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Aleksandar Bojic, Le Havre vs. Vladimir Dyachok, Khimki
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With a short, potentially risky six-game regular season staring them in the face, 16 teams started the Eurocup on the right foot with key first victories in
Week 1 on Monday and Tuesday. More than a third of them did even more than that by registering good-as-gold wins away from home. Those road warriors were concentrated in Group B, where
Unics won narrowly and
Dynamo Moscow in a blowout, as did
Aris and
Turk Telekom, respectively, in Group D. The other road winners were Group C's
Benetton, which rallied in style past Besiktas as center Sandro Nicevic led the way against his former team, and Group F's
Turow, which dominated by setting a single-game defensive record in a 39-69 victory over Bamberg, the biggest difference in Week 1, too. Among the home winners, a pair needed overtime,
Azovmash and
Roanne. Blowouts went to few home teams, the exceptions being
Pamesa,
Khimki and
Lietuvos Rytas, which aced the opening game on Monday. All three won by by 21 points or more. However, the average difference among the remaining five home victors on Tuesday -
Zadar,
Spirou,
Nymburk,
Bilbao and
Artland - was 8 points, which adds up to a challenge when they face the same teams away later in this round. Check out the best of the Week 1
photos and get ready for all 32 Eurocup teams to battle again next week!
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