EUROLEAGUE - Never say die

BILBAO (Euroleague) - Where there is life, there is hope. That is one truth about the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.

Clubs that never lose their concentration and fight to the death always have a chance of moving on.

Bilbao Basket, Olimpia Milano and Zalgiris Kaunas had their difficulties this year but never stopped believing.

Each won in the last two weeks of the regular season to clinch spots in the Top 16.

Bilbao, who qualified for the Euroleague by virtue of their surprise run to the 2010-11 ACB Finals, fell 67-64 at home to Bennet Cantu on December 7 when Gianluca Basile buried a long three-pointer at the buzzer for the Italians.

They bounced back, though, with an 80-70 victory at Fenerbahce the following week and on Thursday night, going into what coach Fotis Katsikaris called "the most important game in the history of the club," Bilbao beat Basque rivals Caja Laboral, 77-72, in a do-or-die battle.

Cantu, Bilbao and Caja Laboral all finished with 5-5 records in Group A and the first two advanced in a tie-breaker format.

Olimpia Milano, after thrashing Belgacom Spirou last week in Italy, had to travel to Belgrade and win in one of the toughest arenas in the game, the Pionir, to progress.

Omar Cook, as he did on so many occasions last season with Valencia Basket, had his best game when it mattered most, scoring 21 points and handing out six assists as the Italians prevailed, 72-66.

Zalgiris Kaunas had to win in Germany last week at Brose Baskets Bamberg and did so impressively, 82-68.

On Wednesday, they held off a determined KK Zagreb and claimed an 87-76 victory.

The name of the game in the Euroleague is to survive and move on, so it's mission accomplished for Bilbao, Olimpia Milano and Zalgiris so far.

NBA comings and goings

CSKA Moscow (10-0) and Barcelona (9-1) have been the best two sides in the competition, in terms of wins.

One big difference in the teams is that CSKA signed Russia international Andrei Kirilenko, who had spent the previous decade in the NBA and couldn't negotiate a deal with a new team in America during the lockout.

Barcelona did not go down the road of signing an NBA player but they have quality in abundance, including scoring machine Juan Carlos Navarro.

The EuroBasket 2011 MVP of Spain, Navarro became the Euroleague's all-time leading scorer during the regular season.

In the first five games, though, no player was better in the competition than Andrei Kirilenko.

A shoulder injury and broken nose then sent him to the sidelines in the mid-November.

CSKA still won their next five games without him, although they had been favored to beat Zalgiris, Brose Baskets, KK Zagreb, Panathinaikos and Unicaja Malaga without their superstar.

Kirilenko has a get-out clause to return to the NBA but so far has not signed with a team.

He is averaging 13.8 points, nine rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals and 3.2 blocks per game.

Nowhere has the loss of an NBA player after the end of the lockout been felt more than SLUC Nancy, who had to wave good-bye to Nicolas Batum of France.

Batum played six games for the club and averaged 15.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals.

He was twice voted Euroleague Player of the Week with Nancy.

After his exit, the club lost four straight games to finish 3-7 in Group A.

Partizan had Minnesota center Nikola Pekovic, a former player at the club, but he returned to the Timberwolves once the NBA labor dispute came to an end.

Pekovic averaged 15.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in his seven Euroleague outings for Partizan.

Anadolu Efes had Turkey international Ersan Ilyasova on the books during the lockout and in eight games, he averaged 9.5 points, 5.5 boards and 1.5 steals.

He was not that effective in his last three games, however, and returned to Milwaukee.

Former Los Angeles Lakers and New Jersey Nets guard Sasha Vujacic signed for Efes for the entire campaign and has reached double digits in points in all but one of the team's Euroleague games.

Fenerbahce Ulker are no doubt missing the overall play of Thabo Sefolosha.

The Swiss small forward was tough defensively, averaging 2.1 steals, and was contributing 11.4 points and six rebounds per game.

He returned to Oklahoma City after the lockout.

Real Madrid had to say adiós to Spain international duo Rudy Fernandez (Denver) and Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City), yet did not miss a beat without them.

Madrid are going into the Last 16 on a roll, winners of six straight in the competition.

Nikola Mirotic, who didn't make Spain's national team at the EuroBasket, could force his way into the squad for the Olympics if he continues to lead Madrid.

He has had 26, 21 and 16 points in their last three Euroleague wins.

Mirotic, a first-round selection in the NBA Draft this summer whose rights are owned by Chicago, signed a five-year extension earlier this year with Madrid.

It's worth noting that the club has former Spain point guard Pablo Laso as coach and he's done well in the job.

Of all the teams that did not progress, Caja Laboral may be the biggest disappointment.

France's Kevin Seraphin (Washington Wizards) was with the team for seven games and averaged 8.9 points and five rebounds in just over 19 minutes per game.

Slovenia's Goran Dragic (Houston) had a couple of appearances, but Caja Laboral relied most on their core players of seasons past like Mirza Teletovic, Fernando San Emeterio, Pablo Prigioni and Brad Oleson and the team didn't move into the Last 16 after falling in three of their last four games and five of their last seven.

Jordan Farmar (New Jersey Nets) was excelled with Maccabi Tel Aviv, who cruised into the Last 16 after his return to the USA, and Danilo Gallinari (Denver) competed for Olimpia Milano who won two important games without him at the end.

Zalgiris were not potent with Gallinari's Nuggets teammate Ty Lawson at point guard but Sonny Weems has been huge for the club and will be key moving forward.

Weems, who played for Toronto last season, signed a deal for the entire campaign and did not return after the NBA lockout.

Last 16 teams: Fenerbahce Ulker, Olympiacos, Bennet Cantu, Bilbao, CSKA Moscow, Panathinaikos, Unicaja Malaga, Zalgiris, Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Anadolu Efes, Olimpia Milano, Barcelona, Montepaschi Siena, UNICS Kazan and Galatasaray.

FIBA