With two regular season rounds remaining, several things are set, like the list of teams headed to BKT EuroCup postseason out of Group A and Paris Basketball's place as the top overall seed. Others, however, are still up in the air, like which teams will claim the top and bottom seeds – and pretty much everything – in Group B.
Stats review: Closing time
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The table above gives a rundown of the current standings, team efficiency numbers, and remaining schedule for the teams that are still in the mix for a postseason berth in Group B. While there's a victories gap between third and fourth place, there's still a lot to be decided in the resulting clusters on either side of that line.
The top matchup of Round 17 will feature U-BT Cluj-Napoca traveling to Dreamland Gran Canaria in a game that could be key to determining which of those teams ultimately takes second place and earns a bye to the quarterfinals in the new playoff format. Gran Canaria has the second highest-point differential in the EuroCup by a comfortable margin and beat Cluj by 22 in Round 8 meaning all the pressure will be on the visitors to not just come away with a victory in Round 17, but to win again in Round 18 to avoid the resulting trip to the eighthfinals. With Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse playing a Turk Telekom Ankara team fighting to hold their spot in the playoff picture and a ratiopharm Ulm team that may still be looking to lock down the fourth seed Round 18, it remains to be seen if their one-game cushion will keep them above the fray.
The road to the final seeds in Group B will run through Dolomiti Energia Trento. While currently on the outside looking in, they'll face off with a Buducnost VOLI Podgorica team that almost certainly needs to win to keep their hopes to qualify alive before visiting the team they are looking to supplant for the final seed in Group B, Aris Midea Thessaloniki. The number of scenarios in play at the bottom of Group B should make for an exciting conclusion to the regular season.
There's much less drama to be found in Group A. The playoff qualifiers are already decided, but their order beyond Paris could still get fairly messy over the next two weeks – especially given how many games those teams will play against one-another. The London Lions are the only team in the top six that will avoid playing against another playoff qualifier over the final two rounds which may give them a critical edge over Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv for the coveted second-place bye.
Joventut Badalona, Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul, and Hapoel will all play two games against the rest of the top six. As a result, there could be a great deal of movement effecting eighthfinal matchups. Joventut is the hinge that could open or close the door to chaos. If they can avenge their Round 8 road loss to Hapoel at home in Round 17, it opens the door wide open for London while a loss would give Besiktas and Prometey Slobozhanske an opportunity for a late push out of the last two spots.
With a lot of teams with a lot to play for down the stretch, it will be interesting to see who rises to the occasion in the regular season's final weeks.