With the end of the regular season almost in sight, every win at this point of the season is like gold
Game Center: Some huge results in the postseason race on Friday night!
Friday, March 22
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade 94-79 Virtus Segafredo Bologna
Crvena Zvezda showed all kinds of pride to end a six-game losing streak with a 94-79 home win over Virtus, which fell to a fourth consecutive defeat. Zvezda, already eliminated from postseason contention, improved to 11-20. Virtus fell to 17-14 with its fifth loss in six games.
AS Monaco 79-78 Valencia Basket
Monaco inched closer to a place in the playoffs after holding off the visiting Valencia 79-78 on Friday night. This victory improved Monaco to 20-11 on the season and one win away from securing a playoff berth. Valencia dropped to 14-17, meaning it now has a share of the 10th-best record.
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens vs. FC Barcelona (20:15 CET)
Panathinaikos boosted its top-four chances by downing direct rival Barcelona, 89-81, leaving both teams with a 20-11 record. The home team’s victory in a scintillating atmosphere in the Greek capital was not enough to secure the crucial tiebreaker, which remains unclaimed after both won by 8 points at home.
FC Bayern Munich 74-89 Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
Maccabi recorded a hard-fought 74-89 victory on the road against Bayern on Friday night to improve to 18-13 after getting its fifth win in a row. The visitors wasted a 16-point first-half advantage and saw Bayern retake the lead, 69-65, early in the last period, but a powerful 0-18 run starting midway through that final quarter shifted the momentum and led to a Bayern collapse. Bayern dropped to 13-18 and saw its Play-In Showdown hopes take a dent.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 77-76 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
Milan (14-17) eked out a vital 77-76 home win over Fenerbahce to bounce back into the play-in fight after completing a perfect double-round week, having also beaten AS Monaco 80-98 on the road. The thriller in the Forum went Milan's way after the visitors, who trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, had turned the game on its head in the fourth quarter but fell short in the home stretch.
Thursday, March 21
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 84-83 ALBA Berlin
In a game of wild swings that went down to the very last shot, Efes got a game-winning block from Tyrique Jones to outlast a determined ALBA 85-84 at home and live to fight another day in the race for the EuroLeague postseason. ALBA overcame a 55-40 deficit after halftime with an 0-18 run to eventually lead 67-72 early in the fourth. It was back and forth from there until 5 points from Will Clyburn in the final 90 seconds put Efes up 85-81. But Louis Olinde's fifth three-pointer got ALBA closer, and Martin Hermannsson's layup try near the buzzer would have won it if Jones didn't come out of nowhere to erase it!
Zalgiris Kaunas 94-76 Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
Zalgiris kept alive its hopes of sneaking into the top 10 at the end of the regular season and snatch a play-in berth after an impressive home win over Baskonia, thanks to masterclass performances from Keenan Evans and Kevarrius Hayes. Evans paced the home team with 20 points and 4 assists while Hayes racked up 17 points and 7 rebounds as Zalgiris dominated the paint, having collected 38 boards in total of which 15 were on the offensive end. At the other end, Codi Miller-McIntyre led Baskonia with 16 points and Markus Howard netted 14.
Olympiacos Piraeus 80-64 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
Olympiacos struggled for three quarters but managed to overcome ASVEL in Piraeus. The Reds got back to winning ways, improved to a 19-12 record and came closer to securing a playoff spot, while second-bottom ASVEL dropped to 7-24. Alec Peters led all scorers with 17 points, while Moustapha Fall finished the game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. For ASVEL, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot netted 14 points, with Nando de Colo, Joffrey Lauvergne and Youssoupha Fall scoring 10 each.
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 76-88 Real Madrid
Real Madrid broke open a close game with a 0-16 run to close the third quarter and never looked back in beating Partizan on Thursday at Stark Arena. The victory clinched first place for the reigning champs, who improved to 25-6 on the season. Partizan dropped to 14-17 and slipped out of the top 10 in the standings. Mario Hezonja paced the winners with 25 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting. Frank Kaminsky scored 19 points for Partizan in defeat.