KAUNAS (Euroleague) - It's been business as usual this week in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, with emotions running high.

Time is beginning to run out on teams attempting to clinch places in the Top 16.

On Thursday night in Russia, Niznhy Novgorod nearly boosted their chances of advancing but came up just short of upsetting Real Madrid, while in Israel a charged-up Alba Berlin attempted to snap the club's eight-game losing streak against Maccabi Tel Aviv but saw their gallant effort come up just short.

As it was, Madrid and Maccabi punched their tickets to the next phase, with the former winning, 101-98, and the latter coming from behind to prevail, 95-89.

This week has also been emotional for those who knew Aco Petrovic, the Serbian coach who died after a long illness.

One of them is Dusan Ivkovic, who is at the helm of Anadolu Efes, steered the club to its sixth win in eight Euroleague games on Thursday night in Kaunas, Lithuania.

After the 66-57 win over Zalgiris, which clinched the Turkish team's progression to the next stage, Ivkovic paid tribute to his late friend.

"I want to dedicate this win for coach Aco Petrovic, who sadly couldn't see the game," he said.

"He was my good friend, he was close to Zalgiris and it is heartbreaking that he isn't with us anymore."

Zalgiris was among the many clubs for which Petrovic served as a head coach, doing so in 2010.

He worked as an assistant coach to Svetislav Pesic with the Yugoslavia teams that won the EuroBasket in Turkey in 2001 and the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Indianapolis the following year.

He was an assistant coach to Ivkovic in 2009 when Serbia made a stunning run to the EuroBasket Final in Poland.

Last year, Petrovic was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease, a neurological condition that causes muscle atrophy.

He passed away this week at just 55 years of age.

FIBA