The Spanish side dominated on the offensive end as it returned to the EuroLeague Playoffs for the first time since 2019
Baskonia's offense doubled Virtus in the key categories
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz flirted with several postseason records on Friday night as it enjoyed an emphatic offensive performance during its 89-77 triumph over the visiting Virtus Segafredo Bologna in the final game of the Play-In Showdown.
Scoring 89 points might not blow you away, but Baskonia did so by netting 16 triples – just one triple made shy of a postseason EuroLeague record – and dishing 22 assists. Both of those marks are also double the amount that Virtus had in this game, as the visitors finished the night with just 8 threes and 11 assists in its season finale.
By pushing up the tempo and not shying away from getting shots up in transition, Baskonia built its lead by making shots from downtown. What was unique, however, was that just five Baskonia players hit a triple on Friday night.
Living and dying by threes
Markus Howard drained 8 three-pointers, half of all Baskonia's entire total and the same figure as the entire Virtus team. Howard also came one triple shy of a EuroLeague postseason record, held by Saulius Stomebergas. Howard got to that number by firing away 19 shots from behind the arc, a new EuroLeague postseason record and tied for the second-most three-point attempts in competition history.
The home team had 39 attempts from distance, making 41% of its threes. The other four Baskonia players who struck from long range were Tadas Sedekerskis (3 for 4), Matt Costello (3 for 6), Vanja Marinkovic (1 for 2) and Nikos Rogkavopoulos (1 for 4).
When it came to assists, Codi Miller-McIntyre led the way with 8 helpers, while center Maik Kotsar dished 5 assists. The two of them had combined for more assists than the entire visiting team.
But Baskonia didn't only do better than Virtus when it came to threes and assists.
Baskonia also outrebounded the visitors on the offensive glass, grabbing 15 offensive boards to Virtus's 10. The hosts committed 11 turnovers, too, while forcing 16 by the visiting team.
All those numbers together resulted in Baskonia comfortably closing out a do-or-die game and booking its first playoff ticket since 2019, with its best-of-five series against Real Madrid set to get underway on Tuesday night.