Turkish Airlines EuroLeauge: playoffs still full

After Game 3 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs, each series remains alive after none of the clubs could close the deal this week. CSKA Moscow had arguably the best chance, but Khimki Moscow Region collected a home win to stay alive. In the other Wednesday series, Real Madrid took a major step towards the next round with a win over Panathinaikos Athens.

Khimki Moscow Region 79-73 CSKA Moscow (1-2)

Khimki is making its first ever appearance in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs and on Thursday the club recorded its first ever win. It was a huge victory as it kept the team alive after CSKA Moscow took a 2-0 lead last week. With home advantage in Game 4, Khimki now has a real chance of tying the series, although never discount CSKA grabbing a series-winning victory on the road on Friday. Either way, in this game the score was locked midway through the fourth quarter before the hosts used a 9-0 run to pull ahead for good. EuroLeague 2018 top scorer Alexey Shved topped the win with 27 points, while Anthony Gill sparked that game-winning run and finished with 22 points will missing just one field attempt. CSKA was double-digits down in the first half, but made a game of it in the second, led by Cory Higgins with a career-high 26 points.

Real Madrid 81-74 Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens (2-1)

Real Madrid’s win in Athens in Game 2 could prove to be huge. It sent the series back to Madrid tied at 1-1 with two games to play in the Spanish capital. Los Blancos grabbed the home win and could now wrap the series in front of its own fans on Friday. Of course, former Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champ Panathinaikos is not out of this, but as I said last week, Madrid is excellent at home and Panathinaikos does not always travel well. In this contest, The Greens were often playing catch-up to Real Madrid, including fighting back from 13 points down to tie proceedings in the fourth act. However, the hosts wrestled back the momentum down the stretch and took the win. Current EuroLeague MVP Sergio Llull returned to Los Blancos after an injury and his 8 points came in the final 2 minutes of the game.