Euroleague refs make awful call to help Real win in Ot

http://www.in-the-game.org/?p=9887 "After a promising performance in Rome, Sergio Rodriguez simply struggled in Real’s home victory over Bamberg, and so did his team. Real needed overtime and a more than dubious decision eight seconds from the buzzer, when Brian Roberts‘ NBA-distance triple was ruled a two pointer. A scandalous decision, there’s no other way to put it. We’ve gotten used to a lot of stuff, but they went a step too far this time. Of course I’m implying nothing."

U22 WATCH

• After Kostas Papanikolaou‘s outburst versus Unicaja last week, Nick Calathes had the best game of his season to date, finishing with 11 points, 5 assists and 2 steals while leading the team in +/- with +22 in just 22 minutes of play. After play had usually collapsed this season when Dimitris Diamantidis left the court, Panathinaikos went on a run this time, initiated by Calathes’ speed and passing in transition.

Calathes played 8 of his 22 minutes alone at point guard, which PAO used for 21:13 (+8). Later on, he played 14 minutes at Diamantidis’ side, which PAO used to outscore Efes 35:21 (+14). With Calathes pushing the transition offense and Diamantidis organizing setplay this tandem has some potential – if Calathes finds consistency.

• Valanciunas watch: Jonas Valanciunas (1992) had 10 points and 5 boards on 4/6 shooting in 18,3 minutes in Rytas’ defeat in Barcelona. Rytas was -7 during the span.

• Cibona watch: In a disappointing game, Cibona lost at home to Cholet by 13. Bojan Bogdanovic (1989) was 4 for 16 from the field but Tomislav Zubcic (1990) had 11 and 5 while Leon Radosevic (1990) had a double double of 19 and 10.

• Pietro Aradori (1988) had five shot attempts (made one) in less than four minutes in Istanbul. Once benched, he didn’t return; Ricky Rubio (1990) had 5 points and 4 assists in 20,8 minutes. Barca was 37:32 (+5) during the span; Nicolo Melli (1991) had 3 points and 3 turnovers in 13,1 minutes. Milano was -3 during the span, won the game by 11; Dragan Milosavljevic (1989) had 7 points, 5 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals for Partizan in Gdynia. Jan Vesely (1990) finished with 5 points and 3 assists. +/-: Milosavjevic +3, Vesely +7; Rafa Freire (1992) had 5 points, 5 assists and 5 turnovers for Unicaja versus Milano while once again sporting excellent +/- numbers: +18 in 16,1 with him, +3 in 23,9 without him; Alexey Shved (1988) had 10 points in 16 minutes for CSKA, +/- of +1. Boban Marjanovic (1988) had 4 points and 3 rebounds in a little more than 10 minutes, +/- of +7; Giorgi Shermadini (1989) had 2 points and 1 board in 5,3 minutes, but his team was 2:11 (-9) during the span. Logically, that means none of his teammates scored a single point during those 5 minutes; Kostas Papanikolaou (1990) had 7 points on 3/3 shooting against Charleroi, but most notably: +20 in 17 minutes of play, -13 in 23 minutes without him. He’s obviously doing extremely well at the moment. Marko Keselj (1988) had 3 points and 2 boards in 12,4 minutes, +/- of -4; Tibor Pleiss (1989) had 4 points and 2 rebounds, +/- of -6; Nihad Djedovic (1990) and Vladimir Dasic (1988) had 10 points each for Roma in Malaga. Dasic made the highlights with a surprising (for his size) Ginobiliesque around the back layup in transition, that somehow didn’t make any highlight clips.