Barca to Final Four; Sloukas lifts Reds on the buzzer!

Zalgiris 66-77 Barcelona | FINAL

FC Barcelona became the first qualifier to the 2023 Final Four by completing a 3-0 sweep of Zalgiris Kaunas with a 66-77 road win on Wednesday at Zalgirio Arena. Barca will return to the same court to face the winner of the Real Madrid-Partizan series in the semifinals on Friday, May 19. Zalgiris stormed back from 13 down with the first 7 points of the fourth quarter, 5 of them by Edgaras Ulanovas, to pull within 55-61 with 7 minutes left. Vesely steadied Barca with a pair of jumpers at 55-65. When Alex Abrines then hit a triple in transition, it took the air out of Zalgirio Arena. Vesely, Tomas Satoranky and Mike Tobey combined for 41 points as Barca completed the second best-of-five series sweep in club history.

Fenerbahce 71-72 Olympiacos | FINAL

Kostas Sloukas won Game 3 for Olympiacos Piraeus, 72-71, with a triple on the buzzer that gave the Reds the series lead and stunned a soldout Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul crowd. Fenerbahce happily traded points early in the fourth until Johnathan Motley's next basket made it 60-51. However, Tariq Black's 2 power baskets and Shaquielle McKissic's fastbreak brought to within 60-59 with under 5 minutes left. Sasha Vezenkov's 5 points in a row flipped the lead in favor of the Reds, 60-64. Tyler Dorsey bit back with a three-point play, a triple and an assist to Nick Calathes as Fenerbahce surged in front again, 69-66, with under 2 minutes left. When Hayes-Davis just missed beating the shot clock with a triple, Vezenkov responded with his own to tie 69-69 with 48 seconds left. Fenerbahce missed, but Dyshawn Pierre stole a pass in the backcourt and Marko Guduric nailed his only basket of the night at 71-69 with 3.8 seconds left. Sloukas took the inbounds pass, shook his defender and fired from deep for the win! Sloukas finished with 25 points to lead all scorers.

Maccabi 78-83 Monaco | FINAL

AS Monaco reclaimed home-court advantage in its best-of-five series with Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv by leading from start to finish for a 78-83 road win in Game 3 on Tuesday. Monaco leads the series 2-1. After Maccabi got as close as 57-60 at the end of three, Elie Okobo's 4 points early in the fourth quarter again stretched the Monaco lead to 59-68 with just 7 minutes left. John DiBartolomeo answered from deep and Lorenzo Brown cut the difference to 64-70, but with 4 minutes left, Maccabi was lacking points. Okobo and Wade Baldwin traded baskets at 66-72. Maccabi got within 69-73 on a basket by Lorenzo Brown but the next basket came on a tip-in from Alpha Diallo of Monaco already in the final 90 seconds to make it 69-76. DiBartolomeo and Wade Baldwin drilled triples in the same 8 seconds of the final half-minute to make it 78-81, bit Jordan Loyd's free throws with 6 seconds left decided it for Monaco. Mike James led the winners with 21 points while Bonzie Colson got 17 for Maccabi. Game 4 is Thursday in Tel Aviv. If Monaco wins, it will reach its first Final Four.

Partizan 80-82 Real Madrid | FINAL

In a absolute thriller before nearly 20,000 fans in Belgrade, Real Madrid won its first game of the series in comeback fashion, 80-82, over host Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in Game 3 of their best-of-five playoff on Tuesday. Career-best performances from Walter Tavares and Mario Hezonja made the difference. Zach LeDay and Dante Exum combined on 5 points early in the fourth quarter to tie 68-68. Yam Madar accomplished the same at 70-70 but Madrid answered with Tavares blasting a dunk. Tavares put Real up 72-75 , but Alen Smailagic hit free throws and James Nunnally nailed a triple in transition for a new Partizan lead, 77-75, with 3 minutes left. Tavares tied it with the only points for the next 2 minutes, so it remained tied into the final one. Partizan spent the 2 fouls it had to give to stop Tavares before he could shoot, but Nigel Williams-Goss drilled an inbounds triple at 77-80 with 24 seconds left. Mario Hezonja's free throws with 11 left meant that LeDay's late triple wasn't enough for Partizan. Tavares had a career-high-tying 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Hezonja had 12 and 14, respectively, and Williams-Goss buried 22 points. Game 4 is Thursday in Belgrade and if Partizan can win, it will reach its first Final Four in 13 years.