Olympiacos Piraeus won the Greek League title for the first time since 2016 by sweeping Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in their best-of-five finals on Friday. FC Bayern Munich dominated on the road in Game 3 to register its first win in the best-of-five German League finals against ALBA Berlin, while Real Madrid, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne registered big home wins.
Domestic leagues: Reds back on top in Greece as Printezis retires
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Greece: The Reds back on top after 6 years
Olympiacos Piraeus is the new Greek League champion after beating Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 93-74 to sweep their best-of-five finals series on Friday. It is the 13th Greek League crown for Olympiacos and its first since 2016. The game was also the last in the career of legendary Reds team captain Georgios Printezis, who retired after lifting the trophy. Panathinaikos guard Nemanja Nedovic scored 16 points in the game's first 12 minutes as the teams traded blows before Olympiacos took control with a 23-3 second-quarter blast. Giannoulis Larentzakis hit a three-pointer and Sasha Vezenkov a pair of baskets in an 11-0 run, and after a triple from Howard Sant-Roos, a pair of triples from Kostas Sloukas and as many close-range baskets from Livio Jean-Charles during a 12-0 run opened a 55-38 lead in the last minute of the first half. Vezenkov's triple made it 63-44 midway through the third quarter, but Panathinaikos was not going away just yet as Nedovic fueled a 0-9 run to finish the third quarter 63-53. Sloukas hit back-to-back triples early in the fourth before a dunk and a layup from Shaquielle McKissic made it 73-56 as the Reds were well on their way to a title-clinching victory. Vezenkov led the winners with 25 points on 4-for-5 three-point shooting. Sloukas had 14 points, while McKissic and Kostas Papanikolaou scored 10 apiece. Printezis, who was honored after the game with his teammates wearing championship t-shirts with his name and number on it, lifted the trophy for one last time in his remarkable career. For Panathinaikos, Nedovic netted 23 points, Georgios Papagiannis collected 15 points plus 10 rebounds, and Eleftherios Bochoridis scored 10.
Spain: Real grabs 2-1 finals lead
Real Madrid closed within a win of clinching the Spanish League title after beating FC Barcelona 81-66 on it's home floor in Game 3 of their best-of-five final series. Holding a 2-1 series lead, Real needs one more victory to win the title. The next game is on Sunday in Madrid. Real built a 46-39 halftime lead behind its dominance on the offensive glass, especially in the second quarter when Los Blancos had 5 offensive boards and Barcelona none. Walter Tavares and Gabriel Deck combined to score 9 points to open a 55-42 advantage early in the third quarter but Kyle Kuric and Nick Calathes sparked a 0-8 Barca run that cut the deficit to 5 points. Fabien Causeur had a pair of baskets in an 11-3 response for Real that included a dunk from Vincent Poirier and a triple from Sergio Llull, giving Real 66-53 after 30 minutes. Guerschon Yabusele increased the margin to 72-53 in the fourth and Real cruised the rest of the way. Deck paced the winners with 14 points. Causeur scored 13, while Tavares and Llull scored 10 apiece in a victory. Kuric netted 15 points, and Calathes had 10 points and 6 assists in a loss.
France: ASVEL ties it in a rout
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne never trailed in blowing past AS Monaco 91-54 to tie their best-of-five finals series at 1-1 on Friday night. A three-point play from Marcus Knight and a three-pointer from William Howard got ASVEL going, and Knight's dunk opened 16-7 after 6 minutes. Dylan Osetkowski strung together 7 straight points late in the first quarter to open 28-12 lead, and ASVEL did not stop there, as a three-pointer from Chris Jones sparked a 7-0 run early in the second, before baskets from James Gist helped open 41-15 margin with 4 minutes to go in the second quarter. ASVEL took 50-23 margin into halftime, then scored the first 11 points of the third quarter at which point ASVEL held the visitors to just 6-for-24 for two-pointers and 2-for-13 from long range. The lead grew to 71-30 in the third quarter as ASVEL was well on its way to victory. Osetkowski had 13 points, Knight scored 11 and Okobo had 10 in a balanced effort for ASVEL while Ibrahima Faye had 10 for Monaco.
Germany Bayern dominates in Berlin to stay alive
FC Bayern Munich beat ALBA Berlin 60-90 in Game 3 of their best-of-five German League finals, cutting ALBA's lead to 2-1 and sending the series back to Munich. DeShaun Thomas capped a 0-10 run with back-to-back triples for Bayern to open 4-13 margin early one, taking the lead for good. Oscar da Silva and Johannes Thiemann helped ALBA stay in range in the first quarter, but three-pointers from Ognjen Jaramaz and Nick Weiler-Babb early in the second helped 17-33, before consecutive threes from Thomas, Othello Hunter and Weiler-Babb doubled-up the margin, 22-44. Bayern held 33-52 at halftime, and not much changed after the break with Bayern firmly in control before a triple from Andreas Obst and alley-oop dunk from Hunter capped a 0-9 run to open 40-67, cruising to victory. Thomas and Weiler-Babb led the way scoring 19 points apiece, with Thomas shooting 4-for-7 from long range. Hunter and Thomas scored 13 and Nihad Dedovic had 10 points and 6 rebounds in a victory. da Silva had 15 points and Maodo Lo scored 10 for ALBA which shot 2-for-21 from long range.
Serbia: Zvezda storms to 1-0 lead
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade led from start to finish to beat FMP Zeleznik 110-71 in the first game of their best-of-three Serbian League finals series. Zvezda took control from the start behind big man Ognjen Kuzmic, and the hosts broke the game wide-open in the second quarter when Luka Mitrovic fueled a 13-0 run, with five different players scoring, to make it 39-22. Zvezda held 53-29 at halftime, then kept increasing the margin, dominating its way to victory and 1-0 finals lead. Kuzmic had 17 points plus 7 rebounds, Ognjen Dobric scored 14, Nikola Ivanovic had 13 points and 9 assists, while Mitrovic and Branko Lazic each scored 11 in a big victory.