By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
One competition, 16 teams, but only half of them get tickets for the playoffs. Eight teams will have to watch their season come to an end after Round 30. Five of those eight were left out of the race for the qualification early. Just the same, they never let their lame-duck status show on the court. Rather, they played an important role until the end in the thrilling development of the regular season.
Not a leading role, but definitely not the role of an extra, either..
#16 DARUSSAFAKA TEKFEN ISTANBUL (5-24)
Winning the 7DAYS EuroCup last season led Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul back to the EuroLeague for the third time in their history (2016, 2017, 2019), but the season didn’t turn out in the best possible way. The highest they reached was 10th place (Round 2), and they’ve been ranked last consistently since Round 7. Despite that, they had enough time to do their part and then some, even if they did it only in Istanbul (0-14 away from home). The second of Darussafaka’s five wins came in Round 15 over Olympiacos Piraeus (79-75), then ranked fifth but now in doubt of making the playoffs. The same goes for KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, whom Darussafaka defeated (80-75) in Round 20, otherwise, the hopeful Final Four hosts would be qualified now for the playoffs. And as if so much trouble for two teams that wanted to make the postseason wasn’t enough, in Round 29, Darussafaka eliminated FC Bayern Munich, too, with a 92-87 home win to say goodbye to the EuroLeague in a proud way in front of its fans.
OFFENSE: 74.6
DEFENSE: 85.4
REBOUNDS: 34.2
ASSISTS: 16.6
STEALS: 5.8
BLOCKS: 3.5
TURNOVERS: 13.8
PIR: 76.8
#15 BUDUCNOST VOLI PODGORICA (6-23)
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica waited 15 years to return to the top European club competition (2001, 2002, 2003, 2019), and then another seven rounds for their first win (99-84 over Baskonia). Two rounds later they chalked up one of the biggest upsets of the season, 93-92 over CSKA Moscow. As newcomers Norris Cole and Goga Bitadze joined forces with Earl Clark, it was anything but a surprise that they beat two more eventual playoffs qualifiers in FC Barcelona Lassa (67-64) and Real Madrid (73-60). Their inability to be as competitive outside of Podgorica (0-14 away from home) kept them stuck between 11th and 15th place from the start of the season, but not without first earning everyone’s respect.
OFFENSE: 74.6
DEFENSE: 84.9
REBOUNDS: 31.3
ASSISTS: 14.6
STEALS: 5.7
BLOCKS: 2.8
TURNOVERS: 11.6
PIR: 73.9
#14 HERBALIFE GRAN CANARIA (8-21)
Their very first season in the EuroLeague was in itself an experience for Herbalife Gran Canaria, even if they never managed to climb any higher than 12th place. They definitely tried for the best they could possibly get and never abandoned the effort. After the historic first win over Barcelona (87-86), they managed to make things difficult for four teams (Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan, Zalgiris Kaunas and Olympiacos) that are waiting for the last round to find out what their future is in the competition. In the recent game against Olympiacos (90-67), Marcus Eriksson and his buddies from Las Palmas went all out with one of their most emphatic wins.
OFFENSE: 77.8
DEFENSE: 87.9
REBOUNDS: 31.6
ASSISTS: 17.2
STEALS: 6.9
BLOCKS: 1.9
TURNOVERS: 13
PIR: 78.8
#13 KHIMKI MOSCOW REGION (9-20)
Khimki Moscow Region had taken every precaution in order to return to the playoffs after having done so for the first time last season. But the injuries and the absence mainly of Alexey Shved proved too much to bear. Until the former EuroLeague champ broke his finger, he was not only defending the Alphonso Ford EuroLeague Top Scorer Trophy with amazing stats, but he was also leading the league in other statistical categories such as performance index rating. With him missing more than half of the games to date (14 out of 29), the Russian team saw its playoffs options fade away. Nonetheless, wins over opponents like Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and Zalgiris (twice) – not to mention first-place Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul — had a big impact on the playoffs race, even if Khimki couldn’t stay in it.
OFFENSE: 78.3
DEFENSE: 81.8
REBOUNDS: 30.2
ASSISTS: 18.4
STEALS: 7.6
BLOCKS: 2.9
TURNOVERS: 11.6
PIR: 82.4
#12 FC BAYERN MUNICH (13-16)
Up until Round 22, Bayern sat among the playoff positions in seventh place, but the home stretch proved hard on the German champs. The final decision came late, in Round 29, with a road defeat at the hands of Darussafaka (92-87), which deprived Bayern of the chance to fight for the qualification to the end. With 13 wins in 29 games, there were plenty of big wins, but as it turned out, they only made things more complicated for their rivals. Half of them occurred against teams that are fighting for a qualification in the postseason, while one was over first-ranked Fenerbahce (90-86 in OT). Unfortunately for Derrick Williams (ninth in the PIR) and the rest of the German team, the only thing they were left with was their effort.
OFFENSE: 78.9
DEFENSE: 80.9
REBOUNDS: 29.7
ASSISTS: 17.4
STEALS: 6.4
BLOCKS: 1.7
TURNOVERS: 11.5
PIR: 86.1