FIBA Europe Cup - Round Of 16 Week 3 Review

MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) - Cibona Zagreb, Khimik Yuzhne, Elan Chalon and Openjobmetis Varese won their respective Round of 16 games on Wednesday night to punch their ticket to the FIBA Europe Cup Quarter-Finals.

These four teams, together with Enisey Krasnoyarsk, Maccabi Rand Media Rishon, Fraport Skyliners and Port of Antwerp Giants who secured their passage last week, complete the field for the next round of the play-offs.

The inaugural edition of the FIBA Europe Cup therefore features eight teams from as many countries in its quarter-final stage, an occurrence that we had not seen in any European competition since the 2009/10 edition of the EuroChallenge.

Varese head coach Paolo Moretti summed up perfectly the importance of making the last eight in a competition which kicked off with 56 participating teams back in October in the post-game press conference following his team's 74-71 win over Royal Hali Gaziantep.

"Right now, I feel like a kid who's just entered a toy store," Morreti said.

"I'm so proud that my team is in the quarter-finals in a European competition.

"My team transformed through its force and fighting spirit everything that happened in the last hours."

It's true that Varese and Cibona were the two quarter-finalists which had to overcome last-minute adversity to achieve their goal.

Ahead of their deciding game against Gaziantep, the Italian team were informed that Mouhammad Faye had tested positive for a recreational drug during a routine anti-dopping control in Serie A and they promptly decided to suspend the veteran center from the team.

Faye had been an important piece in Varese's frontcourt leading up to Wednesday's decider, as he averaged 9.5 points and seven rebounds per game.

Even so, Moretti's men dominated inside and out-rebounded Gaziantep 42 to 37, while they scored 38 of their points in the paint, compared to only 14 by the Turkish team.

Cibona also had to make do on Wednesday without their starting center, Ante Zizic, who averages 15.9 points and a team-best 8.4 rebounds in the FIBA Europe Cup.

The young Croatian international was battling a minor injury and although he suited up for his team's home game against Utena, he stayed on the bench even as Utena grabbed an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter and threatened to re-gain homecourt advantage in the series.

Cibona however raised their intensity level on both ends of the floor in crunch time and two dagger shots, long triples at the end of the 24-shot clock first by James Florence and then by Filip Kruslin, lifted them to an 86-80 lead with 37 seconds remaining.

Stats of the week
The series between Chalon and Telenet Oostende was the most offensive-oriented tie in the Round Of 16 as the two teams combined for an average of 174 points per game.

It comes as little surprise then that the series culminated on Wednesday in the highest combined score in a play-off game so far (104-91, 195 points) with Elan Chalon becoming the first team to hit the century mark since the end of the group stages.

Despite its do-or-die character, Chalon took the game to many quick possessions and attempted 69 shots from the floor, more than any other team in a single game in the play-offs so far.

They also shot a superb 12-of-24 (50%) from beyond the three-point arc, the second-best showing from long range in the play-offs behind Skyliners' 11-of-19 line in Game 1 against AEK Larnaca.

Chalon went 6-of-9 from downtown during a fantastic third quarter when they outscored their guests 34-19.

Going into the game, Chalon had the best offence among teams still standing in the competition as previous scoring leaders Turk Telekom Ankara were knocked out last week.

Following Game 3 however, the French team can boast of the best offence in the FIBA Europe Cup even in absolute terms, as their scoring average improved to 89.2 points per game while Ankara bowed out with an 88.8 point average.

Cibona (83.9 points per game) and Enisey (83.4) are the only other quarter-finalists whose offence ranks among the top-10 in the competition.

The next quarter-finalist on the table is Maccabi (80.5 points per game) and they are only ranked 17th.

This might sound bizarre, but if history has taught us anything is that counting on the best offence is not a guarantee of a Final Four berth, let alone winning the title.

In fact if we take as example the EuroChallenge, the predecessor of the FIBA Europe Cup, the last team to lift the trophy on the back of the best offence in the competition was Akasvayu Girona in 2007 and that sublime side coached by Svetislav Pesic had in its ranks the likes of Marc Gasol, Fernando San Emeterio, Gregor Fucka and Ariel MacDonald.

Performances of the week
A depleted Energia Targu-Jiu side were facing an almost impossible task on Wednesday night against Khimik and despite the 84-77 home loss that brought about the end of their FIBA Europe Cup campaign, nobody can argue that the remaining players on the Romanian team did not put their heart into the effort.

In fact the two highest-ranked performances in terms of efficiency were both achieved by Energia players.

Paris Horne, who collected a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds and added seven assists, two steals and one block reached an efficiency rating of 27.

Big man Raimundas Danys meanwhile registered a rating of 26 as he finished with a game-high 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting and added seven boards.

Two players who came up with a brilliant performance on Wednesday and were rewarded for their efforts were Maalik Wayns of Varese and Filip Kruslin of Cibona.

The Varese point guard came up with 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor, including the crucial go-ahead basket with 37 seconds remaining, and also had four rebounds, three assists and five drawn fouls.

Kruslin meanwhile, who also sunk a dagger shot in the dying seconds, chose the best moment to score his season-high 27 points on an almost flawless 13-of-15 from the foul line and added two boards and four assists.

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