Maccabi coped with a fervent atmosphere in Lithuania to beat 1999 champions Zalgiris 73-66 and Nizhny's attacking performance secured a 109-90 home win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
Barcelona, missing the competition’s all-time leading scorer Juan Carlos Navarro and American guard Brad Oleson, were still too strong for Red Star Belgrade as the duo’s 19-year old Croatian understudy Mario Hezonja shone in a 92-77 success.
Zalgiris's former NBA guard James Anderson shone for three quarters in front of a passionate home crowd, who were in raptures after he hit a pair of audacious three-pointers late in the third quarter to give his team a 52-48 lead.
But resourceful Maccabi fired on all cylinders in the final period as forward Sylven Landesberg led the charge with a game-high 20 points, while Alex Tyus and Jeremy Pargo added 12 each.
“We played good defence in the second half and did a good job rebounding the ball and getting it out in transition,” Maccabi guard Devin Smith told the competition's official website (www.euroleague.net).
“They played hard and played until the end. We expected a fight and that’s exactly what we got.”
OVERACHIEVING NIZHNY
Nizhny punched well above their weight to get into the Top 16, featuring two groups of eight teams.
They stunned Emporio Armani Milan in the opening round and on Friday recovered from two straight defeats by sinking Anadolu Efes on the back of seven three-pointers from 11 attempts.
They were helped by an inspired performance from centre Artsiom Parakhouski, who netted 11 shots from 14.
The Russians finished with a staggering 69.8 percent scoring ratio from two-point range and their Latvian coach Ainars Bagatskis said keeping their feet on the ground was the key.
“At halftime I asked the players not to relax because Efes is a great team,” he said.
“It’s a great job done and I congratulate my players but we still have a lot of things to work on since our defence was really bad at times tonight.”
Barcelona overpowered Red Star with a flowing performance in which the athletic Hezonja thrived and collected 12 points coupled with five rebounds.
Such is the depth of Barca’s squad that five of their other players finished with double figures despite the continued absence of the inspirational Navarro and sharp-shooting Oleson.
(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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