FC Barcelona clinched a playoff spot in Round 30 by downing Panathinaikos Athens 74-88 at OAKA Altion in the Greek capital. Powering the boards allowed Barca to get control of the game and cruise to an important victory.

Barca dominated the boards in Round 30

FC Barcelona clinched a playoff spot in Round 30 by downing Panathinaikos Athens 74-88 at OAKA Altion in the Greek capital. Powering the boards allowed Barca to get control of the game and cruise to an important victory.

Barca outrebounded Panathinaikos 18-42 in what undeniably was the key to this game. Those 42 boards were a new season high for Barca, whose best previous high mark in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague was 40 rebounds in respective victories over Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. Nikola Kalinic and Tomas Satoransky helped on the boards more than anyone else with 9 rebounds apiece.

Barca had one of the best performances of the season in terms of boxing out, finishing the game with 32 defensive rebounds and allowing Panathinaikos to pull down just 5 offensive boards. It means that Barca grabbed 86.5% of all rebounds under its own rim. Things were different at the other end of the floor: Panathinaikos had 13 defensive rebounds and Barca finished the game with 10 offensive boards. The Greens pulled down just 56.5% of all rebounds under their basket and the winners scored 17 second-chance points while Panathinaikos had just 5.

Game Videos

Game News

Panathinaikos Athens v FC Barcelona (2023-03-23T18:30:00.000Z)

ALBA Berlin celebrated one of the club’s most memorable Turkish Airlines EuroLeague wins after a last-gasp dunk by forward Luke Sikma gave the German side a 95-93 home win over reigning champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul, leaving Efes's post-season hopes hanging by a thread. 

ALBA stuns Efes, 95-93, hurts champs' playoff hopes

ALBA Berlin celebrated one of the club’s most memorable Turkish Airlines EuroLeague wins after a last-gasp dunk by forward Luke Sikma gave the German side a 95-93 home win over reigning champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul, leaving Efes's post-season hopes hanging by a thread. It was an incredible night at the Mercedes Benz Arena as ALBA threw away a 19-point lead early in the third quarter and then wiped out a 7-point deficit late in the fourth. ALBA improved to 9-21 and sent Efes to 14-16.

Jaleen Smith paced the home side with a career-high 25 points and 4 assists. Smith was 7-of-10 from three-point range and sank all of his 4 free throws, while Maodo Lo followed with 16 points – 14 of them in the first half. Ben Lammers chipped in with 10 points for ALBA and late hero Sikma added 9 to go with 8 assists. At the other end, Vasilije Micic shined with a game-high 30 points in his most impressive performance of the season, Will Clyburn netted 19 and Ante Zizic scored 13 for Efes. Elijah Bryant and Shane Larkin chipped in with 10 points each for the visitors, who ultimately paid the price for soft defense.

A small-ball starting five including Micic, Larkin and Bryant produced a mixed bag for Efes, as the visitors fired on all cylinders on offense early on but left gaps on defense, allowing ALBA to turn a 13-16 deficit into a 20-16 lead late in the first quarter. Micic was unstoppable for Efes as he netted 15 points in the opening two quarters, but Clyburn and Larkin struggled while Lo and Smith ran the show for ALBA. Having maintained their lead throughout the first half, the hosts went up by 9 on the buzzer as Smith nailed a long triple and that was a sign of what was coming after the break.

Galvanized by the first-half display, ALBA raced away to 61-42 midway through the third quarter and very few among a sizeable contingent of Efes fans would have believed their team was capable of roaring back. However, that’s exactly what Efes did, showing the grim determination and the heart of a champion, slashing the deficit to 68-67 at the end of the third quarter. The momentum had shifted and it was hardly surprising that Efes turned the match on its head in the fourth quarter, driven by Micic and the rejuvenated Clyburn.

The visitors looked the only likely winners when they took a 75-82 lead with 4:32 minutes remaining, but the hosts – who looked out for the count – picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and got back into the contest. Having drawn level at 84-84, the ALBA traded punches with Efes and emerged a worthy winner when Sikma delivered the killer blow right at the death, slamming Lo’s wayward layup through the hoop.

ALBA Berlin v Anadolu Efes Istanbul (2023-03-23T19:00:00.000Z)


FC Barcelona punched its ticket to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs by downing Panathinaikos Athens 74-88 at OAKA Altion in the Greek capital in Round 30 on Thursday. 

Mirotic leads Barca to the playoffs, 74-88! 

FC Barcelona punched its ticket to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs by downing Panathinaikos Athens 74-88 at OAKA Altion in the Greek capital in Round 30 on Thursday. Barca snapped a two-game slide and improved to 20-10 in the standings. Panathinaikos dropped to 10-20.

Nikola Mirotic paced the winners with 26 points - 22 of those after the break. Mike Tobey added 16 on 4-of-6 three-point shooting while Tomas Satoransky had 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists for Barca, which heavily outrebounded its opponents, 18-42, in this game. Georgios Papagiannis led Panathinaikos with 19 points. Marius Grigonis added 14 while Matt Thomas had 11 for the Greens.

Papagiannis made a jumper and Derrick Williams added a layup in a 9-2 opening run that Grigonis capped with a triple. Alex Abrines struck twice from downtown to get Barca within 14-8. Williams and Papagiannis kept pacing Panathinaikos and Lefteris Bochoridis's layup made it a double-digit game, 20-10. Jan Vesely rescued Barca and Cory Higgins's jumper got the visitors closer, 25-22, after 10 minutes.

Nikola Kalinic gave Barca a 25-27 lead soon after that. Tobey buried a jumper and struck three times from downtown to singlehandedly keep his team in charge, 36-43, at halftime.

Mirotic took over after the break with 10 quick points, including a three-pointer that caused Panathinaikos to stop the game at 39-53. Thomas and Grigonis tried to change things for Panathinaikos and Papagiannis's huge alley-oop dunk-and-foul made it 60-65. Nikola Kalinic and Rokas Jokubaitis restored a 60-68 Barca lead after 30 minutes.

Kalinic buried a jumper and Mirotic scored around the basket for a 64-73 Barca lead with 6 minutes left. Mirotic followed a fastbreak layup with a three-pointer and Tobey also struck from beyond the arc to seal the outcome, 72-83, with 2 minutes remaining.

Mirotic leads Barca to the playoffs, 74-88

It was almost as if Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade had lulled the top-scoring team in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague into thinking everything was going to be easy before stealing away to a 74-63 win on Thursday.

 Zvezda flipped a defensive switch to throttle Baskonia 

It was almost as if Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade had lulled the top-scoring team in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague into thinking everything was going to be easy before stealing away to a 74-63 win on Thursday.

Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz not only sped to a 23-35 advantage in less than 13 minutes, but did so by practically waltzing to the basket again and again for open layups. It was so quiet at normally raucous Aleksandar Nikolic Hall you could almost hear the fans wondering if their team of defensive pitbulls had been replaced by imposters.

And then Zvezda flipped a switch. Hassan Martin blocked a shot with two hands. Luca Vildoza got a steal. Facundo Campazzo got another and back-passed to Martin for a dunk. Baskonia obliged by missing shots and throwing the ball away. A full 7 minutes passed before the visitors saw the bottom of the net again. Not even a free throw.

Zvezda's offense was hardly on fire, but it moved forward normally, enough for the hosts to take their first lead at 37-35 on scoring that was fueled by 8 turnovers forced on Baskonia in the second quarter.

7DAYS Magic Moment: Campazzo to Martin!

Zvezda boss Dusko Ivanovic was quite prophetic at halftime, saying: "These last 7 minutes, how we played aggressively on defense, this is the way to win the game."

And so they did. Nothing that Baskonia tried in the second half broke the spell. A couple of three-pointers in a row was the only glimmer of life in the visitors, but that was extinguished quickly. All told, Zvezda would hold a team that had averaged a league-high 86.3 points until then to just 28 in the game's final 27 minutes and 29 seconds. Barely over 1 point per minute from the early second quarter until the buzzer.

"Once we started playing defense – our guards, especially, put great effort on the defensive part of the court – we started playing better," team captain Luka Mitrovic said after. "To keep Baskonia on 63 points is really hard. They're an extremely talented and offensive-oriented team."

Baskonia's shooters suffered through a 6-for-25 night on three-pointers, their second-worst performance of the season. Their worst had been a week before, also on the road, in a loss at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. And Mitrovic hinted that Zvezda was aware that Baskonia's shooters could be stopped, and were, as evidenced by the league's top marksman in terms of volume, Markus Howard, going 1-for-10 from the arc on Thursday.

"\[Howard\] is for sure one of the most dangerous shooters in Europe, not just on their team. So one of our focuses was to stop him," Mitrovic said. "But, you know, Baskonia is a great team. We had to do the job on other players, too."

Zvezda flipped a defensive switch to throttle Baskonia

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade v Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (2023-03-23T18:00:00.000Z)

Luke Sikma, ALBA: 'These are the nights you play basketball for'

### ALBA Berlin head coach Israel Gonzales:

"I am very proud of my players and very happy for them. I think the key today was that we were mentally strong. Efes scored with every shot early on but we stayed focused and gained a big advantage, we kept our focus even after we had lost it. This is very important ahead of the next difficult games we are going to have. Efes are the champions, they have good players and a lot of quality, we knew they had one or two gears more. They pushed very hard in defense after we took a 19-point lead but we stayed in the game and fought until the end.

"Congratulations to the players. Very well done, we played a great team and the key was that we were mentally very strong tonight. They were making all their shots early on although I was happy with the defense, but after that, we were able to grab the game and open up a big lead. Then Efes moved up a gear or two and started playing strong defense, generating a comeback. We stayed strong though and we were the luckier team at the end of the game. I am also very happy because we are improving our defense every game and this is the key to becoming a better team by the end of the season."

### Anadolu Efes Istanbul head coach Ergin Ataman:

"That’s our season, it’s the summary of the whole season. We will not be in the playoffs, good luck to the other teams.

"ALBA scored 12 three-point shots but we had the chance to change the game after we had trailed by 19 points. We took control of the game, but in the last few minutes of the game, much like throughout the season, the opponents made all their three-point shots while we missed everything. This is the summary of our season and now 99 percent we will be out of the playoffs."

### ALBA Berlin guard Jaleen Smith:

"We were up big and we started the third quarter well, then they just decided to play hard and we were in trouble. I am just glad we fought back and won the game in the fourth. I think Efes is a really good team and at halftime Israel \[Gonzalez\] knew they had another gear. They were up by 7 and I think they lost their gas a little bit in the end, we ended up recovering and got the win in the end."

### ALBA Berlin guard Maodo Lo:

"That’s what Luke does. He is active on the offensive rebounds so that’s a play I expected from him. He was there and we are just happy we were able to win against this very talented team. The momentum was on their side after they cut the deficit but we got some wind after making some tough shots to come out on top today."

### ALBA Berlin forward Luke Sikma:

"It feels great to win this game. These are the nights you play basketball for. The atmosphere was fantastic and we had a very good opponent. Even though the game went back and forth, we were able to come out on top. The team has been through some ups and downs, but we always keep working and believe that we will reach our goal in the end.:

Tomas Satoransky was all over the place in Round 30, leading FC Barcelona to a 74-88 road win against Panathinaikos Athens that allowed his team to become the third team to clinch a playoff spot.

Satoransky flirted with triple-double

Tomas Satoransky was all over the place in Round 30, leading FC Barcelona to a 74-88 road win against Panathinaikos Athens that allowed his team to become the third team to clinch a playoff spot.

Satoransky contributed in many ways, finishing the game with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Those 9 rebounds were a season-high and 1 shy of his best mark in the competition: he pulled down 10 against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade on March 19, 2015. 

"They just told me, it was without stats-padding \[almost getting a triple-double\], I didn't know about those numbers," Satoransky said after the game. "But I am extremely happy that we won the game."

Tomas Satoransky had 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists to lead FC Barcelona past Panathinaikos Athens in Round 30, 74-88!

Satoransky gets close to triple-double in Round 30

Satoransky was close to becoming the third player to record a triple-double in EuroLeague history. Nikola Vujcic did it twice while playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv, getting 11 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against Arka Gdynia on November 3, 2005, and recording 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Union Olimpija Ljubljana on November 30, 2006. More recently, Nick Calathes had 11 points, 11 rebounds and 18 assists with Panathinaikos against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica on April 4, 2019.

It's been almost three years without triple-doubles in the EuroLeague and Satoransky was close to getting one. Will we see anyone join this exclusive list in the near future?

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv took another step toward the playoffs with a dominant road win at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, 67-85. 

Red-hot Maccabi rolls over ASVEL, 67-85

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv took another step toward the playoffs with a dominant road win at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, 67-85. Maccabi improved to 17-13 with its fourth straight win, while ASVEL dropped to 8-22 with a ninth consecutive loss.

The first half was closely contested, with Maccabi mostly ahead but never able to establish a big lead. The visitors gradually pulled clear in the third quarter and turned that into a double-digit lead in the fourth, never looking back. Wade Baldwin continued his hot streak with 23 points and 7 assists, Lorenzo Brown added 18 points and Bonzie Colson scored 16. Nando De Colo paced battling but outclassed ASVEL with 13 points.

Baldwin and Colson were hot from the start to give Maccabi a 6-12 lead, despite a pair of triples from David Lighty. A 7-0 run including 5 points from De Colo sent ASVEL ahead, 16-14. The first quarter ended 22-22, before Baldwin scored three baskets to boost Maccabi. Youssoupha Fall’s three-point play helped bring ASVEL back, 32-32, before Brown exploded with 5 straight points. Amine Noua scored 5 fast points, making it 43-46 at the break. 

Two scores apiece for Baldwin and Brown stretched the lead to 50-57 before 5 points from Jonah Mathews kept ASVEL close. John DiBartolomeo’s three helped make it 59-68 at the end of the third and Colson scored twice early in the fourth quarter as Maccabi really took over. Four points from Roman Sorkin and another Baldwin jumper took the advantage to 62-80, settling the outcome long before the final buzzer.

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne v Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (2023-03-23T19:00:00.000Z)

FC Barcelona has qualified for the playoffs! Barca is the third team to formally secure a spot among this season's top eight teams after it defeated Panathinaikos Athens 74-88 on the road in Round 30. Its 20-10 record and potential tie-break advantage against all possible opponents allowed Barca to clinch its playoff berth with four games remaining in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

 Barca returns to the playoffs! 

FC Barcelona has qualified for the playoffs! Barca is the third team to formally secure a spot among this season's top eight teams after it defeated Panathinaikos Athens 74-88 on the road in Round 30. Its 20-10 record and potential tie-break advantage against all possible opponents allowed Barca to clinch its playoff berth with four games remaining in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Of course, the next goal for Barca - and the other two qualified teams, Olympiacos Piraeus and Real Madrid - is to secure home-court advantage for the quarterfinals series. Barca made the most out of it last season, downing FC Bayern Munich at home in Game 5 of their series to reach the Final Four. Barca will likely need more victories to get this important goal and be able to host Games 1 and 2 of the playoffs at Palau Blaugrana.

### Road to playoffs

Barca started the regular season on the wrong foot with an 80-90 home loss against Olympiacos. The team, however, went on to win its next five home games and also grabbed quality road victories at FC Bayern Munich, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and ALBA Berlin to go to 8-3 in the standings. A couple of 1-point losses against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Valencia Basket did not undermine Barca's continuity, as the team stayed strong at Palau Blaugrana and kept adding road wins against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, ASVEL and Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.

A road loss at Real Madrid in the second EuroLeague 'Clasico' of the season marked another turning point, as Barca bounced back with a five-game winning streak - four of them at Palau Blaugrana and the other at Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Barca only registered consecutive losses once this season, against Olympiacos and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in Rounds 26 and 27. It then bounced back with a big home win against Zvezda and clinched its playoff spot with the aforementioned road victory at OAKA Altion. Barca has an 11-4 home record and is 9-6 on the road this season.

### Playoff experience

Barca enters the playoffs with an experienced roster, featuring four EuroLeague champions. Nikola Kalinic and Jan Vesely won the EuroLeague title together with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in 2017. Cory Higgins helped CSKA Moscow lift the trophy twice, in 2016 and 2019, and Sertac Sanli claimed the EuroLeague crown with Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 2021.

Nikola Mirotic has played five in playoff series: with Real Madrid in 2011, 2013 and 2014, and with Barca the last two seasons and his team has advanced to the Final Four in all of them. Alex Abrines, Kyle Kuric, Nico Laprovittola, Rokas Jokubaitis and Sergi Martinez have also been to the Final Four with Barca. Tomas Satoransky lost two playoff series with Barca, against Olympiacos in 2015 and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in 2016.

### Playoff history

Since the playoffs returned to the EuroLeague for the 2004-05 season, Barca has played more games in that stage than any other team: 57, with a 31-26 record. In that time, Barca has managed to qualify for the Final Four eight times: 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2021 and 2022. No other team has lost more playoff series (6): two of them with the home-court advantage (2011, 2015) and four without it (2007, 2008, 2016 and 2019).

The last two years, Barca lost a home game at Palau Blaugrana and then stole a road victory to regain the home-court advantage and win the series at Palau Blaugrana. In 2021, Barca downed Zenit 3-2 after a 79-53 home victory in Game 5. Last season, Barca also needed all five games to beat Bayern 81-72 in the decider and get to the Final Four. Since the Final Four format was adopted in 1988, Barca has been to 16 Final Fours and won the title in 2003 and 2010.

 

Barca returns to the playoffs!

Coach Kattash, Maccabi: 'We showed what we’re capable of'

### Oded Kattash, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv head coach:

“Every game is like a final from now until the end. It’s a very tight EuroLeague, very competitive. At halftime, I said our defense was important and we picked it up, I really liked the way we played the second half defensively. Obviously, as a coach you want to be more consistent in the first half, but it’s a very important win for us. ASVEL has quality and they made some tough shots in the first half, but our defense wasn’t close to the level we want. In the second half, we showed what we’re capable of."

### TJ Parker, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne head coach:

“First half was okay, but in the second half, we played too much by ourselves. We isolated the ball too much, froze the ball too much, and when a team plays a switching defense on us we’ve got to be much better than that.”

### Wade Baldwin, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv guard:

“It was a very good game. This is a very tough ASVEL team. They’re French champions, they’ve been battling hard this entire year. It’s a tough place to play, they have a lot of energy. De Colo’s one of the best guards to ever play in this league, so it was good for us to come together as a team, play a good game and come out with a win.”

### Lorenzo Brown, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv guard:

“I think it came down to our defense in the second half. We held them to 8 points in the fourth quarter and that doesn’t speak for how good that ASVEL team is, so I think that’s a big accomplishment for us. The difference in defense between the first and second half was communication. We weren’t speaking enough in the first half of the game, but the second half we stepped it up and that helped us a lot.”