MIES (Switzerland) - Galatasaray impressed everybody around Europe when they beat Unicaja in Istanbul, and they were close to repeating the impressive performance even in Southern Spain.
It happened the opposite, while another revenge took place in Nanterre.
Unicaja 97-91 Galatasaray
What have we just seen? Maybe the game of the season? With the Round of 16 just halfway through, the whole Quarter-Finals picture, and the Final Four yet to be played, it's tough to say.
But what a 40-minute encounter it was between Unicaja and Galatasaray, putting on a show in front of a rocking audience in Malaga, eager to get revenge following the Turkish Lions' unbelievable feat of interrupting the defending champs' 18-game winning streak in the Basketball Champions League.
For more than 35 minutes in Spain, it seemed Galatasaray could complete the sweep over Unicaja. But Ibon Navarro's team always has a plan.
Fighting until the end and having to cover the ground with their all drops of sweat, Unicaja went to their two Tysons, Perez and Carter, both of them knocking down big threes, with Melvin Ejim grabbing the crucial offensive rebound, too.
"We executed, we defended pretty well and down the stretch we made some shots. We know they are a good team, but we had some extra motivation to beat them today so I thought we came out and executed the game plan pretty well," Ejim said.
It finished 97-91, Unicaja making sure their purple-and-green fans could go home happily enough. This was Unicaja's 9th game with 90+ points since the start of 2024, and Galatasaray's 8th such game in the same span.
As Jeffrey Taylor commented at the end of the broadcast, this was "one of the most impressive" victories in Unicaja's long-time eventful adventure in the Basketball Champions League.
And it happened to ultimately be a win, especially thanks to the team's depth: they had 55 points from non-starters.
Carter (16 points, 5 assists) and Ejim (13 points and 8 rebounds) were crucial off the bench.
Galatasaray had a 13-point advantage, but they drop to 2-2, a win behind Unicaja in the group standings. Keep in mind Rytas Vilnius are at 2-1 ahead of their game at Manisa Basket Divissa on Wednesday.
Will Cummings was the protagonist of a vintage night for his team, finishing with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. James Palmer Jr, who was Galatasaray's winning hero last week in Istanbul, followed with a 16-point losing effort for the red-and-yellow side.
Nanterre 92 77-100 ERA Nymburk
While Unicaja's tight win was all about keeping the composure and fighting until the very end, ERA Nymburk didn't leave any hope to Nanterre 92 in their visit to France this week.
Francesco Tabellini's team not only showed their supremacy from the tip-off but also claimed the tiebreaker by winning 100-77 on the road.
Last week, in Nymburk, they suffered a 90-86 defeat against the Desi Rodriguez-Justin Tillman duo and their teammates.
It was all about sharing responsibilities for the Czech side, which saw seven players (!) finishing in double-digits with Nighael Ceaser (16 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes) leading the team in scoring.
This was also a double-double night, with Christian Bishop (12 points and 10 rebounds) and Stephen Brown (10 points and 10 assists) particularly shining for their team.
Overall, it never looked like Nymburk could have lost such a game, leading until the final buzzer and dominating at rebounds (47-29).
Regarding the home side, there's also a positive news: Desi Rodriguez (23 points) continues being a source of scoring contribution, as he has been all throughout this BCL campaign.