BELGRADE — Former Chicago Bulls forward Andres Nocioni got a rude awakening on his return to the Euroleague after eight seasons in the NBA when holder Olympiakos Piraues beat his Spanish side Caja Laboral 85-81 in the opening round of matches. Nocioni, who joined the Bulls in 2004 after winning the Olympic gold medal with Argentina in the Athens Games, was guilty of an astonishing miss with the clock ticking in the final minute of a tense contest. The lead changed hands several times and with 22 seconds left, Nocioni missed an easy layup with Caja Laboral trailing by four points. Polish center Maciej Lampe topped the scoring with 18 points for Caja Laboral, Brad Oleson netted 13 while Fernando San Emeterio, Nemanja Bjelica and Nocioni chipped in with 11 each. Forwards Georgios Printezis and playmaker Vassilis Spanoulis led Olympiakos with 17 and 16 points respectively. On Friday, eight-time winner Real Madrid rallied to beat Panathinaikos Athens 85-78, thanks to a superb performance by former Portland Trailblazers point guard Rudy Fernandez. Elsewhere, Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana celebrated their first away Euroleague win in 10 years after upsetting Mapooro Cantu 84-71 while Alba Berlin produced a surprise 92-82 victory at Montepaschi Siena. CSKA Moscow was stretched in its 75-73 defeat of Lithuania's Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, 2010 champion Barcelona strolled to a 72-60 win over Germany's Bamberg and Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Spaniards Unicaja Malaga 85-80. — Reuters
