In the opening day of the inaugural EuroLeague play-in tournament, Lorenzo Brown led a dazzling offensive performance with 29 points on 7-of-8 three-point shooting, helped by 26 from Wade Baldwin and 14 from Bonzie Colson as Maccabi hit a team-best 19 threes to rout Baskonia 113-85.
Codi Miller-McIntyre stood out for Baskonia with 32 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds for a PIR of 45, while Markus Howard scored 14.
Four teams fought for two spots in the EuroLeague standings, with Maccabi Tel Aviv becoming the first club to punch its ticket for the playoffs by routing Baskonia. The Spanish club will have one more chance to secure a place in the EuroLeague Final-8 playing against the winner of the 9-10 matchup, Virtus Bologna.
Maccabi secured the 7th seed and will face Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague playoffs starting next week. Maccabi stormed to a double-digit lead from the start and even led the game with 24 points advantage over Baskonia before the end of the first.
The Basques were not able to at least being competitive for the rest of the game and will have to fight for the final Playoff spot in the next game.
After Maccabi’s win, Virtus and Baskonia fight for one last spot in EuroLeague Playoffs
Virtus Bologna stunned Anadolu Efes in Sinan Erdem Dome and will face Baskonia for the final spot that leads to the EuroLeague Playoffs this season. The Italians returned from an early first-half deficit to beat Efes 64-67 in a sold-out arena.
With Will Clyburn taking over early in the first quarter, Efes rushed to a 23-12 lead before Virtus taking over back to close the gap and make it a close-knit game that its result was determined in the final minute of the game.
Iffy Lundberg was the face of the EuroLeague play-in clash contest with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, including the dagger three with 11 seconds remaining. Lundberg pushed Virtus to a 61-67 advantage, and the Italians held until the end to earn a massive road win. Awudu Abass had 12 points and Marco Belinelli added 11 for the winning side.
For the home side, Will Cluburn had a game-high 22 points with 17 of them coming in the first quarter, while Shane Larkin followed with 16 but many crucial missed shots at the end of the game. Virtus snapped a 7-game losing streak and hope that they can avenge their 91-95 defeat against Baskonia in the EuroLeague final regular season game.
