LeBron James arrives at the game against Golden State 5 hours before kick-off (from the NBA's official website)
321 games in the Euroleague season have ended, and tonight (Tuesday, 21:30) it enters a different and much more dramatic mode: from now until the final, which will take place in 12 days in Kaunas - from no game there is a turning back. Every loss becomes an immediate elimination, and every win is worth another step towards winning the Cup.
- The identity of the Final Four qualifiers had never been decided so soon before it existed. The "airlift," as they used to call it, will leave for Lithuania as early as next week — but only one of the four participants has been scheduled. The other teams and their fans will have to reserve, ticket, and move quickly.
- In the 2008/09 season, the factory switched to the current format in the quarter-final series, and since then only once has happened what will happen today and tomorrow: in 2021 and 2023, three series reached the fifth and decisive game. Two years ago, unlike now, the eve of the decision took place three and a half weeks before the Final Four.
- Everyone can recite this statistic: The 16 teams that held home-field advantage were the 16 that won Game 5. No one has yet managed to "steal" it outside. Is this statistic doomed to finally be broken?
The surprising winners of Game 5 (Photo by Getty Images, Roberto Finizio)
- One precedent is going to be set anyway tomorrow, when Real Madrid host Partizan Belgrade: either the Blancos will be the first to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 2-3 victory; Or Željko Obradović and his players will celebrate a first win for the visitors in the fifth game (marking the first series marked throughout by away victories).
- Oded Ketch, Dimitris Itoudis and Chos Mateo will round up to 20 the number of coaches who participated in Game 5. Olympiacos' Yorgos Bartzukas knows this situation better than anyone else: tonight, against Fenerbahce, will be his fifth appearance in the position. So far, he stands at three wins and one loss.
- Despite the one-sided balance in favor of the home side, the road to most wins was difficult, long and full of bumps. In the last two years, 3 of the 5 visitors led at the end of the first half; 10 of the 16 games ended by a margin of ten points or less; And the closest was Maccabi Tel Aviv, which surrendered in 2012 to Panathinaikos 86:85.
Was responsible for the comeback, but lost a critical ball. Wade Baldwin in the series between Bayern and Milan (Photo by Getty Images, TF-Images)
- What do you do to get out of the decisive game safely? First of all, it turns out, it is important to be precise in threes. But really to be precise. The five winners were 50.8% in the last two years: 23-11 to Olympiacos, 24-12 and 16-9 to Barcelona, 29-14 to Anadolu Efes and 22-12 to Olimpia Milano.
- This statistic connects directly to one of the visible keys in the series between Monaco and Maccabi Tel Aviv: in the first four games, whoever scored better from beyond the arc won. The Yellows scored 38.4% in Games 1 and 4 compared to just 27.4% in Games 2 and 3; The Monegasques with 33.3% vs. 15.5%, just the opposite.
- And who are the players who starred in Game 5 over the past two years? Oh, that's interesting. The winning teams enjoyed MVP displays from the supporting players. Shaquille McKissick, Nico Laprovitola, Pau Gasol, Chris Singleton and Chavonne Shields (in the days when he was less dominant) produced highlights, bringing Olympiacos, Barcelona, Anadolu Efes and Olimpia Milano to the Final Four.
History of the fifth game of the EuroLeague playoffs (Photo: GettyImages)
- Monaco itself almost turned off the lights in the Hall of Peace and Brotherhood last year with its occupants. She led 41:48 at the break, and also marched with a minimal advantage of 80:81 with 4:30 on the clock. But then Olympiacos raced to 2-9, kept the house and celebrated its return to the semi-finals.
- Wade Baldwin is the only player from Maccabi Tel Aviv who has already appeared on this occasion, and almost won on his own. Two years ago, when he played for Bayern Munich, he fell behind 91:79 at Mediolanum Forum with 78 seconds on the clock. The Germans went on a 0-10 run and had two chances to equalize and create a Milan miracle of their own, but the guard (who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter) lost a critical shot.
- sport
- basketball
- Euroleague and European basketball
Tags
- Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball
- Monaco in basketball
