The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is entering its busiest and most exciting stretch of the regular season. The month of March will feature seven rounds and a pair of make-up games for a total of 65 fixtures over the next 30 days.
All that takes place amid the tightest-ever playoff race where entering Round 26 no team has yet secured a playoff spot and that will be the case for at least another week. Ten different teams have winning records. In addition, there are seven teams within one game of each other between sixth and 12th place, the spot where Virtus Segafredo Bologna (12-13) currently sits.
What makes it even more special is that the tight-as-ever playoff race guarantees multiple clashes with major playoff implications between direct rivals each round. Such is this coming round, and among those games are Thursday's matchup between AS Monaco (15-10) and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (13-12) and Friday's pitting Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (15-9) against guest Virtus.
Monaco enters the clash with a two-game lead over Maccabi. A win would be another step towards its attempt to return to the EuroLeague Playoffs, while a victory by more than 8 points, which is the margin Maccabi beat Monaco by in come-from-behind fashion in Round 3, would essentially give Monaco a four-game edge over Maccabi.
In addition, a victory over Maccabi, which is only 3-10 on the road this season, would allow Monaco to keep up with Fenerbahce - and the rest of the top-ranked teams - in the race for the home-court advantage in the playoffs, too.
