The players bringing key numbers to the playoffs

The Reds' stat leaders

One reason why Olympiacos Piraeus finished the regular season first, with a 24-10 record, is that its players dominated the main statistical categories: Sasha Vezenkov led the regular season in points (17.6), defensive rebounds (5.4) and PIR (22.2), and was second in total rebounds (7.1) and two-point shots made (4.5) per game. Thomas Walkup finished first in average steals (1.9). Moustapha Fall had the best two-point shooting accuracy (75.2%), while Shaquille McKissic was not only fourth (71.8%), but was the only guard ranked among top 25 in this category. Meanwhile, Kostas Sloukas and Walkup each averaged 5.9 assists, ranking third and fourth place, respectively. Olympiacos was the only team with two players making better than 91.0% of its free throws: Walkup ranked sixth (91.9%) and Sloukas eighth (91.2%) among players. Also just outside of a top-five ranking was Kostas Papanikolaou, who finished seventh in three-point accuracy at 48.0%.

Dominant big men

Three centers who are getting ready for the playoffs have been among league's regular-season best performers. When it comes to defense, Real Madrid's Walter Tavares has already made history by setting a new single-season record with 77 total blocks, surpassing the previous best of 68 by Ekpe Udoh. Averaging 2.3 per game, Tavares is also on pace to set a new EuroLeague record for best single-season average. With averages of 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, Tavares is a big difference-maker for Real.

On the offensive end, Johnathan Motley of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has been in a league of his own. He downed 26.7% of all two-point shots made by Fenerbahce, for the league's highest share in that statistic; no other player reached 23% in that category. With 14.9 points and 5.6 rebounds, and considering his high share of two-pointers made, Fenerbahce can be expected to depend on Motley continuing his inside production in the playoffs. Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade center Mathias Lessort has the third-highest share of two-pointers made for his team (20.7%). The league leader in both total (7.3 and offensive rebounds (3.1), and second in average PIR (19.5), it is easy to see how instrumental Lessort was in Partizan's regular-season success.

Maccabi's duo and Monaco's trio

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv has a pair of top-five scorers in Wade Baldwin (16.7 ppg.) and Lorenzo Brown (16.5). They combined for 33.2 of Maccabi's 83.6 points per game, which is 39.7% of team's points, the highest share of any team's points of any other duo in the league. Moreover, it marks the first time since the 2016-17 campaign - after Nando De Colo (20.1 ppg.) and Milos Teodosic (16.1 ppg.) did so for CSKA Moscow - that two teammates average more than 16.0 points while ranking among top five in scoring in the regular season. No other duos have accomplished that since the round robin format was introduced in 2016-17.

Meanwhile, Jordan Loyd (1.5 triples per game) and Mike James (1.4) combined for 44.0% of AS Monaco's three-point shots made, as James has a share of 22.3% of three-pointers made in his 32 appearances and Loyd 21.7% in his 29 appearances. Add Elie Okobo (1.38) to that equation, and that share goes up to 64.7%. Monaco makes a league-low 6.7 triples per game, but this trio amounts for nearly two-thirds of that average.

Hot into the playoffs

Partizan shooting guard Kevin Punter is the only member of a 50-40-90 club who will compete in the playoffs. Punter has made 50.2% of his two-pointers, 41.7% of his threes and 90.6% of his free throws, and has made 45 consecutive free throws entering the playoffs. Punter has been hot since Round 17. After shooting 25 of 76 (32.9%) from long range in the first 16 rounds, he has since nailed 40 of 80 shots from the arc (50.0%). Also, Punter has made 58 of 60 free throws since Round 17.

Punter, who ranks ninth this season with 15.5 points per game, has fourth-highest point total since the domestic cups break in mid-February. The leader in that same span, over the last 10 rounds of the regular season, is reigning MVP Nikola Mirotic, who has averaged 17.9 points for FC Barcelona. In addition to Mirotic, Baldwin, Punter, Brown, Vezenkov and Motley , the other playoff participant who was among the top scorers in the final 10 rounds of the regular season is Real's guard Dzanan Musa, who has averaged 16.1 points in that span.

The most impactful bench players

There are more than a half-dozen players whom teams will count on to bring spark from the bench in these best-of-five playoff series. Olympiacos has its duo of Kostas Sloukas and Giannoulis Larentzakis who have not started a single game this season, but play massive roles. Sloukas averages 10.7 points and 5.9 assists, while Larentzakis had 7.4 points per game in just 16 minutes on the floor. The best performers among players coming off the bench are Partizan's Dante Exum, Monaco's Okobo and Marko Guduric of Fenerbahce. Exum had just seven starts and ranks 15th in scoring, with 13.3 points on 42.4% three-point shooting, and also posting 2.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds. Okobo had just five starts, ranking 16th in scoring with 12.8 points, along with 3.6 assists and 2.1 rebounds. Guduric also started just five games, posting 12.5 points, 3.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds.

Another contributor who has mostly come off the bench is Monaco's Alpha Diallo, with 13 starts in 34 appearances, posting 10.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals. Real Madrid has gotten a playmaking spark from Sergio Rodriguez, who averages 4.2 assists in just over 14 minutes per game, which would be a league second-best 11.2 assists prorated over 40 minutes. Zalgiris Kaunas counts on Arnas Butkevicius, a starter in just eight games who averages 5.3 points and 3.7 rebounds, but his contributions go far beyond his numbers. What is interesting for Sloukas, Butkevicius and Exum is that they all rank in the top 10 when it comes to percentage of their points coming from the free throw line.