EuroLeague playoffs are set

The EuroLeague regular season came to an end on Friday night and the eight teams that qualified to the playoffs were decided.

In the postseason, Fenerbahce (1) will face Zalgiris Kaunas (8), and CSKA Moscow (2) will battle Baskonia (7). Furthermore, Real Madrid (3) will play against Panathinaikos (6), and Anadolu Efes (4) will clash with Barcelona (5).

The EuroLeague playoffs will start on Tuesday, April 16.

Fenerbahce, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid enter the postseason as the favorites to fight for the title. Concurrently, all bets are off between Anadolu Efes and Barcelona, given that both teams are on the same level.

For their part, Panathinaikos, Baskonia and Zalgiris Kaunas will attempt to defy the odds. They are considered the underdogs but have turned things around over the past three months. Now, their goal is to stun their opponents and make the surprise, by reaching the Final Four.

The final round of the competition saw Fenerbahce finish with the best record under the new format (25-5).

The Turks defeated Maccabi Tel-Aviv on Friday (78-75), thanks to Kostas Sloukas’ three-pointer at the buzzer. The 2017 EuroLeague champions set another record, as they finished the regular season undefeated at home (15-0).

In the other matches, Olympiacos decimated Darussafaka (99-74), Bayern Munich rallied past Gran Canaria (84-77) and Barcelona beat Khimki at home (83-74).

Aside from the Catalans and Fenerbahce, the other six teams had already been eliminated from the playoffs.

The biggest upset of the regular season was the elimination of Olympiacos from the playoffs. The “Reds” were initially considered the favorite to finish within the top four. But they simply collapsed in the second part of the season.

Even though they had a significant advantage over their opponents on the table, they lost eight of their last 11 matches. Consequently, they failed to advance to the postseason, and they are now getting ready for a turbulent offseason.