It all went down to the wire.
Game Center: The 2023-24 regular season is now in the books!
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Friday, April 12
Olympiacos Piraeus 84-81 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
Olympiacos stood strong to close the regular season with a thrilling overtime win, 84-81, over Fenerbahce to finish fifth and set up a playoff series with Barcelona. Fenerbahce finished sixth and will face Monaco in the playoffs. The game was closely contested throughout, with 13 lead changes and several twists and turns in momentum as both teams battled hard.
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 79-66 Valencia Basket
Partizan (16-18) ended its EuroLeague season on a high note with a 79-66 home win over Valencia (14-20) in Round 34, receiving a standing ovation from a jam-packed crowd after the game despite only having pride to play for. Partizan lost any chance of snatching a last-gasp play-in berth on the final day of the regular season after its bitter city rival Crvena Zvezda suffered a 100-55 drubbing at Efes on Thursday, as the Turkish outfit claimed the last available postseason berth.
Virtus Segafredo Bologna 91-95 Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
Markus Howard scored 34 points and Baskonia rallied from a 13-point second-quarter deficit to edge Virtus Segafredo Bologna 91-95 and clinch the all-important eighth place in the standings. Improving to an 18-16 record, Baskonia will now travel to face Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the Play-In Showdown on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Virtus lost seventh in a row to finish the regular season in the 10th place with a 17-17 record and will travel to face Anadolu Efes Istanbul in a do-or-die game on Tuesday.
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 76-72 FC Barcelona
ASVEL finished the season on a high note as it knocked off the mighty Barcelona 76-72 at home to close out 2023-24 with two straight wins and a 9-25 record. It was the second time this season that ASVEL managed back-to-back wins, having previously done so in Rounds 19 and 20.
Thursday, April 11
Zalgiris Kaunas 62-64 Real Madrid
Real Madrid needed a fantastic pass from Sergio Llull and a last-second turn-around jumper from Gabriel Deck to shake off Zalgiris Kaunas for a 62-64 victory in a thriller in Kaunas. The regular-season finale seemed headed for overtime after Kevarrius Hayes tied it with just his second three of the season with 7.9 seconds left, but the champs found a way to win and improve to 27-7 without needing overtime. Dzanan Musa paced Los Blancos with 17 points and 7 rebounds and Mario Hezonja added 16 points for the winners, who will not have a week off before opening the playoffs at home against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. Zalgiris, which dropped to 14-20, got 14 points apiece from Brady Manek and Keenan Evans in its final game of the season.
AS Monaco 89-85 FC Bayern Munich
Monaco locked up home court advantage in the playoffs as it survived a near miracle comeback from Bayern 89-85 in the final round of the season. Monaco led by 24 points but watched as Bayern made it a two-point game in the closing moments. Monaco came up big at the end and improved to 23-11, including 12 wins in the last 13 games. Alpha Diallo scored 20 points to lead five Monaco players in double figures and Mike James had 17 points and 12 assists. Elie Okobo scored 14 points, Donatas Motiejunas had 12 and Jordan Loyd finished with 11 points. Bayern lost its fifth straight game to finish the season with a 13-21 record. Carsen Edwards scored 23 of his 26 points in the second half and Sylvain Francisco tallied all 17 of his points after halftime.
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 100-55 Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade
Efes has finished in ninth spot in the EuroLeague standings, thus confirming its spot in the Play-In Showdown, after a lopsided 100-55 win against Crvena Zvezda. Tomica Mijatovic has now gone 8-2 in the EuroLeague as Efes head coach. The Turkish side will host the loser of Virtus vs. Baskonia in the 9th vs. 10th play-in game next Tuesday.
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 92-86 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Maccabi will head into the play-in buoyed by its fifth win in the last six games, while its the end of the road for Milan, which needed to win and Efes to lose in order to retain any hopes of advancing into the postseason. Neither happened as Efes annihilated Zvezda 100-55 to snatch the last remaining play-in berth. Baldwin and Nebo once again stood out for Maccabi, which played all of its home games in Belgrade apart from the season opener against Partizan.
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens 84-75 ALBA Berlin
Panathinaikos struggled for three quarters but managed to down an undermanned ALBA by grabbing an 84-75 victory. The hosts improved to a 23-11 record and sealed second place in the standings, meaning that they'll have home-court advantage in the playoffs. Meanwhile, ALBA dropped to 5-29 and will finish bottom of the table. An extraordinary Kendrick Nunn led Panathinaikos with a career-high 28 points. Kostas Sloukas paired his 16 points with 7 assists, with Marius Grigonis netting 11. For ALBA, Khalifa Koumadje scored 13 points, with Sterling Brown and Ziga Samar registering 12 apiece.