Game Center: PAO takes 2-1 lead in series with Efes; Barça fights back to win Game 3

Fenerbahce became the first team to make it to the Final Four on Tuesday

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

FC Barcelona 100-89 AS Monaco

Barcelona survived its first do-or-die situation in the 2025 EuroLeague Playoffs by downing Monaco 100-89 at Palau Blaugrana in Game 3 of their best-of-five series on Wednesday. Monaco has a 2-1 lead in the series. Barca hosts Game 4 on Friday. Willy Hernangomez led the winners with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Jabari Parker added 16 points, Dario Brizuela and Kevin Punter each added 14, while Justin Anderson had 10 for Barca. Mike James led Monaco with 20 points and 12 assists. Elie Okobo added 19 points, Alpha Diallo 16, Jaron Blossomgame 12 and Daniel Theis 10 for the guests.

Anadolu Efes Istanbul 77-81 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens

Defending EuroLeague champs Panathinaikos ground out a priceless 77-81 road win over Efes in Game 3 to move a step closer towards reaching the 2025 Final Four in Abu Dhabi. Player of the game Kendrick Nunn produced a monster performance, scoring 19 of his game-high 25 points to lead the Greens while Konstantinos Mitoglou chipped in with 18 points and 6 boards, including a clutch three down the stretch. Kostas Sloukas netted 10 points. At the other end, Shane Larkin paced Efes on 17 points, Dan Oturu added 14 and Elijah Bryant netted 13 to go with 7 boards. Ercan Osmani scored 10 points for the hosts, all of them in the first quarter as Efes led 23-20 after 10 minutes.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Paris Basketball 88-98 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul

Fenerbahce sealed its progress to the Final Four by overcoming Paris Basketball, 88-98, in an overtime battle to complete a series sweep. A back-and-forth first half ended with Fenerbahce leading, 40-46. The second half was even closer, and concluded with TJ Shorts scoring the last 4 points of regulation to force overtime. But Tarik Biberovic netted the first 7 points of the extra period, and Fener didn’t look back. Paris was inevitably led by Shorts with a joint career-high 29 points, while Nadir Hifi scored 24. Biberovic powered Fener with 21 points, Nigel Hayes-Davis added 18 and Marko Guduric scored 14.

Real Madrid 80-72 Olympiacos Piraeus

Real Madrid made it 2-1 in its series against Olympiacos by defeating the Reds 80-72 at Movistar Arena on Tuesday night. A 0-13 run allowed the visitors to take a 38-44 lead into the third quarter, but Los Blancos held Olympiacos to just 18 points in the second half and grabbed a hard-fought victory. Walter Tavares netted a team-high 15 points, with Dzanan Musa and Mario Hezonja scoring 14 each. Sasha Vezenkov led all scorers with 21 points, Nigel Williams-Goss scored 17 and Saben Lee added 11.