With six games taking place on Tuesday and three on Wednesday, how will the playoff picture look after Round 31?
Game Center: Fener, Bayern win high-scoring shootouts; five home triumphs from six tonight
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Tuesday, March 25
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 101-100 Paris Basketball
Fenerbahce wrapped up its place in the EuroLeague Playoffs in style by beating Paris 101-100 on a game-winning three-pointer by Nigel Hayes-Davis. Paris star TJ Shorts looked as though he had given his side the victory when he scored a layup with two seconds remaining to set a 98-100 score, but Hayes-Davis caused the roof to come off Ulker Sport and Event Hall with his triple.
Marko Guduric led Fenerbahce in scoring with 25 points. Hayes-Davis ended the night with 19 points, with Errick McCollum pouring in 18 and Tarik Biberovic adding 14. Paris, which could only suit 10 players due to its injury crisis, had Shorts and Nadir Hifi both net 19 points, while Mikael Jantunen had 14, Yakuba Ouattara 13, Kevarrius Hayes 12, and Sebastian Herrera 11.
AS Monaco 96-86 Zalgiris Kaunas
Monaco clinched a hard-fought overtime victory over Zalgiris to improve its record to 19-12 and remain among the top four teams after 31 rounds. The hosts had to overcome a second-quarter 14-point deficit and trailed 65-72 midway through the last period, but a strong late reaction led by Mike James forced overtime, 80-80. James and Elie Okobo combined for 10 points early in overtime to decide the game as Zalgiris ran out of energy. Zalgiris slipped to 14-17. James led all scorers with 22 points and Okobo followed with 21. Sylvain Francisco paced Zalgiris with 19 points but missed the winning shot in regulation.
FC Barcelona 101-102 FC Bayern Munich
Bayern grabbed a key road victory in its fight for the playoffs as it rallied to beat Barcelona. In a battle of teams tied in the standings going into the game, Bayern trailed by 8 points with 3 minutes left but its much-maligned defense held on in a 2-11 run to close the game - winning on Vladimir Lucic’s free throws with 17 seconds left. The last of 23 lead changes decided the game and gave Bayern an 18-13 record including a season sweep of Barcelona. Carsen Edwards scored 23 points with 5 assists while Elias Harris had 17 points to lead Bayern. Jabari Parker paced Barcelona with 23 points.
Real Madrid 96-89 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Real Madrid managed to defeat Milan 96-89 in a game it never trailed in, but there will be a sense of frustration for coach Chus Mateo and his men after failing to secure the tiebreaker, having lost by nine points in Italy earlier this season. As such, in the event that Real Madrid and Milan finish the season with the same regular-season record, it will be coach Ettore Messina’s squad that has the advantage. Both sides came into this contest with a 16-14 record, but Los Blancos have improved to 17-14 while Milan drops to 16-15. Dzanan Musa scored 21 points for Real Madrid, which also had Walter Tavares (19 points), Usman Garuba (11) and Facu Campazzo (11) net in double figures. Zach LeDay was Milan’s leading scorer with 15 points, followed by Nikola Mirotic with 14, and Shavon Shields and Fabien Causeur with 13 apiece.
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 85-71 ALBA Berlin
Partizan bounced back from three successive defeats with a home win over ALBA to stay in contention for a top 10 finish. Brandon Davies paced Partizan on 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor, while Carlik Jones followed with 15 points and 9 assists. Isaac Bonga chipped in with 14 points and 6 boards for the hosts, who improved to 16-15. At the other end, Matt Thomas led ALBA with 16 points.
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 81-70 Olympiacos Piraeus
ASVEL ended its seven-game losing slide by beating league-leader Olympiacos at LDLC Arena. The hosts’ defense held the Reds to a season-low 70 points, with guards Theo Maledon and Nando De Colo leading the charge on the other end. ASVEL improved its record to 12-19, while Olympiacos registered its second loss in a row and dropped to 22-9. Maledon paced ASVEL with 23 points and De Colo netted 18, of which 10 came in the last 4 minutes. For Olympiacos, Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov scored 25 points each.
Wednesday, March 26
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (18:30 CET)
After keeping its postseason hopes alive with last week's thumping win over Bayern, Baskonia (13-17) must now triumph on the road at red-hot Efes (16-14). Scoring star Markus Howard has rediscovered top form for the Spanish team with an average of 18.3 points over the last three games, and he faces a shooting duel with former Baskonia star Shane Larkin, who has played a key role in his team's four-game winning run with an average PIR of 21.3. Elijah Bryant is also performing well with an average of 15.8 points during the winning streak, and he was the key player with 20 points when Efes triumphed 84-89 at Baskonia in November. The Spanish team has not won on the road since December, so needs a major momentum shift to upset an Efes hunting a playoff place.
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade vs. Virtus Segafredo Bologna (20:00 CET)
On the back of last week's morale-boosting win in Piraeus, Zvezda (17-13) will attempt to keep climbing the standings by downing floundering Virtus (7-23). Home team coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos will hope his injury problems in the paint ease, but he can rely on backcourt leadership from Codi Miller-McIntyre after his double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds in the win at Olympiacos. Isaiah Canaan will be another major threat after netting 3 triples in each of the last three games. Virtus has lost eight straight, going down by double digits in the last four, but still has the motivation of avoiding the wooden spoon. Some optimism comes from the return of Will Clyburn, who netted 13 points on his comeback from injury in last week's loss to Maccabi.
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv vs. Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (20:05 CET)
Maccabi (10-20) will attempt to retain its status as the hottest team in the league by upsetting the top-four aspirations of reigning champ Panathinaikos (19-11). The hosts have won four straight, mostly through explosive offense spearheaded by in-form guard Rokas Jokubaitis (12.6 points and 5.0 assists per game), but also showing toughness at the defensive end in last week's low-scoring win over Virtus. And that will definitely be required against a free-scoring Green machine which has been augmented by a return to form by ex-Maccabi ace Lorenzo Brown, who is coming off consecutive double-digit scoring nights for just the second time this season. Another key battle will take place in the paint between Trevion Williams and Wenyen Gabriel, who both delivered strong performances in last week’s wins.