By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Award-winning actress Emma Stone was in Greece and opted to enjoy Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs basketball on Wednesday night. She is in attendance for the Quarterfinals best-of-five series Game 5 featuring Olympiacos versus AS Monaco.
Stone, 33, made the trip to the Mediterranean country in Southeast Europe for the premier of Georgios Lanthimos’s new short film, “Vlichi” (Bleat), and is watching Game 5 alongside the Greek film director, film producer, screenwriter, photographer, and theatre director.
She portrayed Abigail Masham in the film The Favourite co-produced and directed by Lanthimos. Her role led to getting nominated for the Best Supporting Actress in the 2019 Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, among others.
NBA superstar Kevin Durant, also in attendance, was booed by the sold-out crowd due to his relationship with Monaco’s Mike James. His former teammate at the Brooklyn Nets invited him to watch last week’s Game 4 at Salle Gaston Medecin and Durant decided to extend his support through the winner-take-all Game 5.
The team surviving Game 5 will move on to the Final Four and take on defending EuroLeague champion Anadolu Efes in the semifinals. ACB powerhouses FC Barcelona and Real Madrid shape the other semifinal pairing. Both contests will be held in Belgrade’s Stark Arena on 19 May and the next champion will be crowned in the same venue a couple of days later, on 21 May.
Looking back on the best-of-five series, the Reds went from a comfortable win in Game 1 to dropping Game 2. After recovering the home-court advantage with a win at Monaco in Game 3, La Roca Team bounced back in Game 4 to force the win-or-go-home Game 5.