The last night of Round 27 opens with an alluring matchup of back-to-back teams in the top half of the standings who staged a classic in their first meeting this season.
Fenerbahce, Baskonia tip off Friday with a pivotal rematch
![Fenerbahce, Baskonia tip off Friday with a pivotal rematch](https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/b9754563-5b7e-4f8a-900f-f125f4a59868.jpg?crop=2400%3A1350%3Anowe%3A165%3A260)
As far apart geographically as almost any pair of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague teams, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz could hardly be nearer each other in the standings as they meet in a pivotal clash at Ulker Sports and Event Hall on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait on Friday.
With a victory, Fenerbahce (15-11) could go two wins ahead of the visitors with seven rounds remaining, solidifying its seventh place in the table to take aim at the fixed playoff spots above.
Conversely, Baskonia (14-12) could conceivable jump from eighth to sixth place with a win if Olympiacos Piraeus loses an hour later on the road at Zalgiris Kaunas. All three teams would then be tied with 15-12 records, but Baskonia will have swept both of the others.
Triple-double test: Calathes vs. Miller-McIntyre
Apart from the high, late-season stakes, this game is already unique in EuroLeague history for featuring two players with triple-doubles to their names.
Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce notched his almost five years ago, on April 4, 2019, with 11 points, 18 assists and 11 rebounds for Panathinaikos Athens against Buducnost Podgorica to join the great Nikola Vujcic as just the second EuroLeague player this century to post a triple-double.
Codi Miller-McIntyre of Baskonia became the third and newest name on that list earlier this month, in his previous EuroLeague game, putting up 11 points, 11 rebounds and a league-record 20 assists in a 94-80 home win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.
What's more, Calathes -- who is already the EuroLeague's career leader in total assists with 2,003 -- sits just three steals away from taking over first place all-time in that category, too. Calathes has 432 steals to date, while his former teammate Dimitris Diamantidis tops the list with 434.
Miller-McIntyre, for his part, came within 1 rebound of another triple-double on his first trip to Istanbul this season, in which Baskonia won 80-87 at Anadolu Efes Istanbul. He had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists in that game.
Long-distance duel: Howard vs. Wilbekin
There's plenty more than passers to watch in the backcourts on Friday, however. This game also features the two most prolific three-point shooters of the last two seasons.
Baskonia's Marcus Howard ranks first in triples made not only this season (99) but since the beginning of the last one (187), when he debuted in the EuroLeague. Scottie Wilbekin of Fenerbahce is right behind him in second place, both this season (78) and the last two combined (133). Their percentages are virtually the same, though, so their showdown on Friday might well be a question of who gets hot and who defends the other better.
Indeed, to understand how thin the margins can be in this playoffs race, it was Howard's three-pointer with 7 seconds left back in Round 12 on December 6 that gave Baskonia an 80-79 victory at home despite having trailed Fenerbahce by 15 points early in that game. Miller-McIntyre's put-back dunk just before the halftime buzzer that night is a candidate for play of the year.