Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz welcomes Virtus Segafredo Bologna for a do-or-die finale on Friday in the last game of the new Play-In Showdown phase.
Luca Banchi, Virtus: 'We will fight united to deliver another strong performance'
Virtus comes off a good-as-gold 64-67 road win against Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the first win-or-go-home challenge of the new play-in phase. That gave head coach Luca Banchi's team another make-or-break chance to reach the playoffs. Baskonia, meanwhile, fell 113-85 at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Tuesday and lost star forward Chima Moneke to injury. He won't play on Friday. Baskonia beat Virtus 91-95 just a week ago in Bologna, but Virtus won their first game at Buesa Arena this season by double-digits. Baskonia has the league's top scorer in Markus Howard, who scored 34 in that win in Bologna, and Codi Miller-McIntyre, who broke the postseason PIR record with 45 despite losing at Maccabi on Tuesday. Virtus forwards Tornike Shengelia and Achille Polonara both starred for Baskonia in the past and will be comfortable as visitors. Friday night's winner will meet top-seeded Real Madrid in a best-of-five playoff series starting on Tuesday in the Spanish capital.
Luca Banchi, Virtus head coach
"Having earned the opportunity to play the second act of the EuroLeague Play-in Tournament, gives us the charge to replicate a performance of great intensity and continuity, to cope with Baskonia's enormous scoring talent and their will for redemption after the Belgrade defeat. We will fight united to deliver another strong performance that can open the door to Play-off participation. Pace control, defensive consistency, rebounding fight and discipline will be the keys to well interpreting a match of such value for both teams."
Toko Shengelia, Virtus player
"We know what this game means for us. If we want to make the playoffs this is a game we have to win and the same goes for Baskonia. It will be a hard-fought game but I think we are ready and we proved it against Efes. This obviously doesn't mean anything if we don't confirm our identity tomorrow as well. So we will have to go out on the court, do our best and come home with a win."