There are only five rounds left to play in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season and so far, only two teams have qualified for the playoffs! Olympiacos Piraeus and Real Madrid have been among the most dominant and consistent teams until now and it shouldn't be long before they secure home-court advantage for the best-of-five quarterfinals. Two more teams can secure their places in the playoffs in Round 30: FC Barcelona and AS Monaco. Barca would qualify with a win, regardless of other scores, and Monaco will be all but mathematically in the playoffs if it beats Valencia Basket at home. Of course, it all has an impact on the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge powered by Ardu Prime.
Let's take a look at my team first. Gancedato didn't have a great performance in Round 29 despite not making many major mistakes. Just two small details prevented me from a much high score: first, FC Bayern Munich lost the German derby at home. I didn't see it coming and Bayern head coach Andrea Trinchieri scored -5 fantasy points. Second, my choice of captain was not great, as Johnathan Motley gave me 44 fantasy points, but Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos gave 70.4 to most players. I scored 147.5 fantasy points for a total of 4,231.94 and dropped to the 2,270th spot in the overall standings.
Three trades will be allowed before each round until the end of the regular season. I am selling Coach Trinchieri because Bayern plays on the road at EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. In fact, I am buying Milan coach Ettore Messina instead. I am selling Chima Moneke of AS Monaco one week after signing him. I thought he was ready to contribute and come close to a double-double every night, but he isn't. I am also selling Johannes Voigtmann of Milan because I think I've found a better option as a backup center, someone who will play on Thursday while Motley plays on Friday. Finally, I am selling Vezenkov because I am trying a different strategy and I have another superstar forward in mind.
And that is, of course, Nikola Mirotic of Barca. His team qualifies with a win, he has been playing fantastically lately and I believe he will have a monster game. As always, I try to sign the player who I predict will have the highest PIR in the next round and that's Mirotic; it's as simple as that. Since DyShawn Pierre remains sidelined, I am bringing in Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. He comes off a fantastic performance in the Turkish League and it is only logical that he follows it up against Zalgiris, one of his former teams. Finally. With few credits available, I am taking Bryant Dunston of Efes. If Ante Zizic remains sidelined, Dunston is a good option this week.
You can take a look at my team here: