The two teams’ seasons are on the line, with the winner set to face Real Madrid in a best-of-five series
Baskonia vs. Virtus: It’s now or never for a spot in the playoffs
A lot can change in the space of a week.
Last Friday night, an inspired performance by Markus Howard saw Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz defeat Virtus Segafredo Bologna 91-95 on the road in Round 34 to wrap up eighth place, with the Italian hosts dropping to 10th.
It was seen as a huge result for Baskonia as it meant the Spanish side could afford one defeat in the Play-In Showdown, compared to a do-or-die situation for Virtus.
There were jubilant scenes among the Baskonia players as they made their way back to Spain, and there was optimism that they could cause a shock result against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Belgrade, Serbia.
Virtus, meanwhile, had to recover from a seventh straight defeat in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and knew a tricky test awaited against Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Turkiye.
Then, Tuesday happened.
Baskonia was blown away by a quick start by Maccabi during a first half in which star power forward Chima Moneke suffered a game-ending ankle injury. After trailing 55-36 at the break, the final score was even worse: 113-85. All the confidence from Friday’s win at Virtus went down the drain.
Almost 1,000 kilometers away in Istanbul, Virtus was also on the receiving end of an early onslaught by Efes but, unlike Baskonia, it was able to weather the storm. Head coach Luca Banchi tweaked a few things and the game soon started to be played at Virtus’s pace, with the visitors down by just one point, 36-35, at halftime and two points, 50-48, after 30 minutes. Then, a fourth quarter featuring big plays on either end of the floor resulted in Virtus pulling out a 64-67 victory.
The picture has changed entirely, with doubts now surrounding the Moneke-less Baskonia while there is renewed confidence among everyone at Virtus. Tuesday night’s triumph at Efes was more representative of the type of performance EuroLeague fans saw from Virtus in the first half of the season, when Coach Banchi’s squad earned rave reviews and sat in the top four of the standings.
Lessons from their regular-season matchups
As Virtus was riding the wave of a 9-4 start to the campaign, the Italian side travelled to Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 14 and managed to defeat Baskonia 81-91. The Spanish side had been transformed under Dusko Ivanovic, going 7-1 since his appointment to improve to 8-5, but its loss to Virtus was its first by more than one possession with the Montenegrin on the bench.
That night, Marco Belinelli netted a career-high 27 points, while former Baskonia man Toko Shengelia finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, and Isaia Cordinier had a similarly impactful night with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Those three will be expected to show up again on Friday night and silence the Baskonia fans, just like they did in mid-December.
Given the absence of Moneke, Baskonia will likely turn to its guard duo of Howard and Codi Miller-McIntyre as it attempts to set up a playoff series against domestic rival Real Madrid. The idea of facing Howard in a one-off game is likely to give the Virtus players nightmares, especially after his 34-point outing in a 91-95 win at Virtus Segafredo Arena in Round 34. There was no stopping the 25-year-old, but he’ll be eager to respond after scoring 14 points against Maccabi on Tuesday, 5.3 points below his usual average.
Miller-McIntyre may also see a lot of attention, having posted 10 points, 8 rebounds and 13 assists in Baskonia’s Round 14 loss to Virtus before having 16 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists in the Spanish team’s win in Italy. He may not be the scorer that Howard is, but Miller-McIntyre loves to get his teammates involved and, in front of a passionate crowd at Buesa Arena, has a habit for making magic happen.
Virtus has several players it can throw at Miller-McIntyre and Howard – Alessandro Pajola and Daniel Hackett in particular – but sometimes the best players simply cannot be stopped.
One of the key questions for Baskonia is how it will cope without Moneke, with Matt Costello likely to play more at the "four", and whether it can flip the switch now that it is back on its home floor. Virtus, on the other hand, will be eager to continue the momentum it kick-started at Efes on Tuesday night.
There's a place in the EuroLeague Playoffs on the line, so make sure to tune in to EuroLeague TV to catch all the action from 20:30 CEST on Friday.