TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz showed its strength right away by downing Real Madrid 76-63 at Fernando Buesa Arena on Friday. 

Henry leads Baskonia past Real

TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz showed its strength right away by downing Real Madrid 76-63 at Fernando Buesa Arena on Friday. Pierria Henry led the winners with a career-high 23 points. Alec Peters added 18 while Rokas Giedraitis and Luca Vildoza each had 12 for Baskonia. Facu Campazzo led Real with 17 points. Jaycee Carroll and Walter Tavares each had 10 for the guests. It was a close game for the first three quarters, but Henry led a 14-4 run early in the fourth that allowed Baskonia to take full control until the final buzzer.

Anthony Randolph got Real going with a three-pointer but Henry and Peters quickly gave Baskonia its first lead, 5-3. Campazzo and Carroll scored from downtown in an 0-8 run, before Vildoza stepped up with a driving layup and close jumper, bringing Baskonia within 10-12. Carroll kept pacing Real with a fast break layup and a mid-range jumper but Achille Polonara and Ilimane Diop made it 15-16 after 10 minutes. Trey Thompkins joined the three-point shootout early in the second quarter, but Rokas Giedraitis matched that with a layup-plus-foul and added a floater for a 20-19 lead. Rudy Fernandez beat the shot clock with a wild triple and Randolph restored a 21-24 Madrid edge. Peters rescued the hosts with a three-point play and a bomb from way downtown, getting help from Henry to give Baskonia a 33-29 edge at halftime. 

Campazzo bettered Peters's jumper with a triple soon after the break, then Carroll also struck from downtown and Tavares sank a jump hook to cap a 1-10 run that forced Baskonia to stop the game at 36-39. Vildoza took over with 4 quick points but Tavares and Campazzo fueled a 0-6 run that restored a 40-45 Real edge. Henry tried to change things for the hosts and Peters followed a layup with a turnaround jumper to put Baskonia back in charge, 52-49, after 30 minutes. Gabriel Deck took over with a three-point play early in the fourth quarter. Henry and Giedraitis each hit floater in a 6-0 run that made it a six-point game, 58-52. Campazzo scored twice in penetration but Henry did even better with a couple of a three-pointers and a jumper, good for a 66-56 Baskonia margin. Deck scored around the basket but Vildoza answered from beyond the arc to seal the outcome, 69-58, as Real never recovered.

### Pivotal performer

Pierria Henry was all over the court, finishing the game with a career-best PIR of 32. He had 23 points on 5-of-7 two-point shots, 2-of-4 from downtown and 7-of-8 free throws, and added 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 7 fouls drawn.

### Game-changing moment

A three-point play by Gabriel Deck tied the game for the last time, 52-52. That's when Henry took over with a floater, a jumper, a pair of free throws and a couple of bombs from beyond the arc. He had 12 points in a 14-4 run that broke the game open, 66-56. Real called timeout but Baskonia stayed focused until the final buzzer.

### Stellar stat

Real finished the game with only 7 assists, its worst mark in more than seven years. It last had 7 assists in a 76-73 home win against Brose Baskets Bamberg on February 28, 2013. In contrast, Baskonia had 12 assists.

### Did you know?

For the first time since the new EuroLeague round-robin format was implemented, Real lost its first game of the season. Its previous loss on opening night came against Khimki Moscow Region, 84-70, on October 16, 2015.

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TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz showed its strength right away by downing Real Madrid 76-63 at Fernando Buesa Arena on Friday. 


TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz v Real Madrid (2020-10-02T19:00:00.000Z)

Valencia Basket opened its Euroleague season with a 65-63 home win over visiting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Thursday night. 

Valencia survives thriller in opener

Valencia Basket opened its Euroleague season with a 65-63 home win over visiting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Thursday night. The visitors, who trailed by 12 points in the second quarter and were down by 8 with less than 4 minutes left in the last, never gave up and tied the game with 26 seconds remaining. Sam Van Rossom scored a layup with 16 seconds to go and ASVEL had the last shot to win the game, but Amine Noua missed a buzzer-beating three-point attempt that allowed Valencia to celebrate. Derrick Williams had a strong debut with Valencia with 15 points and 5 rebounds and Mike Tobey scored 10. LDLC ASVEL was led by Moustapha Fall with 14 points. Norris Cole followed with 11 points and 6 assists.d sit amet ultrices nisl, eget ullamcorper sem. Vestibulum ac ullamcorper ligula.



Cole and Fall had a strong start and fueled the visitors to an early 6-9 lead after 4 minutes. With the center dominating the boards, Valencia decided to use Tobey against him instead of foul-troubled Bojan Dubljevic and looked for Nikola Kalinic and Williams in offense. That turned into a 12-2 run that sent the hosts int front, 18-11, in a blink of an eye. Charles Kahudi stopped the bleeding the first three-pointer of the night, followed by another one by Allerik Freeman to close the first quarter with ASVEL trailing 18-17. Klemen Prepelic took over with a basket-plus-foul and a three-pointer. Joan Sastre and Tobey joined him later to help Valencia regain a comfortable margin, 28-21. David Lighty and Kevarrius Hayes tried to slow the hosts down, but they recovered momentum quite easily thanks to a nice post move by Jaime Pradilla and a three-pointer by Guillem Vives, who scored 5 on a 9-0 run that boosted the lead to double-digits, 37-25. It was an old friend, Antoine Diot, who ended the drought for ASVEL with a deep three that woke ASVEL up. Cole scored and Noua connected from downtown to reduce the gap to 37-33 at halftime.

Williams sustained Valencia’s offense but found no help from anyone else after the break. Cole scored a flashy layup and Fall converted twice under the rim to tie it 41-41, forcing Valencia to call timeout midway through the third quarter. Fall had a monster dunk after that to get ASVEL back in front, but was held scoreless for the following 4 minutes. A corner three by Williams returned the lead to Valencia, 48-43. Cole answered with another bucket to allow ASVEL to remain close at the end of the third quarter. Tobey and Freeman traded baskets and then Martin Hermannsson took over and Prepelic scored an acrobatic layup to make it 58-51. The guests were unable to find any solution from outside, as only Fall managed to hurt Valencia’s defense in the paint. Paul Lacombe came to the rescue with a corner three and another basket to bring ASVEL within 61-58. Even though Dubljevic cooled it down for Valencia with a tip-in, Noua answered in the paint to make it 63-60. Lacombe came up big with another corner three to tie the game with just 26 seconds left. Van Rossom scored a quick layup with 16 seconds to go to put Valencia in front again, 65-63. Valencia used fouls to steal as much as time they could from ASVEL’s shot clock, leaving the visitors with just 4 seconds to draw a winning play. Noua found an open three attempt, but the ball hit the rim to allow Valencia to escape with the first win of the season.

### Fouls to give

Valencia took advantage of the fact it still had 3 fouls to give entering the last minute. It decided to score a quick basket after Lacombe tied the game with 26 seconds to go and foul ASVEL players three times to steal time. It proved right, even though Noua could have won it for ASVEL at the buzzer.

### Pivotal performer

Derrick Williams had a sweet debut wearing his new jersey, as he was the top scorer for Valencia with 15 points. Nine of them came in the third quarter, in which Valencia’s scored just 14. He showed up for a corner three to get Valencia back in front, 45-43, when ASVEL came back after the break, to fuel Valencia when it struggled most.

### Did you notice?

The game saw five players making their Euroleague debut. Valencia’s Jaime Pradilla played just 3 minutes, but had his first points after a nice post-up move, while Moustapha Fall was ASVEL top scorer with 14 points in 23 minutes. Allerik Freeman and Kevarrius Hayes had 5 and 4, respectively, playing 18 and 13 minutes each. Brian Howard remained scoreless in 6 minutes.

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Valencia Basket v LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (2020-10-01T19:00:00.000Z)

Zalgiris Kaunas fought back from a double-digit second-half deficit to secure a 67-68 victory in a defensive battle at Olympiacos Piraeus in its 2020-21 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season opener. 

Zalgiris comes back to win defensive battle at Olympiacos

Zalgiris Kaunas fought back from a double-digit second-half deficit to secure a 67-68 victory in a defensive battle at Olympiacos Piraeus in its 2020-21 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season opener. Zalgiris was down 11 points late in the third quarter, but won thanks to Rokas Jokubaitis's free throws with 3.5 seconds left. The 19-year-old scored a career-high 12 points, while Marius Grigonis paced Zalgiris with 15 points and Joffrey Lauvergne had 13 points. Martin Hassan tallied 12 points as Olympiacos's only scorer in double figures with Kostas Sloukas posting 6 points and 7 assists in his first game back with the Reds.



Lauvergne opened the scoring with the first basket of the season for Zalgiris before Aaron Harrison's layup got Olympiacos on the scoreboard. Harrison followed with back-to-back corner three-pointers and Livio Jean-Charles made it 10-3. The hosts went cold while Jokubaitis tallied 7 points in a 2-15 run over nearly 5 minutes for a 12-18 lead. Vassilis Spanoulis and Sloukas both knocked down three-pointers, but Olympiacos trailed 18-23 after 10 minutes. Martin came off the Olympiacos bench for two baskets early in the second quarter and two scores from Georgios Printezis knotted the game at 29-29. After Thomas Walkup drained a three-pointer for Zalgiris, Martin added 4 more points to push Olympiacos ahead 37-34, which was the score at the break.

Shaquielle McKissic's layup opened the second half for a 5-point lead before Lauvergne stepped up with an and-one to knot the game at 41-41. Zalgiris's offense went ice-cold and Olympiacos got hot from the outside with three-pointers from Sloukas and Sasha Vezenkov. The latter added a three-point play to finish an 11-0 run for a 52-41 advantage. Lukas Lekavicius finally snapped the drought, but Spanoulis added another three-pointer and the advantage was 58-47 after 30 minutes. Zalgiris had the better start to the fourth quarter with Arturas Milaknis draining a triple to close the gap to 58-52. Zalgiris was working hard defensively, holding Olympiacos to just one basket in the first 5 minutes of the frame and a Grigonis three-pointer trimmed the deficit to 62-57 - and an Olympiacos timeout. Lauvergne added 3 more points and the visitors trailed by just 2 when Octavius Ellis's dunk to make it 64-60. Jokubaitis came up with a big and-one to pull within 1 point, but was answered by a Spanoulis three-point play. Thomas Walkup answered with a three-pointer and Zalgiris trailed 67-66 with 92 seconds left. After Olympiacos was unable to score, Jokubaitis calmly knocked down 2 free throws with 3.5 seconds left to give Zalgiris the lead - and eventually the win when Sloukas could not get a final shot off.

### Successful debut

Zalgiris's comeback victory sealed a successful debut as head coach Martin Schiller was patrolling the EuroLeague sidelines for the first time after replacing Saras Jasikevicius in the off-season.

### Another Zalgiris win over Olympiacos

Despite the loss, Olympiacos still leads the EuroLeague series with Zalgiris since 2000 with a 13-12 record, though the Lithuanian champion has now won nine of the last 11 games, including four times in Greece.

### Telling numbers

Zalgiris shot 53.9% from two-point range while Olympiacos hit 48.6% on two-point shots. Zalgiris also grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to 9 for Olympiacos.

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Zalgiris Kaunas fought back from a double-digit second-half deficit to secure a 67-68 victory in a defensive battle at Olympiacos Piraeus in its 2020-21 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season opener. 


Olympiacos Piraeus v Zalgiris Kaunas (2020-10-01T18:00:00.000Z)

What a difference a season makes; the team with the worst record in the 2019-20 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season stunned the team with the best mark when Zenit St Petersburg bested Anadolu Efes Istanbul 69-73 on Thursday at Sinan Erdem Dome. 

 Zenit stuns Efes in Istanbul

What a difference a season makes; the team with the worst record in the 2019-20 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season stunned the team with the best mark when Zenit St Petersburg bested Anadolu Efes Istanbul 69-73 on Thursday at Sinan Erdem Dome. Kevin Pangos scored a career-high 23 points – including 4 free throws in the final 23 seconds to seal the win – and dished 7 assists in his Zenit debut to lead the winners. K.C. Rivers added 14 points for Zenit, which trailed by 8 early in the fourth quarter before finishing strong. Vasilije Micic led Efes with 17 points and 9 assists, Krunoslav Simon netted 14 points and Rodrigue Beaubois 12 for the home team, which was missing star guard Shane Larkin due to injury.ed sit amet ultrices nisl, eget ullamcorper sem. Vestibulum ac ullamcorper ligula.



Micic had the honor of scoring the season's first basket with a driving layup, but Rivers heated up to give the visitors a 2-7 lead. Micic teamed with Bryant Dunston to help Efes on a run to lead 10-9, but Arturas Gudaitis and Mateusz Ponitka came off the bench for all the points in a 0-6 finish to the quarter to make it 10-15 after 10 minutes. Beaubois took charge with all the points for Efes in the first 5 minutes of the second quarter to even things at 17-17. Zenit's guards seem to always have an answer for Efes and the teams went into the locker rooms for half time tied at 26-26.

Efes came out shooting with back-to-back threes by Simon and Beaubois resulting in a quick Zenit timeout. Simon made his third triple in as many minutes before he assisted Sertac Sanli on a slam for a 40-31 lead. Pangos took charge to rally Zenit within 44-42 before Simon added another shot from downtown. Gudaitis left his mark at both ends of the floor to keep Zenit close, but a jumper by Micic in the closing seconds of the third quarter made it 54-49. Rivers and Pangos fueled the Zenit attack before a monster slam by Alex Poythress tied it at 63-63. A Poythress alley-oop slam gave Zenit a 65-67 edge with 2 and a half minutes remaining. Pangos sank a pair of free throws with 23 seconds remaining to give Zenit a 67-71 lead and, after a jumper by Beaubois, Pangos iced the game with 2 more foul shots with 4.8 seconds on the clock.

### Pivotal player

It looked like it might be a long night for Kevin Pangos when he came out of the game after 7 minutes with 3 turnovers and 0 points. However, Pangos was simply waiting for the second half to turn it on. He went for 19 points and 4 assists in the final 20 minutes, including 11 fourth-quarter points. He finished with a career-high 23 points, 7 assists and 5 turnovers in posting a game-high performance index rating of 25. What a debut in a Zenit uniform for the former All-EuroLeague guard, who missed all of the 2019-20 EuroLeague season with a foot injury.

### The numbers tell the story

Zenit shot more efficiently than Efes from every distance – 59.4% to 54.5% on two-pointers, 30.4% to 25.9% on threes and 87.5% to 75.0% on free throws. The visitors also won the battle of the boards (35 to 31) and delivered 19 assists to Efes's 13

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What a difference a season makes; the team with the worst record in the 2019-20 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season stunned the team with the best mark when Zenit St Petersburg bested Anadolu Efes Istanbul 69-73 on Thursday at Sinan Erdem Dome. 


Zenit stuns Efes in Istanbul

Anadolu Efes Istanbul v Zenit St Petersburg (2020-10-01T17:30:00.000Z)

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv got the new 2020-21 season off to a winning start by holding off visiting ALBA Berlin 80-73 on Thursday night. 

Maccabi fends off ALBA for winning start

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv got the new 2020-21 season off to a winning start by holding off visiting ALBA Berlin 80-73 on Thursday night. Maccabi used a 25-2 second-quarter run to rally from a double-digit deficit and take control of the game. Maccabi never relinquished its lead behind Angelo Caloiaro who scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the second half. Chris Jones had a great EuroLeague debut with 12 points and 7 assists, while Othello Hunter collected 12 points and 6 rebounds in the victory. Marcus Eriksson netted 18 points for ALBA and Simone Fontecchio had 16 points plus 8 rebounds. Peyton Siva added 10 points and 7 assists and Jayson Granger scored 10 points in a losing effort.



The teams traded baskets early with Eriksson sinking a pair of triples for ALBA, while Caloiaro and Wilbekin connected from downtown for the hosts. A three-pointer from Tyler Dorsey made it 15-14, but Fontecchio answered with a triple followed with a low-post left-handed basket. After Ben Lammers added to ALBA's tally, Fontecchio scored 6 more points to lead 19-29 after the first quarter. Niels Giffey increased the margin to 12 points in the opening minute of the second quarter, before Maccabi went on a massive 25-2 charge. First, it was Wilbekin who fueled an 11-0 run with the help of Hunter and Jones. Then, it was a 14-0 run that started with a triple from Jones followed by three-point plays from Dorsey, Sandy Cohen and Caloiaro to open a 43-33 advantage. Eriksson snapped ALBA's drought from long range and Siva's triple made it 49-41 at halftime.

Granger opened the third quarter with back-to-back threes and had 8 points to bring ALBA within 51-49. Ante Zizic and Oz Blayzer got Maccabi going as the teams stepped up their defensive intensity. Johannes Thiemann and Siva kept ALBA close, but Caloiaro and Elijah Bryant combined to score 10 points and open a 67-58 lead going into the fourth quarter. Caloiaro kept working and had another pair of baskets before Bryant stole the ball from Siva for an easy dunk to make it 75-60 with 7 minutes to go. ALBA was not going to go away as Siva and Eriksson answered with back-to-back threes, but Maccabi remained in control. After Bryant and Fontecchio traded triples, ALBA turned to full-court pressure as its last resort, but Maccabi also stood tall on defense, not allowing any easy looks. The visitors got within 78-73 from the free-throw line with 64 seconds to go, but did not score again as Maccabi held on for the victory.

### Key spurt

ALBA was in control 19-31 when Maccabi took it up a couple of notches on defense, as stops led to fast breaks and transition baskets. Maccabi first scored 11 unanswered points and then made a 14-0 run to take a 44-33 lead. Its 25-2 run lasted 6 minutes and 25 seconds.

### Shining debut

Chris Jones made his EuroLeague debut and impressed with 12 points and 7 assists. All of his points came in the first half and 4 of his assists came in the second half.

### Perfect free throws

It does not happen often that two teams do not miss a single free throw. Maccabi was 11 for 11 and ALBA 10 for 10 from the line. Eight different players shot at least 1 free throw in this contest, and no one missed!

### Fontecchio's EuroLeague return

ALBA 24-year old forward Simone Fontecchio entered this game with 17 EuroLeague appearances over three seasons from 2016 to 2019, during which he scored a total of 33 points and had a total performance index rating of 13. He never had more than 8 points in a game and the last time he scored a basket was in March 2017. Fontecchio shined for ALBA in the season opener with 16 points and 8 rebounds for a game-high PIR of 27.

Tony Dorsey

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv got the new 2020-21 season off to a winning start by holding off visiting ALBA Berlin 80-73 on Thursday night. 


Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv v ALBA Berlin (2020-10-01T18:05:00.000Z)

In a battle of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague powerhouses, FC Barcelona had a strong start to the season by downing CSKA Moscow 76-66 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday. 

Abrines, Mirotic led Barcelona past CSKA

In a battle of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague powerhouses, FC Barcelona had a strong start to the season by downing CSKA Moscow 76-66 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday. Brandon Davies led the winners with 18 points, Nikola Mirotic added 17 and Alex Abrines scored 13 for Barcelona. Toko Shengelia paced CSKA with 15 points, Mike James added 13 and Daniel Hackett 11. Mirotic and Davies fueled a 10-0 run, which helped Barcelona to a 24-14 lead after 10 minutes. Barcelona held a 41-33 margin at halftime, but CSKA managed to get within 57-55 early in the fourth quarter. Abrines and Davies led a 14-2 run that sealed the outcome down the stretch.



Ivan Ukhov got CSKA going with a three-pointer before Cory Higgins and Mirotic gave Barcelona its first lead, 4-3. Shengelia took over with an alley-oop layup and got help from James and Johannes Voigtmann to restore a 7-9 CSKA lead. Mirotic and Abrines each struck from downtown, igniting a 10-0 run that Davies capped with a huge slam. Darrun Hilliard followed a triple with a close jumper, but Davies and Adam Hanga fueled another 7-0 run that Nick Calathes capped with a layup to make it a double-digit game, 24-14, after 10 minutes. Joel Bolomboy and Hanga traded baskets early in the second quarter and then Davies added a dunk-and-foul for a 29-17 Barcelona lead. Will Clyburn found his first basket, but so did Thomas Heurtel and Rolands Smits, which caused CSKA to stop the game at 33-19. Hackett buried back-to-back triples and Shengelia added a put-back dunk that gave the visitors hope at 36-27. Mirotic stepped up with consecutive layups, but Shengelia and Clyburn drew CSKA within 41-33 at halftime.

Mirotic scored again immediately after the break and fed Abrines for a bomb from downtown for a 46-35 Barcelona lead. Calathes joined the three-point shootout, but Hackett and Clyburn kept pushing CSKA and Bolomboy dunked, which prompted the hosts to stop the game at 51-44. Barcelona found answers on offense through Mirotic and Davies to keep a 55-48 margin after 30 minutes. Shengelia buried a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter and James dunked to bring CSKA even closer, 57-55. Abrines gave Barcelona fresh air with a triple and a dunk-and-foul in an 8-0 run that made it 65-55. The hosts excelled on defense when it mattered most and Calathes nailed a step-back jumper to seal the outcome, 71-57, with 3 minutes left. CSKA never recovered.

### Pivotal performer

Nikola Mirotic picked it up where he left off last season, making the difference in this game with a great all-around performance. He finished the game with 17 points, 7 rebounds, an assist, 4 steals and 6 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 22.

### Game-changing moment

Mike James and Toko Shengelia brought CSKA within 57-55 early in the fourth quarter. Barcelona needed a go-to guy and Alex Abrines stepped up with a critical three-pointer and a wild dunk-and-foul. The hosts never looked back after that moment.

### Stellar stat

Barcelona shot the ball better from all distances and outrebounded CSKA 33-27. The hosts made 59.5% of their shots inside the arc and 42.9% from three-point territory. CSKA made only 46.9% two-point shots and 29.6% from downtown.

### Did you know?

For the first since 2013, Barcelona won its first showdown of the season against CSKA. In the last five previous seasons, CSKA always beat Barcelona in the teams' first game of the season.

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In a battle of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague powerhouses, FC Barcelona had a strong start to the season by downing CSKA Moscow 76-66 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday. 


FC Barcelona v CSKA Moscow (2020-10-01T19:00:00.000Z)

Danilo Barthel, Fenerbahce: 'Everybody is really excited'

Age, they say, is just a number. It's not how old you are, but how old you feel.

And that sentiment would certainly be echoed by the man who – with 352 appearances and counting – has played more games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague than anyone else: Felipe Reyes.

The Real Madrid center reached a memorable milestone during the enforced break in play as he celebrated his 40th birthday, making him the only player in this season's EuroLeague in his fifth decade. Reyes is not, however, the oldest player in the history of the competition. He has a long way to go before he catches up with Dan Gay, who was 45 years old when he played his last EuroLeague game for Climamio Bologna in February 2007.

By a strange coincidence, adding in Reyes's 48 games in the EuroCup (mostly for his first club, Estudiantes) means he arrived at his 40th birthday on March 16 of this year with exactly 400 appearances in continental competition: 400 in 40 – pretty impressive.

"When you are happy outside the court, it helps you inside the court."

For Reyes, though, statistics of that nature are a mere footnote to his main consideration when it comes to deciding how long his career will continue: enjoyment.

During the summer he agreed a new contract with Real to return for another season and, asked why he keeps on coming back, he has a simple answer:

"Because I love this game! I play with a great team, and we're always fighting to win the most important titles. For a person like me, I like to compete and play hard every day, so for all these reasons I carry on playing."

Perhaps surprisingly, the league's most veteran of veterans says the biggest challenge he faces to prolong his career is not a deterioration in his physical fitness, but the psychological difficulties presented by his profession.

"I feel very good physically, but mentally I have some tough moments," he says. "Sometimes it's difficult to come back to practice again and again after losing a big game or missing out on a title. I've been doing this for so long, and sometimes it can be difficult."

Reyes believes he is able to overcome those situations thanks to the support network around him, both within Real Madrid but even more so through the joy he derives from his wife Kirenia and their two young children, Chloe and Axel.

"I'm very happy with my family, which helps me so much," he says. "When I go home after a tough defeat, they always help me come through those bad moments. My family makes me happy, and when you are happy outside the court, it helps you inside the court. This is so important. Being a father has really helped me, giving me so much happiness. And when I lose an important game, I only need to go home and see their faces to help me overcome those tough moments.

"The people who are around me every day at Real Madrid are also very important. All my teammates, coaches, medical staff, equipment managers… everybody around us does everything they can to help the players and make our lives easier."

Reyes missed 16 games last season with a shoulder problem and then a muscle strain, but he returned to action in Round 19 and showed that he can still be a significant factor on the court by averaging nearly 8 minutes per game during his seven subsequent appearances. And in the home win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne immediately before the enforced suspension of the league, Reyes produced his best performance of the season: 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in less than 12 minutes. That proved that he is still more than capable of making a strong contribution to his team's new challenge this season as he goes past his 40th birthday.

He is thankful to the good fortune that has allowed him to keep on playing for so long, explaining: "I'm lucky because during my whole career I've never had a really serious injury. Mainly for this reason I'm still in good shape. I have always tried to work hard every day, ever since I was young. I give 100 percent and work hard, and away from the court I try to live a healthy life. I like to look after myself, eat well and don't have any excesses."

Having achieved so much, Reyes could be forgiven for looking back with pride at his career and all the trophies and individual triumphs it has delivered. For such a strong competitor, though, it's no surprise to hear that he prefers to focus on what lies ahead, rather than what he has already done.

"I only think about the past when people ask me!" he laughs. "Normally I only think in the present. I try to practice hard and not think about what I did years ago."

"It's beyond a dream to be playing for the best team in Europe at this age."

He does, however, allow himself to admit that he has achieved far more than he ever dared to believe possible.

"I'm very happy to be playing for Real Madrid at the age of 40," he says. "When I was younger I never dreamed of this. It's beyond a dream to be playing for the best team in Europe at this age. When I was a kid, I would have been happy with just one season playing for Real Madrid. So to have 17 seasons is amazing. I never expected this."

So exactly how long will he continue? At the moment, he is unsure when the day to retire will arrive, saying: "I don't know. When you're 40 years old you should only think in the present, not the past or the future. It's very difficult to play for so many years with such a great team, because every year you always have to be fighting for every title. Every game brings so much pressure.

"If my body and my mind can let me play for longer, I will do it. But I don't know yet. The most important thing is that at the end of the season I feel good. My body and mind will decide!"

Every fan of European basketball will hope that his body and mind keep on going for a lot longer yet.

Age, they say, is just a number, and that sentiment would certainly be echoed by the man who – with 352 appearances and counting – has played more games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague than anyone else: Felipe Reyes.

Henry leads Baskonia past Real

Valencia survives thriller in opener

Zalgiris comes back to win defensive battle at Olympiacos

Zenit stuns Efes in Istanbul

Maccabi fends off ALBA for winning start

Abrines, Mirotic led Barcelona past CSKA

Danilo Barthel, Fenerbahce: 'Everybody is really excited'

Felipe Reyes, Real Madrid: 'It's beyond a dream'

Nihad Dedovic, Bayern: 'I'm also a big fan'