Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade booked a mouth-watering playoff series with Real Madrid after a clutch three-pointer from James Nunnally gave the Serbian side a dramatic 83-81 home win over Panathinaikos Athens in the last round of the regular season on Friday night. Partizan finished sixth with a 20-14 record and will take on the third-seeded Real (23-11), which will have home-court advantage, but the winner of a record 10 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles will take nothing for granted against the competition’s 1992 champion.
Partizan’s backcourt was instrumental in grinding out a hard-fought win over Panathinaikos, as Dante Exum paced the home team with 18 points, Kevin Punter added 17 and Aleksa Avramovic chipped in with 14. Big men Zach LeDay and Matthias Lessort netted 9 points each, with the latter also picking up 9 boards. At the other end, Dwayne Bacon led all scorers with 19 points, Matuesz Ponitka scored 12, Arturas Gudaitis amassed 11 and Marius Grigonis posted 10 for Panathinaikos.


Partizan books clash with Real after beating Panathinaikos, 83-81

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade booked a mouth-watering playoff series with Real Madrid after a clutch three-pointer from James Nunnally gave the Serbian side a dramatic 83-81 home win over Panathinaikos Athens in the last round of the regular season on Friday night. Partizan finished sixth with a 20-14 record and will take on the third-seeded Real (23-11), which will have home-court advantage, but the winner of a record 10 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles will take nothing for granted against the competition’s 1992 champion.

Partizan’s backcourt was instrumental in grinding out a hard-fought win over Panathinaikos, as Dante Exum paced the home team with 18 points, Kevin Punter added 17 and Aleksa Avramovic chipped in with 14. Big men Zach LeDay and Matthias Lessort netted 9 points each, with the latter also picking up 9 boards. At the other end, Dwayne Bacon led all scorers with 19 points, Matuesz Ponitka scored 12, Arturas Gudaitis amassed 11 and Marius Grigonis posted 10 for Panathinaikos.

Game Videos

The visitors dominated for 35 minutes and led by as many as 18 points, but a never-say-die Partizan side launched a fourth-quarter comeback driven by Exum and Punter, which allowed the home side to prevail in a tense finish in front of a full house at Stark Arena.

Panathinaikos, which had lost any chance of making the postseason some time ago, made the brighter start and opened up an 18-26 lead at the end of the first quarter against a subdued Partizan, whose offense only got going after it trailed 20-38 midway through the second. A three-pointer from Punter ignited a 10-0 run and Partizan was able to slash the deficit to 6 points, 39-45, at halftime, having shored up the defensive leaks in the latter stages of the second period.

Game News

It seemed Partizan was on the brink of turning the game around when the hosts closed in on Panathinaikos, 45-46, early in the second half, but the visitors pulled away again thanks to superb three-point shooting from Bacon, who made three long-range attempts in the third quarter to keep his team in the driving seat, 58-66.

The game appeared to be slipping away from Partizan after Panathinaikos pulled away to 60-71 early in the fourth, but the home team then displayed the kind of grit which epitomized the fighting spirit which saw the Serbian side bounce back from a 5-9 start to the regular season.

The effervescent Exum capped a 12-0 streak which allowed Partizan to take the lead, throwing the home fans into raptures ahead of a dramatic climax. The lead then changed hands several times before Nunnally sank the game-winning three-pointer in transition, with Partizan enjoying a slice of luck in the final 10 seconds.

Bacon got round his marker on offense but his slam-dunk attempt cannoned off the rim and with the ball fnding its way to Ponitka, the Pole's desperate last-gasp effort fell way short.

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade v Panathinaikos Athens (2023-04-14T18:30:00.000Z)

FC Barcelona wrapped up the second seed in the playoffs, where it will face Zalgiris Kaunas, after grabbing a hard-fought 85-71 win over Valencia at Palau Blaugrana on Friday night. The hosts were particularly impressive on defense in the last period, allowing just 10 points to seal the outcome. The hosts extended their winning streak at home to seven games, good for a 23-11 record at the end of the regular season. Valencia slipped to 15-19 to finish 13th.
Nikola Mirotic paced the winners with 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting from behind the arc in 24 minutes. Alex Abrines followed him with 15 points and 6 assists, while Jan Vesely provided 13 points, 6 boards and 3 assists. Jared Harper was the only Valencia player to finish with double figures, scoring 14 points.

Barcelona grabs second seed by beating Valencia, 85-71

FC Barcelona wrapped up the second seed in the playoffs, where it will face Zalgiris Kaunas, after grabbing a hard-fought 85-71 win over Valencia at Palau Blaugrana on Friday night. The hosts were particularly impressive on defense in the last period, allowing just 10 points to seal the outcome. The hosts extended their winning streak at home to seven games, good for a 23-11 record at the end of the regular season. Valencia slipped to 15-19 to finish 13th.

Nikola Mirotic paced the winners with 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting from behind the arc in 24 minutes. Alex Abrines followed him with 15 points and 6 assists, while Jan Vesely provided 13 points, 6 boards and 3 assists. Jared Harper was the only Valencia player to finish with double figures, scoring 14 points.

The visitors had a good start with consecutive buckets from Kyle Alexander and Harper, good for a 0-4 early lead, but Barca reacted immediately with a 9-0 run, making it 9-4. Mirotic and Vesely were unstoppable in the early stages of the game, finishing the first period with 18 points, which proved key in Barca opening a 24-21 advantage after 10 minutes.

Valencia kept pushing and managed to get even closer, 24-23, although Barca used the threeball as a way of stopping the visitors' comeback attempts. Satoransky opened fire with a triple, then Abrines exploded with 5 bombs without a miss to boost his team to a 48-36 edge. The visitors didn’t roll over, though, with Harper stepping up to reduce the gap to 51-46 at halftime.

Vesely and Mirotic took over when the game resumed, helping Barca to stay calm, 59-50. Despite being outrebounded on both ends of the floor, Valencia resisted thanks to Shannon Evans and Jonah Radebough, who brought the visitors within 60-54 midway through the third period. But, Barca once again found a timely answer again from downtown, as Higgins struck from deep to stop the rally. Kuric then came up with another triple late in the period to keep the home team comfortably in charge, 72-61, entering the last stanza.

Both teams' offenses got stuck in the mud early in the four quarter, allowing Valencia to make it 72-65 with 7 minutes to go. A three-pointer by Radebough made it even tighter, 74-68, thanks to Barca scoring just 2 points in the first 6 minutes of the final period. The guests could not get closer than that, though, as Barca locked in in defense and held Valencia scoreless for the next 3 minutes. Vesely scored a bucket and Mirotic hit a triple that sparked a 9-0 run, which made it 83-68 and all but confirmed the outcome, as Barca wrapped up the second seed in the postseason.

FC Barcelona v Valencia Basket (2023-04-14T18:30:00.000Z)

Rolands Smits, Zalgiris: 'It looked like we were in Kaunas!'

### Kazys Maksvytis, Zalgiris Kaunas head coach 

"It wasn't a good quality game today, maybe because of the stress of the game's importance. In the end, we had a huge advantage: 10 points. I don't know how we survived. We had a terrible end of the game. Thank God and our free throws, we won this game. I still hard to believe that we won this game, but we are happy and we go ahead \[to the playoffs\]. We take experience \[from this game\] – it was like a playoff game and I hope we will be much better in the next game. Barca is a great team with a great coach. For us, it is much easier because we are the underdogs. We will try to beat them."

### Andrea Trinchieri, FC Bayern Munich head coach 

"We fought. We wanted to win. We missed open shots. Congratulations to Zalgiris, they made the playoffs. We made it for two years – it's their turn, they deserve it. Great season."

### Lukas Lekavicius, Zalgiris Kaunas guard 

"It was a very difficult game. We didn't play well in the first half, but we stepped up defensively in the second half. I had to step up and, thank God, everything went correctly. I want to thank our amazing fans, also. They gave us a boost, for sure. We felt like we were playing at home, \[so a\] big 'thank you' to them. He said \[Coach Maksvytis, at halftime\] that we are not playing 100%. It seemed like we forgot that we were playing for the playoffs. He reminded us how important this game was, and we did a good job in the second half."

### Rolands Smits, Zalgiris Kaunas forward 

"This is something crazy – I don't have the words! I am so happy about my team, above all the fans that came. It was crazy. It looked like we were in Kaunas today! I don't have the words. We knew it would be a hard game and we knew this was our last chance. We needed to win this game and everybody knew it. It will be, for sure, very, very tough games \[playoffs vs. Barca\], but we will be prepared, and we will be ready to play against them."

FC Bayern Munich v Zalgiris Kaunas (2023-04-14T18:30:00.000Z)

Zalgiris Kaunas has made it to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs! Zalgiris has reached the playoffs for the third time in the last six years by downing FC Bayern Munich 80-83 at Audi Dome in Round 34 on Friday night. Zalgiris finished the regular season with a 19-15 record, ranking seventh overall, and soon it will face FC Barcelona in a best-of-five series. Bayern finished its 2022-23 EuroLeague season with an 11-23 record.

Zalgiris downs Bayern to reach the playoffs, 80-83

Zalgiris Kaunas has made it to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs! Zalgiris has reached the playoffs for the third time in the last six years by downing FC Bayern Munich 80-83 at Audi Dome in Round 34 on Friday night. The Lithuanian side finished the regular season with a 19-15 record, ranking seventh overall, and soon it will face FC Barcelona in a best-of-five series. Bayern finished its 2022-23 EuroLeague season with an 11-23 record.

Lukas Lekavicius led the winners with 20 points in as many minutes. Rolands Smits added 16, Edgaras Ulanovas had 12, while Tomas Dimsa finished with 10. Corey Walden paced Bayern with 14 points. Andreas Obst chipped in with 12, of which 10 came in the final 2 minutes, and Vladimir Lucic had 10 for the hosts.

Smits struck twice from downtown and added a tip-in for a 6-8 Zalgiris lead. Walden and Lucic stepped up for Bayern and Freddie Gillespie's layup made the hosts regain a 16-14 margin. Lekavicius and Brazdeikis helped Zalgiris get a 18-19 edge after 10 minutes.

Lekavicius kept pacing the guests, getting help from Dimsa to make it a 5-point game, 21-26. Lucic rescued Bayern with a layup-plus-foul, Isaac Bonga scored in transition and Walden hit consecutive triples, making Zalgiris call timeout at 34-34. Walden hit a jumper and Nick Weiler-Babb boosted the hosts' lead to 38-34 at halftime.

Smits sank his third three-pointer right after the break, igniting a 0-7 run that Edgaras Ulanovas capped with a jump hook for a 38-41 Zalgiris lead. Lekavicius hit a jumper and Dimsa added a driving layup to boost the guests' lead to 43-49. Cassius Winston stepped up for Bayern and Brazdeikis's buzzer-beating layup fixed the score at 47-51 after 30 minutes. 

Niels Giffey struck from downtown and fed Zylan Cheatman for a dunk that got Bayern within 52-53. Ognjen Jaramaz hit a triple that completed the hosts' comeback, 61-60. Lekavicius hit a couple of floaters and added a three-pointer, then Ulanovas sank a jumper for a 65-71 Zalgiris lead with over 3 minutes left. Brazdeikis scored again and Lekavicius's three-pointer seemed to seal the outcome, 68-78, in the penultimate minute of the game. Obst scored 10 points in 61 seconds to bring Bayern within 78-79. Lekavicius, Walden and Ulanovas each hit free throws and Winston missed a running shot from downtown seconds before the final buzzer, allowing Zalgiris fans to celebrate a historical win.

The second stage of a phenomenal Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season is set! On the final night of the regular season, the playoffs bracket was completed with three more pairings to give fans a tantalizing quartet of best-of-five series starting on Tuesday, April 25. Here are the matchups and schedule through the first four games of each series.

 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs calendar 

### **GAME 1**

**OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS - FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL**

26 APRIL 2023, 21:45 local

**AS MONACO - MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV**

25 APRIL 2023 20:15 local

**REAL MADRID - PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE**

25 APRIL 2023 20:45 local

**FC BARCELONA - ZALGIRIS KAUNAS**

26 APRIL 2023, 20:00 local

### **GAME 2**

**OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS - FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL**

28 APRIL 2023 21:30 

**AS MONACO - MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV**

27 APRIL 2023 20:15 local

**REAL MADRID - PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE**

27 APRIL 2023 20:45 local

**FC BARCELONA - ZALGIRIS KAUNAS**

28 APRIL 2023 20:00 local

### **GAME 3**

**FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL - OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS**

 3 MAY 2023 20:45 local

**MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV - AS MONACO**

 2 MAY 2023 21:05 local

**PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE - REAL MADRID**

 2 MAY 2023 20:30 local

**ZALGIRIS KAUNAS - FC BARCELONA**

 3 MAY 2023 20:00 local

### **GAME 4**

**FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL - OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS** 

5 MAY 2023 20:45 local (if necessary)

**MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV - AS MONACO**

4 MAY 2023 21:05 local (if necessary)

**PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE - REAL MADRID**

4 MAY 2023 20:30 local (if necessary)

**ZALGIRIS KAUNAS - FC BARCELONA** 

5 MAY 2023 20:00 local (if necessary)

### **GAME 5**

**OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS - FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL**

9-10 MAY 2023 TBD (if necessary)

**AS MONACO - MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV** 

9-10 MAY 2023 TBD (if necessary)

**REAL MADRID - PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE** 

9-10 MAY 2023 TBD (if necessary)

**FC BARCELONA - ZALGIRIS KAUNAS** 

9-10 MAY 2023 TBD (if necessary)

\*(1) Only if series are 2-1 or 1-2, the fourth game will be played on the court of the lower placed team.

\*(2) Only if series are 2-2, the fifth game will be played on the court of the higher placed team.

2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs calendar

Dante Exum, Partizan: 'We found some extra motivation'

### Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade head coach

“I want to thank the fans for another incredible night. Panathinaikos played a very good game and we were only able to win because finally and, at long last, we started playing good defense. We are happy to be in the top eight and now we have the time to prepare ourselves."

 

### Christos Serelis, Panathinaikos Athens head coach

“We played very well for almost the full 40 minutes, but in the end, we lost because we had two good shot selections and we didn’t take them. The effort was good, but in the end we made some mistakes.”

 

### Dante Exum, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade forward

“Sometimes you just have to pull it out of the bag and find a way to win. I’m just proud of the team – to win 20 games this season is an unbelievable achievement. We found some extra motivation in the second half. It’s only going to get harder from here, but the fans will give us the energy we need.

(Facing Real Madrid in the playoffs): “I am really looking forward to it, as it’s going to be a great series. I just can’t wait for it.”

 

### Aleksa Avramovic, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade guard

“This win paints a picture – the way we fought until the very last moment in every game of the regular season’s second half. We were aggressive on the ball and we’ve done a real good job getting 20 victories after returning to the EuroLeague from a 10-year absence. Real Madrid may be the most difficult opponent in the playoffs, but we’ll go there full of confidence and enjoy the basketball. No one can take away our dream of reaching the Final Four.”

Alex Abrines, Barcelona: 'On offense, we were excited today'

### Saras Jasikevicius, FC Barcelona head coach

“Valencia is a team that has been competing for the top eight until the end, and they had a great EuroLeague season, and we all know how difficult it is. Their guards play very difficult, their big men are so different and physical there – they are a great team. We are second in the regular season, not much to be sad \[about\]. We are waiting for our opponent right now. Whoever it is, we understand it is going to be very difficult. We have to make sure we prepare ourselves first of all and go into the playoffs with great mentality.”

### Alex Mumbru, Valencia Basket head coach

“They had some very good moments, in the last minutes, when it was closer. We managed to get closer, to 6 points, but finally they scored 2 or 3 baskets in a row and destroyed all our chances to win the game."

### Alex Abrines, FC Barcelona forward

“I think we played a little bit hard \[in the second half\], and on offense we were excited today – everything was going in and we were having fun. I think it’s a good way to end the regular season and now we want more. Of course \[it was an unforgettable day\], you don’t play every day your 500th game with a club like Barcelona, and I’m pretty honored for the confidence they put in me and I hope I can play for more games. I don’t if there will be another 500 games, but some more \[for sure\].”

### Jan Vesely, FC Barcelona center

“We were speaking with the coach, we are breaking records, \[it's\] not easy to win a game with 20+ turnovers. We were sloppy in some things, not sharing the ball around, but we managed to win. It’s always good to end in a winning way. Last week was tough for us \[losing at Milan\], but we have to forget about those things and keep working. We showed that we forgot it and we played the game the way it should be played.”

Zalgiris Kaunas has completed the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs picture! Zalgiris became the eighth and last team to make it to the playoffs, beating host FC Bayern Munich 80-83 in Round 34 to finish the regular season with a 19-15 record. Zalgiris is now set to face FC Barcelona, led by its former head coach and Lithuanian basketball legend Sarunas Jasikevicius, in a best-of-five series in which Barca will have the home-court advantage. 

 Zalgiris completes the bracket! 

### Road to playoffs

Zalgiris made some key roster moves in the off-season, bringing in Keenan Evans, Ignas Brazdeikis, Rolands Smits, Kevarrius Hayes and Laurynas Birutis, as well as making Edgaras Ulanovas the new team captain, replacing retired legend Paulius Jankunas. Zalgiris had previously appointed Kazys Maksvytis as head coach in April 2022, 11 days after finishing the 2021-22 EuroLeague campaign. 

Zalgiris opened the season with consecutive road losses, but quickly recovered with back-to-back home wins, using a final 8-0 run to edge Virtus Segafredo Bologna 68-65 and downing Barca 73-72 in the first of 16 consecutive sellout games at Zalgirio Arena. Pushed by an amazing crowd, Zalgiris won its first four home games and also recorded road victories against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Valencia Basket to go to 6-4 in the standings. Three more home wins against Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul pushed the team's record to 9-8 after 17 rounds. 

Zalgiris lost Tyler Cavanaugh and Evans to respective long-term injuries, bringing in Achille Polonara and Isaiah Taylor to replace them. Without leading scorer Evans, Zalgiris downed Virtus 77-87 and edged EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 61-66, both on the road, to stay in the upper part of the standings. Zalgiris then went through a tough stretch, losing five of six games, and soon registered back-to-back losses against Olympiacos Piraeus and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul to fall to 15-15. Zalgiris finished the regular season with a bang, though, winning three consecutive games at Zalgirio Arena and downing Bayern at the Audi Dome to clinch a playoffs spot. 

### Playoff experience

Zalgiris has some players with playoff experience. Edgaras Ulanovas and Laurynas Birutis were with Zalgiris when it last reached the playoffs in 2019. Ulanovas was also with the team in 2018, when Zalgiris went all the way to the Final Four. Lukas Lekavicius played two playoffs series with Panathinaikos Athens in 2018 and 2019. 

The team's most experienced player at this level is Rolands Smits, who helped Barca beat Zenit St Petersburg in 2021 and Bayern in 2022 to reach the Final Four. Smits also played the 2021 championship game with his former team, losing against Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Experienced players like Hayes, Polonara, and Arnas Butkevicius are set to make their EuroLeague Playoffs debut. Hayes, however, helped Frutti Extra Bursaspor reach the 7DAYS EuroCup final last season, losing against Virtus.

### Playoff history

Since the modern playoffs format began back in the 2004-05 season, Zalgiris has reached this stage twice. In 2018, Brandon Davies, Kevin Pangos and Vasilije Micic helped Zalgiris down Olympiacos 1-3, stealing a road in in Game 1 in Piraeus, 78-87, and beating the Reds twice at Zalgirio Arena to make the Final Four for the first time  since lifting the trophy in 1999.

In 2019, Zalgiris won its last six regular season games to get to the playoffs against all odds. It managed to beat Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in Game 2, 80-82, but went on to lose the series after back-to-back home defeats. 

Overall, Zalgiris has played eight playoffs games, winning half of them. The next goal is a historical one: beating Barca to play the 2023 Final Four at home, in Kaunas!

Zalgiris completes the bracket!

Shane Larkin, Efes: 'We are going to come back better'

### Ergin Ataman, Anadolu Efes Istanbul head coach

"I'm so sad. I'd like to apologize to the Efes supporters, the club and the board. We have a great team, but we failed. So after four years, this season we failed. My mistake, my fault, sorry to everybody. That's all.

"Of course, it was very difficult to play a game like this, without a goal for the back-to-back champion team. After five years, this is the first time we played a game without a big goal. But, anyway, we played good basketball. We showed that \[we can play well\] when we focus and we don’t have injured guards, because our system depends too much on the guards. We played well on offense and really good on defense and finally we won the game. We wanted to win the game because it was the last game of the season for us. I am very sad because, after four years \[in which\] we made history in European basketball, this season we failed and, of course, as a coach this is my fault."

### Sasa Obradovic, AS Monaco head coach

"Let's forget about this game and think about what is in front of us. We respect \[Maccabi\] a lot. I think that we have a strong opponent like everybody in the playoffs, so it's going to be an interesting series.

"Of course, congratulations to Efes. They deserved to win this game. We didn’t enter the game like we wanted. We were sloppy. Maybe we already had our heads in the playoffs. It wasn’t easy to motivate the team to play this kind of game. Probably I would be coaching this game differently, but at this moment for us, in this kind of schedule that we found ourselves, it was important to get people involved."

### Shane Larkin, Anadolu Efes Istanbul guard

"You know, it's bittersweet. Obviously, it always feels good to win, but for the first time in a few years this is our last game in the EuroLeague. We are not going to the playoffs. Our season ended today, but at least we ended it with a home win in front of our fans so that's a good feeling. I think for everyone involved, the number one word to describe our season is 'disappointing'. We came into the season with a lot of expectations. Obviously, I've always been in the playoffs, always been in the Final Four, and this is our first year not even in the playoffs. So tonight we didn't even have a chance to go and defend our title after the last two years working so hard to get there. It's obviously not a good feeling. We always feel that we could have done better, but basketball is basketball and you need to win. So we need to appreciate our fans, they came and supported us all season. This season wasn't what we wanted it to be, but we are always going to have support from them and we feel good that they are still here, even in the last game of the season. I want to say thank you to them and we are going to come back better next year."

### Vasilije Micic, Anadolu Efes Istanbul player

"It's a little bit of an empty feeling, but I think that this is our profession. I don't think that we created anything bad this season, except that we were always a little bit short in some moments. It was a new team, from the very beginning. We had four new players that we tried to make them feel like home, but we had some bad luck with injuries and we were chasing all the time something – a position, some victories. But we should use the time we have to play to improve our chemistry, our feelings inside the team, and I think that we will do that. Even when I win, I think the same. Every day is a new opportunity. I really think that we created something special. We should not feel too sad about this loss because being four years in the highest position is really not easy. Keeping the same team really wasn't easy. But for me, personally, I don't think that anything will change. I just go tomorrow, get another practice and get myself ready for a new challenge."

Anadolu Efes Istanbul v AS Monaco (2023-04-14T17:30:00.000Z)