VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - There should be no underestimating how well some of the teams in the Basketball Champions League are playing this season.

Just look at the weekend results that saw a handful not only competing against EuroLeague teams but beating them.

Here in Spain, we saw Iberostar Tenerife, the winners of the inaugural Basketball Champions League, make the long trip north and win at EuroLeague outift Barcelona, 93-91. One of Poland's national team stars who shone in the November FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers, Mateusz Ponitka, made like Superman and had 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Canary Islanders.

The defending champions of the Liga Endesa, EuroLeague side Valencia Basket, headed to the Spanish capital to take on a Movistar Estudiantes team that was flying high after their 81-80 buzzer-beating victory over reigning Italian champions Umana Reyer Venezia. What happened? Estu won another thriller, 73-71.

In another battle between a Basketball Champions League side and a EuroLeague team, Real Madrid, UCAM Murcia almost pulled off a stunner but lost, 87-85.

The showdowns between sides of the two European leagues were not just restricted to Spain. In Israel, Hapoel Holon rode the momentum of their 94-90 home triumph over EWE Baskets Oldenburg in the Basketball Champions League to a 93-89 victory at EuroLeague side Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Tamir Blatt, going up against the team his father, David, used to coach, hit 4 of 7 shots from 3-point range and finished with 14 points and 4 assists. Blatt was another player who recently featured in the World Cup Qualifiers with Israel.

Blatt hit 4 of 7 shots from deep in the win at Maccabi Tel Aviv

In Greece, AEK Athens bounced back from their 90-83 defeat at medi Bayreuth in the Basketball Champions League with a 66-62 home triumph over EuroLeague outfit Olympiacos.

Another EuroLeague side, Panathinaikos, prevailed in their battle with the Basketball Champions League team, Aris, 88-70.

Having Basketball Champions League sides beat EuroLeague opponents is nothing new. We saw Iberostar Tenerife pull off the feat last season when they led the Spanish Liga Endesa for much of the season before reaching the play-offs.

Teams playing in the EuroCup also raised eyebrows. One of them, Lietuvas Rytas, took a big win over rivals and EuroLeague side Zalgiris Kaunas.

If there's a lesson to be drawn from these results, maybe it's that when it comes to Europe, not all of the good teams play in the EuroLeague. The Basketball Champions League has very good clubs, too, and the same goes for the EuroCup.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

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