By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
With Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 34 in the books, six teams are locked into their respective Playoffs seeds. The rescheduled Round 23 fixture pitting Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv against Fenerbahce Beko at home will determine the remaining two seeds on Wednesday (18:30 CET).
Real Madrid’s home loss to FC Bayern Munich ranked the Whites fourth overall at the end of the Regular Season, while Olympiacos and AX Armani Exchange Milan clinched the second and third seeds, respectively. Meanwhile, Anadolu Efes on the wrong end of its Belgrade trip against Crvena Zvezda mts failed to secure the fifth seed and thus set the Playoffs matchups.
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs matchups:
FC Barcelona (1) – FC Bayern Munich (8)
Olympiacos (2) – AS Monaco (7)
AX Armani Exchange Milan (3) – Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv OR Anadolu Efes (6)
Real Madrid (4) – Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv OR Anadolu Efes (5)
If Maccabi prevails against the eliminated Turkish visitors, it will end up as the fourth seed and collide with the team located in the Spanish capital, while the defending champions will settle sixth and take on the Italian outfit. If Fener wins, its Turkish rival will finish as the fifth seed and the team based in Tel Aviv as the sixth. In any case, Milan and Madrid will begin their respective best-of-five series carrying the home-court advantage.
The eight Playoffs teams will be aiming to punch in a ticket to the Final Four between 19 April and 4 May. The season-ending and championship-crowning tournament will be held in Belgrade’s Stark Arena from 19 to 21 May.
Photo Credit: EuroLeagueBasketball.net