European Hoops Recap: Playoffs? Are you kidding me?

Business is picking up in Europe. Much like in soccer, where the Champions League gets heated up around this time, playoff action starting in the continent’s two second-tier cups have amped up the energy of the European hoops experience. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday featured multiple games from multiple competitions, and Thursday saw a massive Euroleague upset happening as we head into the stretch run.

With do-or-die Game 3s coming in the Eurocup quarterfinals, and return legs of the Top 16 in the FIBA Champions League coming this week, and only six game days left in Euroleague, things are about to get wild.

FIBA Champions League: Top 16 Exposure brings positives and negatives

The slog of a 14-game regular season is finally starting to pay off for FIBA’s new competition, which had a fun slate of matches in the home-and-home matchups of the Top 16. The best teams of the competition are back in action after almost a month off from continental action, and some rust seemed to have been accrued from some of those top clubs.

Teams that had playoff byes went 0-6-2 in their road legs of the battles, and some of these weren’t incredibly close. Most notable of these was Dinamo Sassari, who destroyed Le Mans Sarthe 79-63 behind 19 points and 9 rebounds from former Phoenix Suns forward Gani Lawal. Sassari’s athleticism gave Le Mans significant problems on the offensive end, and now the Frenchmen have a big deficit to make up at home. It’s hard to feel Sassari’s safe, though; They did the same thing to CEZ Nymburk in the last round, but barely advanced, as they nearly blew a 94-72 home win with an 84-63 loss in the return leg.

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Most of the games were close and entertaining, though, and there’s more reason to be excited about these return legs. Pinar Karsiyaka beat Besiktas 75-70, breaking out to an early lead but needing heroics from Mike Green (25 points) and Polish youngster Mateusz Ponitka (22 points on 8-of-11 shooting) to stay clear of their Turkish League rivals. PAOK, meanwhile, overcame a 3-of-12 shooting day from their star, Thaddeus McFadden, to edge Tenerife 66-63. Oldenburg gave Banvit everything they could handle, with former Purdue guard Chris Kramer posting 19 points and 10 assists in the 82-82 tie. Kramer was absolutely everywhere in this game, overshadowing a good Furkan Korkmaz game — he had 13 points and 7 rebounds — repeatedly blowing by Korkmaz when the two were matched up, and erasing what should have been a beautiful Korkmaz assist:

I casually glossed over this, but that game, as well as Aris/ASVEL, hinted at the biggest problem with the way these playoffs are structured — TIES? SERIOUSLY? Two games ended in ties this week, meaning that home fans in Oldenburg and Thessaloniki came away from what could potentially be their team’s last home Champions League match without seeing a winner. These games didn’t even go to overtime. They just ended.

I understand that cumulative score is the deciding factor in these home-and-homes, much like in the UEFA Champions League. But this isn’t soccer, where goals are scarce and a 0-0 game isn’t unknown. It’s basketball. A deciding shot will be hit quickly, even if you want to go sudden death. I hope that this is revisited in the summer by FIBA, along with the big break that clearly affected the teams that performed well in that endless regular season. Ties in basketball are not okay. Let someone win.

Euroleague: Galatasaray goes down fighting and Marko Guduric Shines

The headlining game this week was Galatasaray’s shocking 87-84 upset of Real Madrid, as the league’s last-place team knocked off the league’s best one. This came after another round of Euroleague’s best drama saga, the Ergin Ataman Chronicles. Ataman suspended forwards Blake Schlib and Emir Preldzic for this game, the second time Ataman has suspended players for suspect reasons. Former Spur and Piston Austin Daye stepped up though, with 20 points and 4 assists in the win. Galatasaray won by outscoring Madrid, who shot 58 percent from the field, and had Luka Doncic flirting with a triple-double again, this time posting 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Despite the loss, Doncic still was able to provide a solid highlight package, headlined by this absurdity at the end of the third quarter.

Sure, Luka.

Meanwhile in Belgrade, Marko Guduric had one of his better games of this season in a 74-60 Red Star win over Bamberg. Playing as the de facto point guard with Stefan Jovic out, the 21-year old Guduric posted 12 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals in his best chance at extended playing time in weeks. While there were definite hiccups (6 turnovers), we got to see how Guduric might function as a lead creator, and there were some promising moments.

Guduric can be a little bit of a loose cannon at times, but he has NBA potential because of his raw talent as a ball-handler and shot creator. He’s more comfortable in quick decision settings like a fast break, and his confidence is unshakable.

While Real Madrid couldn’t beat Galatasaray, CSKA Moscow had no such trouble against Barcelona, dominating an 85-61 road win. This was a slaughter from the start, as CSKA held the injury-ravaged Spaniards to an absurd four points in the first quarter, and maintained a 20-point lead for over 30 minutes of game time.

Nando De Colo asserted himself as the primary scorer, with 21 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, but it was the defense that was the primary cause of the blowout, as CSKA forced 20 turnovers and held Barcelona to eight made field goals in the first half. NBA Draft prospect Aleksandar Vezenkov was about the only positive for Barca, with 14 points and six of Barcelona’s eight free throw attempts, but while Barca ended up having a decent second half, they were spinning out while CSKA hit fifth gear from the start of the game. Moscow winning after an early lead is the most sure result in European basketball.

Elsewhere in Euroleague: Kings draft-and-stash Bogdan Bogdanovic had 14 points and 7 steals, dominating at point guard in a Fenerbahce win over Zalgiris; Baskonia beat Maccabi Tel Aviv behind 13 points and 11 assists from Shane Larkin, and 13/6/7 from Chase Budinger; and Darussafaka edged Panathinaikos 77-72 behind a late outburst from Will Clyburn.

Eurocup: Home court advantage, unlikely heroes, and a terrible medical decision

The first two match days of the Eurocup quarterfinals were this week, and each matchup brought intrigue and excitement for different reasons. We will get two Game 3s on Wednesday, with do-or-die games necessary in the Bayern Munich/Unicaja Malaga and Khimki Moscow/Valencia matchups.

Lokomotiv Kuban was the first team to advance to the Final Four, dominating their matchup with Zenit St. Petersburg 75-52, and 88-77. Loko asserted themselves quickly and forcefully, throwing Zenit off their offensive game plan early in Game 1 and dominating the paint in both contests. Zenit hit just 17 field goals in Game 1, as the Loko frontcourt tandem of Vladimir Ivlev and Ian Vougioukas totally walled off the rim for Zenit’s guards. In Game 2, it was Loko’s offense that had the bigger role, as former Cavalier Kevin Jones ripped off 19 points and 9 rebounds to fuel a 25-10 first quarter domination to seal the game. But the defense was still plenty impressive: Zenit’s Ryan Toolson, who averaged 18.9 points per game in the competition, was held without a shot attempt in 15 minutes. Credit both Loko’s defense, which is bar none the best in the competition right now, along with the failure of Zenit’s offense to move the ball for that astounding stat.

The tied series between Bayern and Malaga has been an interesting contrast to how that matchup was sized up. Bayern’s normally stout defense gave up 91 points in Game 2, and they’ve required unorthodox performances from role players in both games. Game 1, an 82-67 Bayern win, featured 15 points off the bench from Maik Zirbes, his best game since coming over from Maccabi a couple of months ago. Meanwhile, guard Anton Gavel, who averages 5.6 points per game, helped Bayern build early leads in both contests with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Heading into Game 3, it will be interesting to see if Malaga’s offensive renaissance continues. The Spanish club found their stride in Game 2, hitting 11 3-pointerss and spreading the love between six players who scored more than eight points, led by Serbian center Dejan Musli, who has thrived in two games against Devin Booker under the basket. That’s the ultimate question for the deciding game: Does Malaga’s sudden offensive outburst win out, or can Bayern tighten down their normally stout defense again?

In the other split series, Khimki Moscow picked up a 98-74 win on Friday, evening the series after Valencia took an 88-82 win at home on Tuesday. Game 1 lined up pretty closely with expectations; Alexey Shved had a solid game with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, and Khimki was able to get into the paint consistently. But Valencia owned the rebounding battle, grabbing an insane 57 boards including 27 offensive rebounds, compared to 30 total boards for Khimki. The Russians found a way to exploit Valencia’s defense, though, with that dribble penetration; in Game 2, their offense was a constant stream of off-the-dribble action. Shved and Earl Rowland were consistently able to find their way into the paint, and their bench stepped up to finish the opportunities these two created: Little-used Dmitry Sokolov had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and Jacob Pullen hit four 3-pointers to help pace the team with 18 points. In all, Khimki shot 16-of-23 from inside five feet, and Valencia had no way to keep them from getting inside. That may be what gives them the edge in Game 3.

Finally, Hapoel Jerusalem edged Herbalife Gran Canaria, winning 85-79 in Las Palmas on Friday to seal a surprisingly quick exit for Granca. Individual brilliance keyed the way for Hapoel, as former Hornets guard Jerome Dyson posted a 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists in Game 1, and then came back with 16 points and four steals in Game 2. He teamed with Curtis Jerrells and Amar’e Stoudemire to take care of the Spaniards.

But the larger story from this series was a horrific scene in Game 2 from Gran Canaria. Early in the first quarter, Finnish point guard Sasu Salin abruptly collapsed and lost consciousness during play.

You read that correctly. Mere minutes after staggering on the court and collapsing from an unknown cause, Gran Canaria decided to let Salin jump back in the game. He played 14 more minutes in the contest without undergoing a proper medical evaluation. He received this after the game, and everything came back negative. He’ll be okay in the long run. But here’s Salin describing the situation. Does this sound like something that can be brushed off and checked out later?

Players don’t just suddenly drop unconscious during a basketball game. This could have been a sign of a very, very serious head injury or heart issue, something that could have caused a much more serious situation as he continued playing. The situation reminds one of Hank Gathers, the famous Loyola Marymount basketball player who died from an undiagnosed heart condition during a game in 1990.

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That was nearly 30 years ago, though. We have advanced so far in medicine since then, and Gran Canaria should have known better than to insert him back into the game without ruling out a life-threatening condition. This was a total failure of an organization to recognize and prevent risk, and they are very lucky that their decision to needlessly play with fire didn’t burn them. Unfortunately, one of the more entertaining teams in Eurocup ends their run early, and with a very sour taste in fans mouths, because they put a player’s life in danger.