I decided to do both days in one, as not to flood the place with posts. Hi.

Group A

TTT Riga (59-70) Cras Basket Taranto

Cras: Brunson, R. (17 points, 17 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 29 minutes.)

Ros Casares (87-68) UMMC Ekaterinburg

Ros: Milton-Jones, D. (19 points, 4 rebounds, 31 minutes); De Souza, E. (13 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks, 34 minutes); Hammon, R. (8 points, 2 rebounds, 14 minutes); Snell, B. (3 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 28 minutes)

UMMC: Wauters, A. (16 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 24 minutes); Pondexter, C. (12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 28 minutes); Gruda, S. (9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 31 minutes); Nolan, D. (8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 35 minutes); Jones, A. (5 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 19 minutes)

Galatasaray (82-55) TEO Vilnus

Gala: Perkins, J. (23 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 block, 23 minutes); Young, S. (17 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals, 33 minutes)

TEO: Montgomery, R. (21 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 40 minutes); Hollingsworth, Q. (12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 40 minutes)

Group B

ESB Lille Metropole (71-77) Wisla Can-Pack

Wisla: Burse, J. (15 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 32 minutes); Castro Marquez, I. (2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 26 minutes)

MiZo Pecs (60-69) Halcon Avenida

Pecs: Ohlde, N. (12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 35 minutes); Quigley, A. (3 points, 1 rebounds, 7 minutes); Mazzante, K. (2 points, 13 minutes)

Avenida: Willingham, L. (17 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 40 minutes); Lyttle, S. (7 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 15 minutes)

Beretta-Famila Schio (91-76) Gospic Croatia

Famila: Coleman, M. (7 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 20 minutes)

Group C

ZVVZ USK Prague (96-79) KSSE Gorzow

Prague: Kraayeveld, C. (18 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 32 minutes); Whalen, L. (7 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 35 minutes)

Gorzow: Spencer, S. (11 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 29 minutes)

Bourges Basket (82-56) MKB Euroleasing

Bourges: Carson, E. (10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 29 minutes)

Rivas Ecopolis (74-58) Good Angels Kosice

Rivas: Langhorne, C. (3 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 20 minutes)

Kosice: McCoughtry, A. (19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 38 minutes); Dupree, C. (17 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 40 minutes)

Group D

Fenerbache (74-88) Spartak Moscow Region

Fener: Taylor, P. (21 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 34 minutes); Powell, N. (19 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 36 minutes)

Spartak: Taurasi, D. (29 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 37 minutes); Jekabsone-Zogota, A. (18 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 27 minutes); Fowles, S. (13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 29 minutes); McCarville, J. (12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 24 minutes); Lawson-Wade, E. (10 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 32 minutes); Miller, K. (0 points, 1 rebound, 8 minutes)

Tarbes GB (62-70) Frisco Sika Brno

Tarbes: Houston, C. (12 points, 3 rebounds, 27 minutes)

Brno: McWilliams-Franklin, T. (12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 32 minutes); Bonner, D. (9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 36 minutes)

Lotos Gdynia (74-61) Szeviep

Lotos: Christon, S. (17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 33 minutes); Phillips, E. (9 pints, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 24 minutes); Beard, A. (2 points, 1 rebound, 5 minutes)

Thoughts and Notes:

- Rebekkah Brunson? Solid, solid stat line. 17-17 in 29 minutes is pretty impressive, though TTT Riga has found wins impossible to come by, lately.

- UMMC gets back Asjha Jones and Cappie Pondexter, but still lose to Ros Casares. I don't understand exactly how Deanna Nolan manages to go invisible on us in the Euro season, but her stats are downright bizarre. Ros, with shiny-new guard Becky Hammon of recently-disbanded CSKA Moscow, got crazy efficient production from Atlanta Dream center Erika De Souza. Totally underrated. May I mention she had ZERO turnovers?

- Also underrated? Chicago guard Jia Perkins. 23 points in 23 minutes is really good. (Maybe the Sky just need a new coach/GM. And a better training staff to keep Sylvia Fowles on the court and off the bench.) Young with a double-double is just another day in the life, really. Still no sighting of Katie Douglas. Hollingsworth has slowed down, but a continued uptick in scoring for Montgomery should be a good thing.

- Again, what is Janel Burse eating? Another solid double-double. Castro-Marquez has come back to earth after an eye-opening 22 instant points in her first game (after one practice with the team, apparently). Which is okay. I expect Dream players to have solid Euro careers. They're good, you guys.

- Mercury Pecs? Still not in it. Ohlde with a decent line, but Mazzante really needs to get her... self together. Willingham has been steady for Avenida.

- Limited production from Coleman must be rookie jitters. She should play it out soon, hopefully.

- Finally a Prague win. When Whalen is distributing, her teams are tough to beat. Kraayeveld is also quite consistent. I get why New York didn't want to lose her to Seattle. Spencer... well. She did score double figures this time.

- So Milovanovic's injury hurt MKB more than I thought it would, and now the team is off the ranks of the unbeaten.

- Langhorne wasn't much of a factor, but Kosice is still winless. Candice Dupree has more help now, at least, in the form of WNBA ROY Angel McCoughtry. Like all Dream players, expect her to a have a solid season. Kosice, however, seems very weak elsewhere.

- Spartak wins, though Penny Taylor has a solid game. Tammy Sutton-Brown's injury might not have come at a worse time, as they could've used her in the middle against Fowles and McCarville. Diana Taurasi is still on an entirely different level. Her turnovers need work, though. 7 in this game.

- Taj McWilliams-Franklin and the Deer DeWanna Bonner still play insane minutes. Brno still wins.

- Lotos gets Alana Beard, beats Szeviep as expected. Three guards might not be what they need, though, if they want to end up high in Group D.

So, with a 10-2 record (in predictions) for me this week, my total goes to 15-5. That's not bad, right? Predicting a Kosice win, only to get consecutive losses, really sucks. Poor Dupree.

Whenever I type up the stats for UMMC, Ros and Spartak, my fingers start to hurt. Too many good players on all three teams, it's almost becoming like college ball when eliminations come up. Spartak will play UMMC in the semifinal, because both teams in the finals are not allowed to be from the same country.

Upcoming Games:

(November 18)

Gospic Croatia - MiZo Pecs

Both teams winless. Can I predict a Pecs win now? Please?

MKB Euroleasing - Rivas Ecopolis

Euroleasing won't have Milovanovic for at least a month. Rivas destroyed Kosice despite good games from both Dupree (as usual) and McCoughtry. Rivas over MKB.

Frisco Sika Brno - Lotos Gdynia

Brno is playing solid as of late. Lotos just got Alana Beard to complement Christon and Phillips, but all three are guards and the solid front line of McWilliams-Franklin and Bonner should give them problems. Brno wins this one, hopefully.

Spartak Moscow Region - Tarbes GB

Uh. Spartak better win this one. Cut down on the turnovers, Diana.

TEO Vilnus - TTT Riga

Both (also) winless. The Lynx duo might be enough to put TEO on top, though. TEO over Riga.

UMMC Ekaterinburg - Galatasaray

Gala plays UMMC, and then Ros next week. Ouch. Wouldn't want to be them. Also, Cappie Pondexter takes losses personally, I think. UMMC over Gala. (Would be cool if Perkins and Young go crazy and beat UMMC, though. Really cool.)

Good Angels Kosice - ZVVZ USK Prague

Kosice should WIN. For once. Dupree and McCoughtry vs Whalen and Kraayeveld. Hm. Please win, Kosice (and prove me wrong). Prague wins.

Wisla Can-Pack - Beretta-Famila Schio

I really like Wisla for some strange reason. Really. Go Janel Burse! Wisla over Famila.

KSSE Gorzow - Bourges Basket

I have predicted Bourges wrong twice in a row already. OKAY, I have learned my lesson. Bourges wins.

Cras Basket Taranto - Ros Casares

Brunson is playing well for Cras, but this is Ros Casares, so let's be realistic. Ros just beat UMMC Ekaterinburg. Ros over Cras.

Halcon Avenida - ESB Lille Metropole

Avenida over ESB. I just feel that's how it's going to be.

(November 19)

Szeviep - Fenerbache

Only one game today. Fener should be very frustrated. They caught up with Spartak in the last few minutes, but Powell fouled Diana Taurasi twice behind the three-point arc. Look for them to bounce back. Fenerbache wins this one.

PS. Whew. That was long.

View Original Post at swishappeal.com

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• Spartak
• ros casares
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