BasketNews continues the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague beat edition. Here, you'll be able to find all the info you need about what happened in the latest EuroLeague round.
3-pointers rain in Istanbul and Athens, an unlikely hero in Munich, flying Josh Nebo, no positives for Sarunas Jasikevicius, and enormous CSKA run – all of that and more in EuroLeague’s beat of Round 20.
EuroLeague's beat Round 20
BIG MEN CAN GIVE TOO. Devin Booker provided unforeseen help to Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in Round 20. The big man dished out 5 assists, repeating his previous career-high.
Interestingly, the first time Booker reached that mark also happened during this season - November 4th match against CSKA Moscow.
IT'S RAINING THREES. Fenerbahce drained 15 3-pointers in the game against Olympiacos Piraeus and did it on 51.7% shooting as well. 7 different players made at least one 3-pointer in the match.
It's the second-best result this season. It was beaten by only one team this year that scored a whopping 18 three-pointers. That team? Olympiacos Piraeus.
UNLIKELY HERO. Vladimir Lucic scored 11 points, Augustine Rubit recorded 17 PIR against his former team Zalgiris Kaunas, but all eyes went to an unlikely hero for FC Bayern.
Ognjen Jaramaz was the top player on the German team, collecting 16 points for 20 PIR - both are his career-highs. Previous PIR career-high? Only 8.
BACK ABOVE THE RIM. Josh Nebo is known for providing exciting and memorable plays this season. Being one of the top highlight machines this year, Nebo did not disappoint this time as well.
Spectacular dunks, powerful alley-oops, and forceful blocks are his bread and butter, and the American gave us tons of them this Tuesday.
CAREER NIGHT. Kyle Kuric is usually known as a role player that is capable of hitting shots from anywhere on the court. However, he was the main guy for FC Barcelona in the match against AX Armani Exchange Milan.
Kuric scored 22 points on 8/9 shooting, and collected 29 PIR points, marking his best performance in this category in his Euroleague career. Despite that, his efforts were not enough as Catalans suffered a defeat.
TURNOVERS DO NOT MATTER. AX Armani Exchange Milan had 18 turnovers against Barcelona on Tuesday. That's the highest mark this season by a significant margin - the next closest number is only 13.
Despite turnover woes and missing numerous key players, the Italian team managed to orchestrate a comeback against Barcelona.
SLOPPY RETURN. Cory Higgins was supposed to be one of the leaders of the Barcelona team. Previously sidelined with an injury, the American guard is slowly coming back to play, but his return is not very bright so far.
Higgins averages 1.5 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists, for 0 PIR in his first two matches after the injury. When Nikola Mirotic's game is at least partially stopped, Barca usually turns to Higgins, but he's far from reminding his best self so far.
NO POSITIVE THINGS. Barcelona's head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius was not happy after the game. "We did not follow our game plan. What did you see positive about today? We have lost at home," the Lithuanian coach told straight after the game.
"The only thing I don't understand is how we let their players go to their right. They are strong in that aspect, and we let them. I don't know how many times Delaney has done it," the 45-year-old explained.
"There is no doubt that the virus has affected the team. But it's the same for all teams. The team has fought like crazy. The players, coming back from the break, are giving what they can give", he admitted.
23-0. That was the run CSKA Moscow made against Panathinaikos. The Russian club was behind 17-20 but after an impressive run, their lead became more than convincing (40:20).
It was the third-biggest run in EuroLeague history. Only Unicaja Malaga (in 2015-16 season) and Zenit St. Petersburg (this season) had bigger runs (both 24-0).
OFFENSIVE MACHINE. CSKA’s first half against PAO was absolutely dominant. The visitors in OAKA scored 60 points and made 12 3-pointers in the first two quarters.
Both these numbers are the best this season, but Olympiacos Piraeus was the first team to hit such marks.
A MEMORABLE NIGHT. Marius Grigonis played his scoring-best game with CSKA jersey, posting 19 points (2/5 3PT, 4/8 3PT, 3/3 FT), 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 4 drawn fouls, and 16 PIR.
TOP Plays of Round 20
Records of Round 20
| PIR |  Kyle Kuric | Kyle Kuric (29) |
| Points | Kyle Kuric | Kyle Kuric (22) |
| Rebounds |  Josh Nebo |
Josh Nebo (9)
|
| Assists |  Pierria Henry | Pierria Henry (8) |
| Steals |  Kostas Sloukas |
Kostas Sloukas, Ben Bentil (4 each)
|
| Blocks |  Kostas Papanikolaou | Kostas Papanikolaou |
| 3-pointers made |  Malcolm Delaney | Melih Mahmutoglu, Tyler Dorsey, Sergio Rodriguez, Malcolm Delaney Daniel Hackett, Marius Grigonis (4 each) |
Results of Round 20
| 94-80 | ||
| 74-65 | ||
| 73-75 | ||
| 74-98 |
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