Round-up: Easy for seeds

Igor Rakocevic was in sensational form for TAU Ceramica as his 21 points in just 17 minutes helped them an easy 84-59 victory over Olympiacos.

The Serbian point guard scored 14 points in the first quarter alone which was more than the entire Olympiacos side as the Basques led 20-12 after one.

At one stage in the second-quarter it had looked as if the Greeks were going to make a game of it as they reduced the gap to just four points, but the gap was then 12 again at half-time and TAU were able to rotate the bench in the second-half.

A 19-4 run just before half-time proved crucial for Unicaja Malaga as they defeated Barcelona 91-75 at home.

Malaga had been trailing 27-36 and looked in real danger of losing one of the two crucial home games they get as a seeded team before some explosive three-point shooting turned the game on its head and saw then go in at the break leading 46-40.

They then overwhelmed their fellow ACB opponents in the second-half with their 12 for 24 three point shooting throughout the game helping them whenever Barcelona threatened a run.

Marcus Faison had five of those, while Berni Rodriguez added five assists to his tally of 12 points.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv endured a horrid first quarter which set them up for a big 80-58 defeat in Moscow against CSKA in a repeat of last year's final.

The Israelis shot just 1 for 16 from the field in the opening ten minutes, and were 21-6 down by the time the first buzzer sound.

CSKA knocked down eight three pointers in the first-half alone, with David Andersen, John Holden, and Trajan Langdon all impressing with their outside shooting as CSKA led 40-22.

Langdon would hit four first-half three-pointers and he led all scorers with 16 at the end of the game.

The defending champions were able to rotate their bench throughout the second-half but still managed to increase their lead against the woefully out of sorts Israelis.

Maccabi now need to win in Israel on Thursday to stay alive in the best-of-three contest and then go back to Moscow next week and win game three.

Panathinaikos also enjoyed a comfortable game at home as they hammered Dynamo Moscow by the same 80-58 scoreline that CSKA enjoyed earlier.

Sani Becirovic top scored with 17 but most of the 16 points scored from Ramunas Siskauskas came earlier in the match when the game was at least somewhat still up for grabs, with 10 of his points coming in the first quarter.

Panathinaikos' dominant home form will cause concern for the rest of the teams in the competition because the Final Four will take place in Athens.

All the unseeded sides will now have to win on Thursday in their best-of-three contests and then do what they never even came close to doing tonight, and win away from home next week.