By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Following the grueling Regular Season, the Basketball Champions League will enter its playoffs stage. Sixteen clubs are geared up and ready after placing themselves in the top four spots of the four Regular Season groups, four of them even went through the Qualifiers. Math is now much simpler, with a couple of two-game series ahead of the Final Four. Here’s the breakdown of the first Gameday of the Round of 16 stage:
Nizhny Novgorod – Umana Reyer Venezia
Venezia is coming off a big win against Virtus Bologna on the road and is second in the LBA Serie A. The 2017 Italian Champions achieved ten victories in the Regular Season and comfortably finished second in Group B.
On the other side, Nizhny Novgorod went through three qualifying rounds before going down the wire in Group A for its playoffs berth. It ultimately managed to grab third place. The Russian team is seventh in the VTB United League with a 9-8 W-L record.
Walter De Raffaele’s side is considered the favorite, but will start this two-game series on the road and is aware of Nizhny Novgorod’s many upset wins during the 2018-19 campaign. Eventually, the winner will face UCAM Murcia or Telenet Giants Antwerp in the quarterfinals.
PAOK – AEK
The only domestic matchup of the Round of 16 features PAOK against the BCL title holder and FIBA Intercontinental Champion, AEK. Early in the 2018-19 campaign, the Queen got a home win versus Ilias Papatheodorou’s side in the Greek Basket League, but later lost twice in Thessaloniki, first in Greek Cup game and recently in the second Basket League Regular Season contest between the two teams.
The two-game series will start at the PAOK Sports Arena and Luca Banchi hopes for a better result this time around. Besides, his team has won six straight games in all competitions since its January 26th loss to PAOK on the road. The hot streak led AEK to the top spot of Group C in the Champions League Regular Season, before the draw sent their Greek rivals in their path once again.