Round 32 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season is officially in the books!
Game Center: Hayes-Davis, Nunn the talk of the town after Friday night's action
Friday, March 29
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 103-68 ALBA Berlin
Fenerbahce played and won another game in which a EuroLeague all-time record was set, routing ALBA 103-68 as Nigel Hayes-Davis became the first player to score 50 points in a EuroLeague game. Fenerbahce handled its business, improving to 20-12 on the season, while ALBA dropped to a 5-27 record.
Real Madrid 101-94 Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade
Real Madrid rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat Crvena Zvezda 101-94 for its fourth straight victory. Dzanan Musa poured in 30 points and Mario Hezonja scored 20 points for Real, which improved to 26-6. Nemanja Nedovic dropped 30 points for Zvezda, which fell to 11-21.
Virtus Segafredo Bologna 79-81 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens
Panathinaikos maintained its top-four chances by winning a thriller at Virtus, 79-81, thanks to a floater at the final buzzer from Kendrick Nunn. The Greek giant stays on track to secure home-court advantage in the playoffs by improving to 21-11, while the last-second loss condemned Virtus to five consecutive defeats and a 17-15 record.
Thursday, March 28
Zalgiris Kaunas 87-73 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Zalgiris lived to fight another round by downing Milan 87-73 at home on Thursday. The result leaves both teams with 14-18 records, but Zalgiris has beaten Milan twice this season and thus owns the head-to-head tie-break advantage. Keenan Evans paced the winners with 20 points. Edmond Sumner added 17 Arnas Butkevicius had 13 and Lukas Lekavicius 10 for Zalgiris. Nikola Mirotic led Milan with 19 points, Shabazz Napier added 17 and Shavon Shields 11.
FC Bayern Munich 79-87 FC Barcelona
Barcelona (21-11) edged closer to the EuroLeague Playoffs with a comfortable 79-87 win at Bayern (13-19) after Jan Vesely, Nicolas Laprovittola and Jabari Parker produced mature performances and scored in double digits. Parker paced the visitors with 15 points, Laprovittola added 14 and Vesely chipped in with 12, as the Blaugrana dominated throughout against shorthanded Bayern, which was missing several key players. Tomas Satoransky and Willy Hernangomez racked up 9 points each for Barca, the latter also picking up 8 boards in a smooth team effort. At the other end, Serge Ibaka shined with an impressive double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Nick Weiler-Babb also poured in 17 points for the hosts and Vladimir Lucic netted 13, but the supporting cast failed to step up to the plate for Bayern.
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 69-74 Olympiacos Piraeus
Olympiacos produced a stunning fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Partizan 69-74 on the road in Round 32. With this win, the Greek side improved its record to 20-12, with Partizan dropping to 14-18. One victory in the last two games could be enough for Olympiacos to clinch a top-six spot, while Partizan is still in play-in contention despite the defeat. Nigel Williams-Goss paced Olympiacos with 17 points, Kostas Papanikolaou netted 13, Thomas Walkup recorded 11 and Isaiah Canaan added 10. Kevin Punter led all scorers with 19 points, Frank Kaminsky had 14 points, Bruno Caboclo registered 13 and PJ Dozier netted 12.
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 76-97 Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Efes continued its strong run and rolled past Baskonia 76-97 to stay in the running for the Play-In Showdown. The Turkish side put Baskonia away with a 4-21 start to the second half for its first road victory of 2024 and a 15-17 record. Shane Larkin poured in 28 points, Will Clyburn picked up 20 points and Ercan Osmani chipped in 15 points as Efes has won four of its last five games. It was Efes’ first road win since December 7 — snapping a streak of eight straight losses away from home. Baskonia dropped to 16-16 after its third straight loss — missing a chance to lock up a spot in the Play-In Showdown. Markus Howard was the leading scorer with 15 points.
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 77-87 AS Monaco
Monaco took another critical step to reach the EuroLeague Playoffs by downing ASVEL 77-87 on the road in Round 32 on Thursday. Monaco improved to 22-11 while ASVEL dropped to 7-25. Elie Okobo paced the winners with 16 points. Alpha Diallo added 15, Jaron Blossomgame had 13 while Mike James got 12 for Monaco. Timothy Luwawu-Cabarrot had ASVEL with 23 points on 5-of-6 three-pointers. Joffrey Lauvergne and Edwin Jackson each added 13 points for the hosts.
Wednesday, March 27
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 95-80 Valencia Basket
Maccabi remains the hottest team in the EuroLeague after securing its sixth straight win in the competition, having defeated Valencia 95-80 in Belgrade to move to a 19-13 record. In particular, Maccabi's Wade Baldwin and Josh Nebo caused all sorts of headaches for a free-falling Valencia side that is now 1-6 over its last seven games and 14-18 overall.