By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague adopted the best-of-five format for playoff series in 2009. Out of the 64 series since, 15 of them have gone the distance. To be exact, 13 have been decided already and two more will be decided this week.
The latest Game 5 schedule consists of top-seeded FC Barcelona facing eighth-placed FC Bayern Munich on Tuesday and second-ranked Olympiacos versus seventh-seeded AS Monaco on Wednesday.
Forget the complicated math. In this case, every single winning side played Game 5 at home. This week we will find out if that record is ripe to be broken. For now, let’s recall the Top 5 Game 5s in competition history on our trip down memory lane.
WHO: (G1) Real Madrid – (H2) Power Electronics Valencia
WHERE: Madrid Caja Magica
WHEN: 7 April 2011
WHY: 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2
Coming off breaks on both ends – Valencia prevailing 81-75 in Game 2 at Madrid and Los Blancos recovering the home-court advantage with a 75-66 victory in Game 3, Game 5 was must-see. A couple of Spanish clubs ready to battle it out for a spot in the Final Four. Valencia built a double-digit lead and was in control through the first half, but Real stormed back after the break. The hosts went up 43-42 early in the second half and 60-51 early in the fourth quarter. After Valencia rallied to 62-58, Real scored the last 6 points to seal the win.
FINAL SCORE: 66-58
TOP SCORERS: Carlos Suarez 12, Clay Tucker 12 – Dusko Savanovic 19
WHO: (G1) Panathinaikos Athens – (H2) Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
WHERE: OAKA
WHEN: 5 April 2012
WHY: 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2
From a convincing 93-73 victory in Game 1 to an overtime loss, 94-92, in Game 2 for Panathinaikos. After suffering a narrow loss, 65-62 to Maccabi, in Game 3, the Greens survived Game 4 with a 78-69 victory to force Game 5. Already considered a classic series, Game 5 was equally exciting down the stretch despite Panathinaikos registering 12-point leads in both the third and fourth quarter. Guy Pnini sank 3 free throws that knotted the game at 85-85 with 9.8 seconds left. Dimitris Diamantidis made a free throw of his own for a one-point lead and missed the second with 5 seconds left. Tal Burstein running out of time after the rebound wrapped up proceedings.
FINAL SCORE: 86-85
TOP SCORERS: Dimitris Diamantidis 25 – David Blu 14