed shot. Milano had a chance, but Shields’ contested three didn’t fall, leaving Valencia to escape 103-100.

For Valencia, this was more than just a win; it was a victory of the collective. Five players scored in double digits, two others just shy, and 11 players logged over 10 minutes. Pedro Martinez’s system continues to impress, moving the ball, attacking mismatches, and riding momentum. Bolmaro fought hard for Milano, scoring a career-high 31 points, but it wasn’t enough to overturn Valencia’s balanced attack. The game was a showcase of tactical adjustments, bench energy, and last-second heroics, and in a season full of parity, matchups like this are exactly what make EuroLeague must-watch TV.

 

Anadolu Efes vs Fenerbahçe

Blood runs hot in Istanbul, but never hotter than during the 40 minutes of a Turkish Derby and this one did not disappoint. Anadolu Efes came out firing, opening an 8-0 run that had the crowd on their feet. Fenerbahçe responded, punching back through Shane Larkin for four quick points, but their initial strategy of switching the PnR with Khem Birch on the floor was a mess. Efes attacked him relentlessly, with Weiler-Babb in particular making a statement, scoring eight points in just over six minutes. It wasn’t only him, all Efes guards were finding success, touching the paint, forcing rotations, and racking up assists; after one quarter, Efes already had eight assists on nine made field goals. Fenerbahçe’s shooting wasn’t pretty, but they hung around thanks to crashing the offensive glass, trailing 24-18 after the first.

The second quarter was a chess match. Fenerbahçe adjusted, dropping Bacot Jr. in the PnR and hedging with the others, but it mostly resulted in trading buckets. Saras called a timeout, and as usual, an ATO play sparked a 5-0 run that tied the game. Anadolu answered back, attacking opposing bigs in the PnR and getting to the free-throw line in a quarter full of whistles. Leads kept changing hands, and offense clearly had the upper hand, by halftime, Fenerbahçe held a narrow 44-43 lead. Their efficiency inside the arc (12/18) stood out against Efes’ smaller interior rotation, while the hosts relied more on the outside shot (6/14 from deep).

The second half turned into a grind. The third quarter started slow: 5-5 over the first three minutes, highlighted by Osmani picking up his fourth foul, thinning Fenerbahçe’s interior rotation and forcing Kokoskov into a four-guard lineup with PJ Dozier at the four. Defense tightened in Istanbul, points became scarce, and a Baldwin IV three with a Colson follow-up gave Fenerbahçe a five-point lead, forcing a timeout. Efes replied with a 5-0 run of their own, led by Larkin, and the quarter ended 15-14 in Efes’ favor, leaving it all tied going into the final period.

The fourth quarter belonged entirely to Fenerbahçe. They opened with a 6-0 run in the first minute and a half, and Efes never got closer than four points the rest of the way. Fenerbahçe’s defense, which had been building all game, now fully asserted itself. An Efes offense that had looked like a well-oiled machine in the first half suddenly looked out of sync, unable to find good shots. Hall’s three-pointer with 2:33 remaining felt like the dagger, Fenerbahçe up nine. They held on, winning 79-69, extending the road team’s dominance in the Istanbul Derby to 10 of the last 13 matchups.

Individually, Wade Baldwin flirted with a triple-double (10 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists), or maybe even a quadruple-double if you count his seven turnovers. But it was Fenerbahçe’s collective defensive identity that won the day, holding Anadolu to just 9-of-26 shooting in the second half. For Efes, poor free-throw shooting (12-of-22) and an inability to consistently crack Fenerbahçe’s defense were decisive. Weller-Babb with 17 and Larkin with 13 points and nine assists tried valiantly, but it wasn’t enough. Istanbul bragging rights go to Fenerbahçe, at least until the next derby.

 

Virtus vs Panathinaikos

From the tip, this game was played at a high tempo, two teams looking to impose themselves, but Virtus came with a very clear plan: put size on Kendrick Nunn and take him out of the equation. With Karim Jallow matched up on him, 197 centimeters of length and athleticism, Virtus executed it perfectly. Nunn managed only five points in the first half, and that tells you just how disciplined Virtus’ defense was.

Scorers from both sides went to work early, Carsen Edwards and Nunn trading buckets, but Nunn’s night was cut short by Virtus’ elite defensive length and switching. On Panathinaikos’ side, Yurtseven was the lone center available and picked up two fouls in the first quarter, forcing a spell on the bench. Mitoglu slid to the five, Smailagic and Diof exploited inside, but it wasn’t enough to counter Virtus’ overall athleticism. Mathew Morgan stepped up when Carsen rested, handling scoring duties with confidence and poise, a marked improvement from his rookie season in Europe.

By halftime, Virtus had dictated the pace. They dominated the glass, forced seven turnovers, and slowed down everything Panathinaikos tried to do. Panathinaikos was never comfortable; their inside game was limited and their rhythm disrupted. Efficiency-wise, Virtus were on point, hitting their marks both inside and out, building a largest first-half lead of 15 before going to the locker room ahead by 13.

The second half saw Panathinaikos’s emotions boil over. Nunn picked up an unsportsmanlike foul and, with Ataman receiving two technicals and eventually ejected, Virtus capitalized, stretching the gap back to 13 after a Panathinaikos run at the start of the third. Even with Carsen off the floor, Virtus continued to score at a high clip. Panathinaikos elevated their defense, but their offense couldn’t keep up, only TJ Shorts was consistently producing, and Virtus’ lead climbed to 16 entering the fourth.

What makes Virtus dangerous is their versatility: their set plays generate looks inside and out, and they can punish a team in multiple ways. In the fourth, double teams on Nunn, executed by Hackett, Niang and Jallow, all elite defenders, were deadly effective. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Virtus was coasting to victory. Pajola flirted with a triple-double, and the team as a whole showed that if they carry this momentum forward, they might be a serious problem for the rest of the league.

This Virtus squad is not messing around: in their three games against Real, Monaco, and Panathinaikos, they held all opponents under 75 points, a statement of defensive dominance and a warning to anyone underestimating them this season.

 

Key Performances of the Past Week:

It’s time we shine a light on Nadir Hifi. The French guard has been quietly superb all season, but the Partizan game was when he truly stepped into the spotlight. In a hostile environment, Hifi put on a show, scoring 21 points, grabbing four rebounds, and dishing four assists in just 22:27 of playing time. Even more impressive? He did it while missing only three shots, 5-of-6 from two, 3-of-5 from deep, and a perfect 2-of-2 from the line.

What makes Hifi so captivating isn’t just the efficiency, it’s the way he wreaks havoc on defenses. He was able to dismantle every PnR defense Partizan threw at him. He attacked the teeth of the defense, breaking down defenders with his floater game and crafty finishes, turning what should have been contested shots into effortless points. There’s a kind of genius in the way he manipulates space and timing, and at just 23 years old, the ceiling feels endless. If EuroLeague fans are lucky, we’ll be watching Hifi dismantle defenses for many seasons to come.

Tammir Blatt deserves a spotlight after delivering one of those EuroLeague moments you tell friends about. Scoreless from behind the arc all game, he calmly drained the game-winning shot with just five seconds left. Beyond the dagger, Blatt’s stat line tells the story of a complete floor general: 12 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds and only 2 turnovers in 27 minutes. Efficient, clutch, and unflappable. And then there’s Loonie, who had a night that made defenses regret every second they dared contest him. Dropping 27 points with zero turnovers, he was both the scorer and the engine, executing at an elite level while keeping the ball secure.

 

Standings Watch:

After six rounds, Hapoel is standing tall as the first clear leader of the EuroLeague with a 5-1 record. The Israelis have been a force on offense, topping both O-Rating and effective field goal percentage, and leaning heavily on the long-range shot, 25 attempts per game at an eye-popping 40% efficiency. Vasilije Micić deserves a nod here, looking like vintage Micić, scoring with ease while also leading the team in assists, orchestrating the offense like a maestro who never misses a beat.

Defense, too, has been steadily improving. The advanced stats show Hapoel comfortably in the top half of the league in D-Rating, a sign that this isn’t just a flash in the pan. It’s early, sure, but the message they’re sending is loud and unmistakable: We are here to win. And with the way they’re running, shooting, and distributing, the rest of the EuroLeague would be wise to take notice.

 

Week 5 Games to Watch:

Valencia vs Fenerbahçe

Valencia vs Fenerbahçe is a no-brainer for any basketball fan. Two of the most exciting teams in the competition square off in an arena that might not yet have the mythic history of “La Fonteta,” but the Roig Arena is ready to be a nightmare for anyone stepping on the court.

Both teams enter with a 3-3 record, each hungry to add another W to the column. The clash is a study in contrasts: different styles, elite talent on the floor and on the bench, and coaching masterminds orchestrating it all. Pedro Martínez and Šarūnas Jasikevičius are two of European basketball’s sharpest minds, and in this matchup, we get a front-row seat to their chess match, where only one team will leave standing at the end.

Olympiacos vs Hapoel

Olympiacos vs Hapoel is shaping up as another heavyweight clash at the top of the standings, promising edge-of-your-seat action from the first tip to the final buzzer.

The Peace and Friendship Stadium will roar as usual for the hosts, creating one of the most intimidating atmospheres in Europe. But Hapoel remains undefeated on the road, meaning someone’s streak will end by the final horn. On paper, the matchup is tight: two of EuroLeague’s best offenses going up against defenses that are at least above average, with Olympiacos leaning a bit more on the hedge.

Everything points to a razor-close contest, the kind of game you simply cannot miss.

Zalgiris vs Virtus

Zalgiris vs Virtus is shaping up as a must-watch for any fan who loves elite guard play. Both teams are flying high and operate fast, fun systems that push the pace and lean on full-bench rotations to keep fresh legs and new solutions on the floor. Zalgiris has defensive options ready to contain Carsen Edwards, Syrvidis, for example, but that only raises the stakes for Matthew Morgan. He’ll need to be in peak form, both facilitating for Carsen and producing himself, because in a game like this, every creation and every bucket matters.

 

What’s at Stake:

Anadolu Efes has started the season on a sour note. Built to compete at the very top, this team finds itself in 18th place after six games, with only two wins to show for all that talent.

It’s not a lack of skill, the roster is stacked, the offense is beautifully designed, but cohesion is still a work in progress. Moments that should have been controlled, like the fourth quarter against Fenerbahçe, have exposed cracks. On the other end, a struggling defense has only compounded the issues.

Sure, time will smooth some of these wrinkles. But in a league where “every game matters,” waiting might be too late. Coach Kokoskov has a steep climb ahead, trying to accelerate that process and make sure a team this talented doesn’t become the season’s biggest disappointment.

 

EuroLeague Headlines:

It’s been a busy week in EuroLeague front offices, with teams shaking up rosters and bringing in fresh faces to tilt the balance.

Bruno Fernando finally found a new home. His stint in Madrid didn’t pan out as hoped, but the Angolan center now gets a chance to start fresh in Belgrade, giving Partizan a different profile at center and some badly needed depth.

Across town, Crvena Zvezda dipped into the NBA pool as well, snagging Jared Butler to add another scoring option to a backcourt thinned by injuries. Valencia made a similar move, bringing in Braxton Key. With 37 NBA games under his belt and a G-League Defensive Player of the Year award last season, the American forward arrives ready to contribute to team success in a tangible way.

And then there’s the big splash: Spencer Dinwiddie. The 10-year NBA veteran, who averages roughly 13 points and 5 assists for his career, is joining FC Bayern. Experience, self-creation, someone who can take over a moment when it matters most, the kind of player a playoff-hungry team dreams about. Whether it’s enough for a serious push remains to be seen.

EuroLeague was already overflowing with elite talent, and now it’s even deeper. Rumors suggest the movement isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and that only makes the race for the playoffs even juicier.

 

This article was written by the European Hoops team: Tiago Cordeiro, João Caeiro and André Lemos. Make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @EthosEuroleague!