By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
It’s not easy to keep people’s interest undiminished all the time, even when the sport is played at the highest level. But it sure is worth trying. In the EuroLeague they haven’t stopped trying. They dare to make changes and are vindicated for them. How else can one explain what’s been taking place since 2016, the year they changed to a regular season with a round-robin format? Circumstances change from one round to the next and no team can feel certain about anything.
After the first three games of that first, experimental season, just two teams had a perfect record and another three had started without a win. CSKA Moscow (3-0) would eventually finish the regular season in second place and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (3-0) in fifth. Both of them reached the Final Four in Istanbul, with the latter making history by winning its first-ever EuroLeague trophy. At the same time, one of those winless teams after three rounds, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, also made the playoffs.
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2016-17 (16 teams) |
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3rd ROUND |
30th ROUND |
3rd ROUND |
30th ROUND |
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1. CSKA Moscow 3-0 |
2. CSKA Moscow 22-8 |
14. UNICS Kazan 0-3 |
15. UNICS Kazan 8-22 |
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15. Anadolu Efes Istanbul 0-3 |
5. Anadolu Efes Istanbul 17-13 |
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2. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 3-0 |
5. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 18-12 |
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16. Galatasaray Doga Sigorta Istanbul 0-3 |
12. Galatasaray Doga Sigorta Istanbul 11-19 |
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The following season, of the three teams that had a perfect record of three wins each at the beginning, one of them, Real Madrid, went ahead to win the trophy. The other two made the playoffs, while one of the teams that had three straight losses – KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz – reached the playoffs from seventh place.
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2017-18 (16 teams) |
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3rd ROUND |
30th ROUND |
3rd ROUND |
30th ROUND |
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1. Real Madrid 3-0 |
5. Real Madrid 19-11 |
14. AX Armani Exchange Milan 0-3 |
15. AX Armani Exchange Milan 10-20 |
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2. Khimki Moscow Region 3-0 |
8. Khimki Moscow Region 16-14 |
15. Anadolu Efes Istanbul 0-3 |
16. Anadolu Efes Istanbul 7-23 |
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3. Olympiacos Piraeus 3-0 |
3. Olympiacos Piraeus 19-11 |
16. KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 0-3 |
7. KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 16-14 |
In the third and last season with 16 teams, three teams again started with a record of 3-0, only this time all three of them – Real, Fenerbahce and CSKA – a finished in the top three positions in the rankings, and CSKA won the trophy. Those that started with 0-3, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica and Khimki Moscow Region, weren’t able to bounce back, but nevertheless had gone on to play a defining role in the competition.
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2018-19 (16 teams) |
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3rd ROUND |
30th ROUND |
3rd ROUND |
30th ROUND |
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1. Real Madrid 3-0 |
3. Real Madrid 22-8 |
15. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 0-3 |
15. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 6-24 |
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2. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 3-0 |
1. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 25-5 |
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16. Khimki Moscow Region 0-3 |
13. Khimki Moscow Region 9-21 |
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3. CSKA Moscow 3-0 |
2. CSKA Moscow 24-6 |
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Now, with the number of teams having been raised to 18, it’s gotten even more interesting. The number of just two teams with 3-0 records and only one at 0-3 is characteristic of the situation. Even the bottom-placed team at the moment, Valencia Basket, got pretty close to doing some damage against one of last season’s finalists, Efes.
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2019-20 (18 teams) |
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3rd ROUND |
34th ROUND |
3rd ROUND |
34th ROUND |
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1. FC Barcelona 3-0 |
? |
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2. CSKA Moscow 3-0 |
? |
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Also worth noting is the point differential of the teams that are in between those we just mentioned. Almost all of those with a positive win record (2-1) have a negative point differential (in which overtime points are not included)…
3. FC Bayern Munich 44
4. Khimki Moscow Region -4
5. Anadolu Efes Istanbul -5
6. Real Madrid -8
7. AX Armani Exchange Milan -9
8. LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne -21
…while more than half of those that have a negative win record (1-2) have a positive point differential.
9. Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 7
10. Olympiacos Piraeus 7
11. Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 3
12. KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 2
13. ALBA Berlin 1
14. Zalgiris Kaunas -3
15. Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv -7
16. Fenerbahce -9
17. Zenit St Petersburg -44
Also remember that last season, with two rounds left for the completion of the regular season, the number of scenarios to qualify for the playoffs for seven teams that were fighting for three spots was 99. And that, in the end, it was one shot – a three-pointer that would not have changed a game’s outcome nor the final win-loss standings – made the difference between eighth-placed Zalgiris and ninth-placed Olympiacos.
In other words, it’s not only every game that counts, but every shot, too.