Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade could not afford a slip-up against Valencia Basket and the home team duly delivered in a 92-73 win thanks to a flowing team effort at both ends of the court on Wednesday.



 Team effort carried Zvezda to lifeline victory vs. Valencia 

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade could not afford a slip-up against Valencia Basket and the home team duly delivered in a 92-73 win thanks to a flowing team effort at both ends of the court on Wednesday.

Defeat would have meant lights out for Zvezda and elimination from the playoff picture, but the Serbian side is still in with a chance after racking up 20 assists and forcing 19 turnovers from the visitors, who were blown away in the second half after trailing just 46-41 at the interval.

Zvezda’s mindset was perhaps best summarized by playmaker Facundo Campazzo, who finished the game on 15 points and 7 assists as he pulled all the strings on offense for the hosts. 

"We were smart in every possession as we shared the ball and played for the guy who was on fire in a particular moment," the Argentine said in a flash post-game interview. "We also took advantage of playing here in front of our fans. That's our extra energy. We will fight until the end and winning today means a lot to us ahead of the trip to ASVEL. Energy, hustle, fight – that’s the only way you can win there.”

The teams were pretty evenly matched in three-point shooting as Zvezda nailed 10 of 23 while Valencia sank 11 of 26, but the home team dominated inside the arc having made 23 of 35 two-pointers while the visitors were only 13-for-26.

Filip Petrusev was particularly lethal in the paint with a game-high 20 points, having benefited from Campazzo’s selfless display which kept Valencia on the back foot throughout the game. Zvezda took good care of the ball as it only committed 11 turnovers, having also raced up 10 offensive and 20 defensive rebounds.

In an nutshell, Valencia got beaten in pretty much every department and the final score in no way flattered the home team.

Game Videos

Game News

Team effort carried Zvezda to lifeline victory vs. Valencia

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade v Valencia Basket (2023-03-29T17:00:00.000Z)

Olympiacos Piraeus cruised past LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Wednesday night, 81-55, with the all-round collective nature of the performance underlined by the fact that no Reds players scored more than 11 points.

George Papas addition boosted collective-minded Reds

Olympiacos Piraeus cruised past LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Wednesday night, 81-55, with the all-round collective nature of the performance underlined by the fact that no Reds players scored more than the 11 points recorded by Shaquielle McKissic and Thomas Walkup.

It perfectly summed up the Olympiacos team-first philosophy that all 11 players who took to the court – Moustapha Fall was the 12th man without receiving any playing time – scored at least 4 points and also contributed at least 1 rebound.

That included the man who received perhaps the biggest ovation from the fans inside the Peace and Friendship Stadium, George Papas. The 25-year-old, who is playing in his first EuroLeague season, had only made one appearance in the competition before Wednesday night, playing less than 3 minutes in the Round 13 meeting with Fenerbahce, but he was given a chance to gain more experience by appearing in the final stages on Wednesday.

Papas made the most of that opportunity by drawing a shooting foul and scoring a pair of free throws soon after entering the action, and then netting his first three-pointer in the competition to provoke one of the biggest cheers of the night. That saw Papas finish with a new personal high of 5 points in his young EuroLeague career and emphasized the fact that Olympiacos can go deep in its roster to find decisive performers.

Papas addition boosted collective-minded Reds

Olympiacos Piraeus v LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (2023-03-29T18:00:00.000Z)

Dzanan Musa, Real Madrid: 'I love it here!'

### Chus Mateo, Real Madrid head coach

"We knew that we had to play much better defense and we did that in the second half. We played more solid, we played more consistent, much better on the one on ones, containing their penetrations… They're a very good team on the one on ones and we were able to be solid. We delivered 27 assists and this is good. Only 11 turnovers, so this is a good balance.

"We have achieved the objective we had before this game \[of home-court advantage in the playoffs\]. I want to congratulate the players for this achievement, they've worked hard to make it possible. This is not the end goal, but it says a lot about the work we've done this year, with 22 wins. It's not easy to get as many wins as we have done in the league that we're playing in."

### Dimitris Itoudis, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul head coach

"It was not only foul trouble \[that was a problem for us\]. It would have been more sufficient if we got into more foul trouble, but that was not the problem. The problem was shooting threes today. They were amazing from beyond the arc. Congratulations to them.

"Congratulations to Real Madrid, they were better tonight, obviously. We were trying to stay close to the score with our offensive alignments, they hit big shots, the percentage of 72%, 8 out of 11 three-pointers they hit them, and we couldn't find answers for that."

### Dzanan Musa, Real Madrid forward

"Like I said at halftime, it's important to come out in the second half and set the tone, because they are a great team and they have great individual players. As a team they're very dangerous and we answered all of their attacks, so I'm really proud of the team and I hope we can continue in this way. I love it here \[at Real Madrid\]. I hope that I will stay for as long as possible here and that I can call this my home."

### Vincent Poirier, Real Madrid center

(About his block on Tarik Biberovic that was ruled a foul): "It's clean, for sure. No foul. He claimed that I pushed him or whatever. No way. That's a clean block. That's a fu\*\*ing highlight!"

Real Madrid v Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (2023-03-29T18:45:00.000Z)

Real Madrid has locked up home-court advantage in the playoffs after beating Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 90-75 at WiZink Center on Wednesday night. This victory improved Los Blancos to 22-9, while Fenerbahce dropped to 18-13 and will have to wait before booking its place in the postseason.

Real Madrid wraps up home-court advantage with win against Fenerbahce, 90-75

Real Madrid has locked up home-court advantage in the playoffs after beating Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 90-75 at WiZink Center on Wednesday night. This victory improved Los Blancos to 22-9, while Fenerbahce dropped to 18-13 and will have to wait before booking its place in the postseason.

 

Dzanan Musa paced Real with a team-high 16 points. Vincent Poirier and Adam Hanga added 11 points apiece, while Mario Hezonja was the fourth Real player to reach double figures, scoring 10 points. For Fenerbahce, Nigel Hayes-Davis led the way with a game-high 17 points, followed by Nick Calathes with 12 and Marko Guduric with 10.

It was an interesting start to the game as both teams tried to figure each other out, yet foul trouble quickly became an issue, with Walter Tavares of Real and Johnathan Motley of Fenerbahce having to go to the bench with 2 fouls apiece at the midway mark of the first quarter. Fenerbahce led 11-12 when Motley made his way off the floor, but Real managed to nudge its way in front, 18-17, with 2:52 remaining. At that point, Marko Guduric also had to make his way to the sidelines after having 2 first-quarter fouls to his name. Real managed to keep Fenerbahce at arm's length, ending the quarter with a narrow 3-point lead, 24-21.

 

In the second quarter, however, Real made it a 9-point ballgame less than three minutes in, following a Sergio Rodriguez triple, 32-23. Calathes was able to cut the gap to 5 points at the midway point, 33-28, but Petr Cornelie quickly responded with a three-pointer, 36-28. Whenever Fenerbahce looked to lay a glove on Real, the hosts found a way to respond. Cornelie knocked down another shot from deep straight out of a timeout to extend the gap to double digits, 39-28, but a 0-8 run by Fenerbahce allowed it to reduce the deficit to 3 points, 39-36. Yet, Cornelie appeared for the third time in the quarter with another three to make it 45-39. At the halftime break, Real led by 5 points, 49-44.

Fenerbahce had done a good job of staying within reach of Real in the second quarter, but Los Blancos found a way to pull away early in the third. First, Hanga scored a Sergio Llull-esque three-pointer from deep, 52-44, then Guerschon Yabusele dunked with force to make it a 12-point affair, 56-44, inside the opening two minutes. Motley picked up his fourth foul halfway through the quarter when the score was 58-48, and the hosts managed to control the remainder of the third, often finding their way to the free-throw line before Rudy Fernandez and Poirier connecting for a quarter-ending alley-oop dunk, 68-58.

 

The fourth quarter was less competitive than the previous three, with Fernandez opening a game-high 14-point advantage for Real, 75-61, just a few minutes into the final period. Fenerbahce didn’t give up and had Tarik Biberovic strike from deep, 77-66, to make things interesting, but the game never truly felt in doubt for Los Blancos. In fact, even when Fenerbahce got as close as 8 points, 79-71, with 3:14 left, Real had Fernandez and Hanga score a triple apiece to make it 85-73 and put the win on ice, as the hosts coasted to a 90-75 victory.

Real Madrid wraps up home-court advantage, beats Fenerbahce, 90-75

EuroLeague Live Blog: Fenerbahce vs. Zalgiris, Virtus vs. Real Madrid, Monaco vs. Valencia, Partizan vs. Olympiacos, Milan vs. Bayern

<incrowd-live-blog id="642453e6ebc4d4eb9d95b927" client-id="EUROLEAGUE" server="standard"></incrowd-live-blog><script src="https://live-blog.incrowdsports.com/index.js"></script>
<script>
(function (document) {
  setTimeout(() => {
    const script = document.createElement('script');
    script.async = true;
    script.defer = true;
    script.src = 'https://live-blog.incrowdsports.com/index.js';
    document.body.appendChild(script);
  }, 1000);
})(document);
</script>

Wednesday Blog: Olympiacos, Real clinch home-court advantage; Zalgiris, Zvezda claim key wins

Zalgiris Kaunas v AS Monaco (2023-03-29T16:00:00.000Z)

Olympiacos Piraeus clinched home-court advantage in the playoffs with a comfortable home victory, 81-55, over rock-bottom LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Olympiacos improves to 22-9, with ASVEL winless in 10 games at 8-23.

The Reds raced into a double-digit lead in the first quarter. ASVEL tried to respond in the second quarter but never got closer than 5 points and Olympiacos cruised home after the break. Shaquielle McKissic and Thomas Walkup led the way with 11 points apiece, and Kostas Papanikolaou added 10. Retin Obasohan paced ASVEL with 12 points.

Olympiacos cruises to home-court advantage in playoffs

Walkup, Papanikolaou and McKissic all scored twice in a 19-2 run as Olympiacos took early control, leading 22-13 at the end of the first quarter. Yves Pons, Obasohan and Dee Bost struck from deep to reduce the margin with a 0-11 run, 29-24, but McKissic rescued the host with two baskets to help make it 37-29 at the break. 

Two scores from Walkup sparked a 13-3 run to start the second half to make it 50-32, and Sasha Vezenkov also scored twice for a 56-39 lead at the end of the third. Giannoulis Larentzakis hit a three to extend the lead past 20 points, and a three-point play by Alec Peters made it 65-45. Two scores by Alex Tyus made little difference as Olympiacos cruised home.

 Thomas Walkup, Olympiacos: 'For now I'll keep my beard!' 

### Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos head coach 

"I'm feeling great; \[home-court advantage\] is a big-time achievement. We cannot ignore that we're talking about the toughest EuroLeague ever, and three games before the end of the regular season we did it. It's amazing. Congratulations to the players. ASVEL didn't have the motivation except performing in EuroLeague. We had to share our time and manage our energy because we have another game in two days." 

### T.J. Parker, ASVEL head coach

"We could have played better offensively. We made two or three mistakes on defense but our offense wasn't there tonight."

### Shaquielle McKissic, Olympiacos guard

"All credit to the team. We've got an amazing roster. Teams have to guard them and that opens up a lot of lanes for me, thankfully. We're one or two games away from everybody getting back to the first half of the season where everybody was clicking offensively and defensively, and I think we'll be scary going into the playoffs."

### Thomas Walkup, Olympiacos guard

"It feels great. \[Home-court advantage was\] the next thing on the list, so it feels good to check that off. We keep pushing, another one on Friday, so we'll try to be ready for that. I feel good, I do what the team asks, I'm super comfortable with my role and how the team plays. It's a super fun system to play in, and one through 12, I think everybody is having fun playing basketball, which is not to be taken for granted at this level. We're a pretty superstitious team and things are going well so for now I'll keep my beard!"

Thomas Walkup, Olympiacos: 'For now I'll keep my beard!'

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade kept up its bid to reach the playoffs after a fine second-half performance saw the Serbian team beat visiting Valencia Basket 92-73 on Wednesday thanks to 20 points from center Filip Petrusev and 15 by playmaker Facundo Campazzo, who also dished out 7 assists.

 Zvezda stays alive by vanquishing Valencia, 92-73 

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade kept up its bid to reach the playoffs after a fine second-half performance saw the Serbian team beat visiting Valencia Basket 92-73 on Wednesday thanks to 20 points from center Filip Petrusev and 15 by playmaker Facundo Campazzo, who also dished out 7 assists. 

The result left both teams on 14-17 and still in the post-season picture, but while it was a morale-boosting win for Zvezda, the outcome dealt a severe blow to Valencia.

Ognjen Dobric netted 16 points for Zvezda, while Jonah Radebaugh paced Valencia with 14. Chris Jones and Jared Harper netted 12 points each for the visitors, as Victor Claver and Xabi Lopez-Aristegui chipped in with 10 each.

Roared on by its fervent home fans in the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, Zvezda got off to a flying start as Campazzo sprinkled assists like early Easter gifts and his teammates benefited. However, Valencia soon regained its composure and the visitors took a 20-21 lead at the end of the first quarter after Harper nailed a tough shot high off the glass to beat the buzzer. The tide turned midway through the second after Zvezda flipped a 28-30 deficit into a 44-36 lead on the back of some flawless long-range shooting, garnished by an array of offensive contributions from Petrusev, who sank shots from various angles.

Valencia was able to cut the deficit to 46-41 at halftime but never looked likely to swing the game after Zvezda pulled away to 53-43 early in the third quarter for its first double-digit lead. The visitors were still in touch at the end of the third quarter, 69-62, but their challenge evaporated into thin air as Zvezda moved up two gears in the final 10 minutes. Live-wire Campazzo pierced through Valencia’s defense almost at will, leaving Petrusev as well as the rest of the team with time and space to do the damage inside and outside the three-point arc. There was no way back for the visitors after John Holland sank a wide open three-pointer to give the home team a 76-64 advantage with 6:41 left on the clock. Petrusev’s three-pointer on Zvezda’s penultimate possession came as an icing on the cake for the home team, which was given a standing ovation by its fans after the buzzer.

Zvezda stays alive by vanquishing Valencia, 92-73

Ignas Brazdeikis, Zalgiris: 'We've got to keep this momentum going'

### Kazys Maksvytis, Zalgiris Kaunas head coach

"We won, so it means that the team followed the rules, the team fought. We are happy, we won against a very strong team with good players, good coaches. We are very happy. Congratulations to our fans. In some situations we gambled, those players \[with fouls\] stayed on the court, but we were playing with a smaller in the rotation, especially in the second half. But they helped us. We need to forget this game and, starting this evening, begin to prepare for the next game.

"Congratulations to our team and our fans. I think we deserved this win today. We controlled the game for almost the entire 40 minutes. Bravo to the players, they had good focus and good condition for the 40 minutes."

### Sasa Obradovic, AS Monaco head coach

"We didn’t try good enough. From the beginning, there was one rhythm which I didn’t like. We played a bad game; we need to learn from this. Even our attitude has to be different if we want to win something serious. With this win, \[Zalgiris\] is close \[to the playoffs\].

"Congrats to Zalgiris, I hope that they qualify for the playoffs. With the team spirit, with these fans, with their history, they always deserve the best. If we want to play in the playoffs, this is not the way \[that we should compete\]. We didn’t have a good response, we lost our aggressiveness, we were not sharp in any situation or with loose balls – they all went to Zalgiris. We missed too many layups. This is down to mental preparedness, and we were not ready to play. We will analyze the reasons, we will try not to forget; we will continue to think about protecting the home-court advantage. The response has to be fast and much stronger than this."

### Ignas Brazdeikis, Zalgiris Kaunas guard

"We were just extremely focused tonight, we came out with a lot of energy, we executed the game plan. They've got a lot of talent on their team; we just did a good job of slowing them down. It's damn near do-or-die for us, so every single game is whether we make the playoffs or not. We're coming out as best as we can every single game, we're going hard in practice, so we've just got to keep this momentum going. It felt great that my coaches and teammates allow me to make plays like that, but I was just trying to do whatever it took to win this game. I just had an aggressive mindset tonight. \[We need to\] pick it up even more, play a lot better than we just did, pick up the intensity and just get back to work."

### Laurynas Birutis, Zalgiris Kaunas center

"From the start, we kept fighting, being aggressive at both ends; defensive and offensive. We struggled a bit with offensive rebounds, but they missed a lot of shots. We kept on fighting and got the result. I felt good, I just try to bring as much energy as I can. We are just looking at each game as a final. We are now thinking about three games left, we are just looking to the next game, which is against Valencia."