EuroView: Dillon, Gliddon and Majok star in Poland
It was the Aussies in Poland who led the way in Europe this past week, with Daniel Dillon, Cameron Gliddon and Ater Majok all playing starring roles for their respective sides.
Daniel Dillon led PGE Turow to victory over Slask Wroclaw in the Polish league, with the final score 99-84. Dillon did an excellent job getting to the free-throw line all game, making 6/6 attempts from the line. His play was instrumental in PGE Turow coming away as victors, finishing the game with 20 points (7/11 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal in 28 minutes of action. PGE Turow did an outstanding job crashing the boards (19 offensive), out-rebounding their opponents 46-29 and in the end, all those extra offensive possessions came back to hurt Slask Wroclaw as they came away on the losing end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK1UPcadyDY
Still in Poland, Trefl Sopot dropped another game in a one-sided loss to Twarde Pierniki Torun, making it 5 losses in a row. Ater Majok was the lone-bright spot for Trefl Sopot as he did a good job defensively in protecting the rim, however as a team Trefl Sopot did a terrible job defensively allowing Twarde Pierniki Torun to shoot 53% from the field. Their weak defensive showing let Twarde Pierniki Torun come away with the win 84-55. Majok scored 13 points on 6/10 shooting from the field to go with 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in 27 minutes of action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvxyZICAso4
Also in Poland, Cameron Gliddon was on fire in connecting on 4/5 three-point attempts on the night on his way to a season-best 20 points (6/8 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block in 29 minutes of playing time. Gliddon’s hot-shooting helped AZS Koszalin come away with the win over Asseco Prokom Gdynia 83-65. AZS Koszalin’s stifling defense was too much to handle for Gdynia as they shot 38% on field goal attempts on the night (Note: Gliddon speaks towards the very the end of the press conference below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETEWcCH8pQ0
Auxilium Torino came away with a win over Giorgio Tesi Pistoia 80-70 thanks to a dominating second half in which they outscored their opponents 48-27 in the Italian Serie A. Chris Goulding looked to finally break out of his funk, and he did just that as his defense and rebounding was a welcome surprise in helping Auxilium Torino come out with the win. Goulding still had trouble getting the lid off the basket, scoring 8 points on 3/9 shooting, however his 9 rebounds in 25 minutes of action made up for his 1/6 clip from behind the arc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwIkyThoalI
In the Spanish ACB, Herbalife Gran Canaria beat Laboral Kutxa Baskonia, in what was a game between two teams with completely different game plans; Gran Canaria came out looking to create plays for each other as a team, while Laboral Kutxa played more isolation basketball. That came back to hurt Laboral in the end as Gran Canaria’s team basketball prevailed allowing them to come away with the win 93-90. Brad Newley had a tough night shooting the ball, finishing the game with 3 points on 0/6 shooting in 16 minutes of playing time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o_XlUe7EQI
In the Spanish second division, Dan Trist came back from a rough couple of weeks with a bang, leading Oviedo in scoring with 18 points on an efficient 8/9 shooting to go with 5 rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Oviedo came out in the first half looking like the better team as they went into the main break leading 42-34. However Breogan Lugo fought back with a strong second half showing, outscoring Oviedo in the final two-quarters as they went on to win the game 86-78.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=540d_NKgZT4
Mitch McCarron had tough night on the offensive end of the floor scoring only 4 points on 2-5 shooting in Palencia’s 94-81 loss to Planasa Navarra also in the Spanish second division. Palencia led for much of the game, as they went into the final quarter up 62-56. But they fell apart when it counted most, getting outscored 38-19 in the final period of action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo0io7wG3S0
David Andersen chipped in 8 points to go with 13 rebounds and 3 assists in 26 minutes of playing time in the French Pro A. His rebounding helped ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne get the edge in the rebounding department, which allowed them to come out with the win over Nancy Basket 66-62. Both teams struggled shooting for much of the game as ASVEL shot just 36% from the field and Nancy was worse, hitting only 34% of their shot attempts for the game. But in the end ASVEL were able to grind out the win.
In the VTB United League. Lokomotiv Kuban took on Krasny Oktyabr in what was a one-sided victory for Lokomotiv. They dominated from start to finish, with Krasny Oktyabr finding no answer to stopping Lokomotiv’s high-powered offense, and because of that, they were able to come away with the win 81-63. Ryan Broekhoff made one three-pointer as he compiled 9 points (4/7 FG), 5 rebounds and 1 steal in a solid display. His play helped Lokomotiv outscore their opponents by 13 points in his 19 minutes of action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkW0rvkIE_g
In Lithuania, Angus Brandt did not hit the court as Neptunas were beaten 89-104 by Juventus. With the loss, Neptunas is now locked in fourth place with Juventus and has them in a precarious position on the eve of finals. Brock Motum's BC Zalgiris Kaunas had a bye this week.