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Game 5: A perfect record for home teams

Game 5: A perfect record for home teams

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8 mayo 20237 Min lectura

The crucial importance of home-court advantage in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs is clear enough considering that 42 of 53 five-game series to date, or 79.2%, were won by teams that finished from first to fourth place in the regular season. When it comes to do-or-die Game 5s, though, the evidence is downright unanimous. In 15 series that have gone the five-game distance, home teams are a perfect 15-0!

This week, as many as three Game 5s – tied for the most in any season since 2009 – are in due to decide Final Four qualifiers. At the end of the tightest season in EuroLeague history, the perfect record of home teams will be tested as never before.

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (Tuesday)

No team has more experience in Game 5s than Olympiacos, which has played in four of them over the last 10 years. In each of its three victories as the home team in those games, though, its margin of victory has dwindled. In 2013, Olympiacos defeated Anadolu Efes Istanbul 82-72 and went on to defend its EuroLeague title in London. After losing Game 5 on the road to Real Madrid the next season, Olympiacos returned to the championship game in 2017 after again beating Efes in a Game 5, 87-78. And last season, the Reds prevailed at home in a do-or-die classic against AS Monaco by 94-88.

Fenerbahce, meanwhile, has never played a Game 5 and neither has it head coach, Dimitris Itoudis. He always qualified early for the Final Four when on the bench of CSKA Moscow. Current Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas was on the bench for the team's 2013 and 2022 victories in Game 5.

Each of these teams has a veteran star who can boast the best Game 5 records of any players ever, 3-0. Olympiacos forward Kostas Papanikolaou started in each of his club's Game 5 victories – the same as his former teammate Georgios Printezis – with the difference being that Papanikolaou wasn't with the Reds when they lost Game 5 in Madrid in 2014. He went to that season's Final Four with FC Barcelona.

Meanwhile, point guard Nick Calathes started in the Game 5 victory of Panathinaikos Athens over Maccabi Tel Aviv back in 2012, in another classic. And he was on the floor for tipoff as Barcelona won Game 5s at home the last two seasons against Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Bayern Munich, respectively. Fenerbahce's Tyler Dorsey was also a starter last year for Olympiacos in its Game 5 win against Monaco.

AS Monaco vs. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (Wednesday)

Despite this being just its second EuroLeague season, Monaco already has Game 5 experience from last season against Olympiacos. Monaco had stolen homo-court advantage in that series by winning a Game 2 blowout, only to go home and drop Game 3. Monaco edged the Reds 78-77 in Game 4 to set up the fifth game in Piraeus. In one of the best games in EuroLeague history, Monaco led 80-81 midway through the fourth quarter but couldn't finish the job. Olympiacos won 94-88 despite 24 points and 10 assists from Mike James, who along with several other Monaco teammates from last season and head coach Sasa Obradovic will certainly want to flip that script on Wednesday.

Maccabi's Game 5 history is limited to that single series in 2012 against Panathinaikos, but it was the one that experts agree might have been the best full-length series of them all, a one-of-a-kind tactical battle between Zeljko Obradovic for the Greens and David Blatt for Maccabi. Maccabi won Game 2 in overtime, stealing the home-court advantage but Panathinaikos saved itself with a Game 4 win in Athens, taking the series back to Athens. In a thrilling Game 5, Panathinaikos won 86-85 in an instant classic after Maccabi battled back from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie. Dimitris Diamantidis split free throws and sealed the outcome with a steal in the game's final possession.

Real Madrid vs Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade (Wednesday)

This series is already unprecedented as the first ever to feature four road wins. Partizan took Games 1 and 2 in the Spanish capital and Real returned the favor, winning Games 3 and 4 in Belgrade. No team has ever rallied from 0-2 down to win a playoff series and no road team has ever won Game 5. One of these streaks is set to end on Wednesday.

Real has been in Game 5 situations three times, first beating Valencia basket at home in 2011 for its first Final Four qualification in 15 years. Real also made it to the Final Four in 2014, downing back-to-back champion Olympiacos in Game 5. In 2021, Real came back from a 0-2 deficit to tie the series against Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Game 5 went down to the wire before Efes prevailed to win the first of its two titles in a row.

Current team captain Sergio Llull is the only Real player who was involved in all three of those Game 5s, with a record of 2-1. Sergio Rodriguez was injured for Real's Game 5 in 2011 and was with do-or-die home winner EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in 2021, so his Game 5 record is 2-0. Rudy Fernandez joined Real in 2012 and so is 1-1 in Game 5s.

Besides head coach Zeljko Obradovic, author of that Panathinaikos win in 2012 against Maccabi, Partizan has several players with singular Game 5 experiences. Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay both were with Rodriguez on the Milan team that edged FC Bayern Munich to reach the 2021 Final Four. Dante Exum and Barcelona also beat Bayern in Game 5 last year. And Danilo Andjusic was among the Monaco players who lost at Olympiacos in the series-decider last season.

Predictions would favor home teams based on history, but in the tightest season ever, anything is possible. Partizan's Coach Obradovic has done about everything, big and small that there is to be done in the EuroLeague. Does anyone put it past him to win the first Game 5 on the road ever, too?

One thing is guaranteed, it will be a historical week in the EuroLeague.