Zenit overwhelms Barcelona to tie series Zenit St Petersburg tied its playoffs series with FC Barcelona with a dominant 74-61 home victory on Friday night. Zenit, which was in front all the way, raced into a double-digit lead with an explosive start, and held a 36-26 half-time advantage after a low-scoring second quarter. Zenit further stretched the lead after the break, taking the margin past 20 points early in the fourth quarter, and Barca never got the deficit down to single digits. Kevin Pangos was the chief inspiration for the home team, combining 20 points and 8 assists. Alex Poythress added 12 points, while Austin Hollins and Tarik Black both scored 11. Nick Calathes led Barcelona with a season-high 19 points, and Cory Higgins added 13. The decider will take place at Palau Blaugrana on Tuesday.
Game Center: CSKA is first Final Four qualifier!
The 2021 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four has its very first qualifier, none other than CSKA Moscow! The Russian powerhouse swept to a 3-0 series victory by stopping host Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in dominant fashion, 68-85, on Wednesday. CSKA broke its own all-time EuroLeague record by reaching its ninth consecutive Final Four. Elsewhere on Wednesday, FC Bayern Munich extended its series with AX Armani Exchange Milan to a fourth game with an 85-79 home victory, the first by the club or any German team in the EuroLeague Playoffs this century. FC Barcelona took a 2-1 lead against Zenit St Petersburg by winning on the road 70-78 as Brandon Davies starred with 22 points. And on Tuesday, it was Real Madrid staving off elimination with the biggest late-game rally for a regulation-time win in playoffs history, 80-76 over visiting Anadolu Efes Istanbul, which leads their series 2-1. Real hosts Efes for Game 4 on Thursday, while Bayern-M
Apr 29, 2021 by Euroleague.net Print
It was clear going into the series that rebounding could be a decisive factor. Never was this more true than in FC Barcelona s 70-78 road win in Game 3 on Wednesday during which the visitors outrebounded Zenit 26-39. What s more, it had 14 offensive rebounds and scored 19 second-chance points.
For Barcelona, the points on the offensive glass were by design. Coach Sarunas Jasikevicius expected the likes of Zenit big men Tarik Black and Alex Poythress to switch and challenge on defense and he had his players ready. We were ready to suffer. That s what I call these baskets at the end of possessions when Zenit jump switches with a point guard in their defense at the end and it s just time to suffer a little bit, Saras explained after the game. And if we cannot punish the great defense of Zenit, we must punish it with offensive rebounds. This was important. Our guys understood it.
Barca triumphs in St Petersburg to take series lead
FC Barcelona held off pesky Zenit St Petersburg 70-78 on Wednesday at Sibur Arena to take a 2-1 lead in the teams best-of-five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs series. In doing so, Barcelona regained the home-court advantage it had lost when Zenit won Game 1 in Spain. The visitors led throughout the second half, but Zenit kept it close and got within 1 early in the fourth quarter. Brandon Davies came through with two key baskets in the final 2 minutes to help preserve the win. Davies led all scorers with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, Cory Higgins added 16 points, Kyle Kuric netted 13 and Nikola Mirotic had 11. Billy Baron paced the home team with 19 points, Alex Poythress scored 14 and Will Thomas and Kevin Pangos added 10 points each.
Apr 24, 2021 by Euroleague.net Print
The only Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs series that is tied after two games produced co-MVPs of the Week as Kevin Pangos of Zenit St Petersburg and Brandon Davies of FC Barcelona shared performance index ratings of 33 in their teams respective victories. Zenit struck first, taking Game 1 by 74-76 on Wednesday as Pangos scored game-high 19 points, making all 3 of his two-point attempts while knocking down 4 of 6 three-pointers. The Zenit playmaker also dished a personal playoffs high of 9 assists to go with 3 rebounds and 7 fouls drawn. Davies returned the favor by leading Barcelona to an 81-78 overtime win in Game 2 between them. He had team highs of 22 points and 8 rebounds while his 12 free throws made tied the high in any playoffs game since 2012. Following the co-MVPs this week was D.J. Seeley of FC Bayern Munich, whose 23 points on 5-for-5 three-point shooting, 6 rebounds and 2 steals fueled