Efes, Panathinaikos and Zalgiris won do-or-die Game 3s on Monday night.
Larkin hits a buzzer-beater at Fenerbahce, Rudy leads Real to 2-0 lead
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Rudy leads Real to 2-0 lead
Real Madrid is a win away from winning a Spanish League title after a 79-63 win in Game 2 over the visiting Murcia on Monday night. The win, which gave Real a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, came behind Rudy Fernandez who had 14 points and 6 rebounds in under 15 minutes of action.
Murcia remained close throughout the first quarter, only for Fernandez to sink back-to-back triples to open a 40-30 halftime lead. The hosts kept control of the game, mostly behind its defense, but Murcia was not going away, cutting it to 55-51 late in the third quarter. But early in the fourth, Fernandez scored 5 more points, including another triple, to make it 64-54, before Real went on a 13-3 run to pull away and decide the winner.
Dzanan Musa had 13 points and Walter Tavares 8 points plus 12 rebounds in a win.
Germany: ALBA wins in Munich, ties it at 1-1
ALBA Berlin stole one away from home, beating FC Bayern Munich 70-79 in Game 2 of their best-of-five German League finals, tying the series at 1-1. The next two games will be played at Uber Arena in the German capital.
Bayern had a better start to the game, and had a 26-19 lead after 10 minutes but ALBA had a big second quarter in which it allowed only 6 points. It also did not allow a single basket over the final 5 minutes and 18 seconds of that quarter, while going on a 0-13 run to end the half, one in which Louis Olinde scored a triple to start and end a run, while Matt Thomas scored 7 points in between to give ALBA a 32-39 halftime lead. A triple from Tim Schneider made it a 10-point affair at the start of the third as two teams proceeded to change blows, and the visitors' held multiple double-digit leads throughout the third quarter. Bayern did cut it to 56-60 early in the fourth quarter, but the visitors replied with a 0-13 run with Schneider and Sterling Brown in main roles, and cruised to victory.
Thomas had 21 points, while Brown had 17 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds in a win. Carsen Edwards scored 17, and Leandro Bolmaro 14 points in Bayern's defeat.
Greece: Panathinaikos stays alive
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens held off Olympiacos Piraeus 83-76 in Game 3 of their best-of-five Greek League final series. Olympiacos now leads the series 2-1 and its next chance to win the titlle will be in front of its home fans in Game 4.
Panathinaikos started pulling away early in the second quarter, using a 14-2 run which started late in the first and was continued by Kostas Sloukas, Kendrick Nunn and finally Kostas Antetokounmpo in the second and has opened a 33-20 margin. Panathinaikos lead was as big as 40-24 after 5 more points from Nunn, before the Reds cut the deficit and made it 43-34 at halftime.
Olympiacos found more offense in the third quarter, first through Nikola Milutinov and Isaiah Canaan, then through Alec Peters and Filip Petrusev, cutting the margin to 61-59 after 30 minutes. A dunk from Shaquielle McKissic tied it at 64-64 early in the fourth, and when Panathinaikos restored some breathing room, a 0-7 run capped by a Milutinov dunk put Olympiacos up 72-73 midway through the fourth quarter. However, the fresh EuroLeague champions scored the next 9 points, a three-point play from Lessort followed by an Ioannis Papapetrou's triple before Sloukas made it 80-73, a lead which the Greens took into the final 2 minutes and preserved, staying alive in the series.
Nunn scored 21 points, Lessort had 17 points plus 7 rebounds, and Sloukas scored 13 in a win. Milutinov had 17 for Olympiacos, while Canaan netted 14 in defeat.
Turkey: Larkin hits a game-winner
Shane Larkin scored a game-winner with 0.1 seconds left on the clock to lift Anadolu Efes Istanbul to a come-from-behind 81-82 win over Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in the best-of-five Turkish League finals series. That now means there have been three games and three road wins, with Fenerbahce now holding a 2-1 series lead and playing Game 4 again on home floor.
Fenerbahce stormed out of the gates scoring the first 7 points of the night, but Ercan Osmani got Efes going as the visitors quickly caught up in the low-scoring first quarter, which Fenerbahce ended up 16-13. Teams kept battling in the second, and Larkin's only basket of the first half, a long triple, gave Efes 27-30 lead, but Scottie Wilbekin answered with a three of its own and Nigel Hayes-Davis made sure Fenerbahce took 39-34 lead into halftime.
The hosts for most part kept the slim lead during the third quarter, but Derek Willis paced Efes, and Dogus Ozdemiroglu tied it at 56-56 at the end of the quarter. A Nick Calathes-to-Georgios Papagiannis alley-oop opened the fourth quarter, and back-to-back triples from Wilbekin and Calathes opened 72-65. But after a timeout, Efes scored the next 6 points, and the game went towards a dramatic ending. A dunk by Willis tied it at 80-80 with 24.6 seconds to go. On the ensuing possession, Hayes-Davis drew a foul on Willis 3.8 seconds before the final buzzer but only split foul shots, and after a timeout, Larkin drove past Calathes to score a winning basket and send the series to Game 4.
Willis finished with 20 points, Larkin scored 11 of his 14 in the second half, and also had 7 assists. Osmani scored 13, and Dan Oturu 12 points in a victory. Wilbekin paced Fener with 17 points, Hayes-Davis scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half, and Calathes had 10 points and 12 assists in a loss.
Lithuania: Zalgiris extends Lithuanian League finals
Zalgiris Kaunas remained alive in the best-of-five Lithuanian League finals with a 91-81 Game 3 win over the visiting Rytas Vilnius on Monday night. Zalgiris continued defense of its crown, cutting the deficit in the series to 2-1, as Rytas will host Game 4.
A 17-2 early run, which was started by 8 unanswered points by Edmond Sumner, and included a three from Tomas Dimsa, opened a 19-6 lead in the first quarter, and Zalgiris extended the margin to 17 points in the second before taking a 47-36 lead into halftime. After the break Rytas closed the gap to single digits, but Sumner hit a three, and Laurynas Birtuis score twice to re-open a 15-point margin. Rytas was not going away, and even though Sumner hit a three late in the third and Lukas Lekavicius made one early in the fourth, the visitors cut the margin to 69-63 with 7:40 to go. But Edgaras Ulanovas scored 5 points in an ensuing 7-0 run, paving the way for Zalgiris win.
Sumner led the way with 22 points on 5-for-11 three-pointers, Lekavicius had 19 points on 4-for-7 threes, and Ulanovas had 14 points in a win.