Por once in this euroleague crazy and in the hectic last day, logic prevailed… although it was close to not doing so. Barcelona wonwho finished second; won the Partizonwho finished sixth and will see them with the real Madrid in the playoffs; and won the Zalgiriswhich left out the Baskonia bucketHe came in seventh and will meet the Catalans in the quarterfinals, which promise much stronger emotions. The leader oympiacos play before him fenerbahce and the AS Monaco face the Maccabi.
Heads and tails for the Spanish representatives. Bara had the most affordable rival. In theory, here you never know. A Zalgiris that aspires to play its Final Four, since it will be played in Kaunas, but whose potential is very far from that of the Catalans. Very special series for Sarunas Jasikevicius, to play at home. He hopes to return in mid-May.
And, again in theory, bad luck for him. Madridwhich will intersect with the Partizn by Zeljko Obradovic. The Serbs have finished the regular season like a shot, they are fearsome in the Stark Arena (the whites lost there recently 104-90) and have the most successful coach in the history of European basketball, who has won nine Euroleagues and has overcome 20 of 21 qualifiers in continental tournaments.
Clásico in the semifinals?
The whites will begin their tie on Tuesday, April 25 and the blaugranas, a day later. Both they have earned the court factorwhich historically approaches the Final Four: 83.6% of the teams that had it won the series. If the two greats of Spanish basketball are faithful to the statistics, they will meet in the semifinalslike last year in Belgrade
From start to finish, from October to April, the EuroLeague regular season has been a beast. Panathinaikos, who did not risk anything, came to win by 18 at Partizin’s home (20-38). The Serbs came back (83-81), although Ponitka missed a triple to win. And in Munich, the also evicted Bayern complicated the classification to Zalgiris. The Lithuanians won 68-78 and 10 points followed by Obst They almost worked the miracle that Baskonia longed for to get into. Lekavicius thwarted the dream of Vitoria.
This is how the Playoffs will be played
The qualifiers for being in the Final will begin on April 25 and will last until May 9-10 at the latest as long as there is a fifth game, although there are no schedules for that day yet. This is the schedule of matches:
match 1
April 25 (20.15) Monaco – Maccabi
April 25 (20.45) Real Madrid – Partizon
April 26 (20.00) Barcelona – Zalgiris
April 26 (20:45) Olympiacos – Fenerbahce
match 2
April 27 (20.15) Monaco – Maccabi
April 27 (20:45) Real Madrid – Partizon
April 28 (20.00) Barcelona – Zalgiris
April 28 (20:30) Olympiacos – Fenerbahce
match 3
May 2 (20.05) Maccabi – Monaco
May 2 (20:30) Partizon – Real Madrid
May 3 (7:00 p.m.) Zalgiris – Barcelona
May 3 (7:45 p.m.) Fenerbahce – Olympiacos
match 4
May 4 (20.05) Maccabi – Monaco
May 4 (20:30) Partizon – Real Madrid
May 5 (7:00 p.m.) Zalgiris – Barcelona
May 5 (7:45 p.m.) Fenerbahce – Olympiacos