EuroLeague playoff race: who's on a toughest and easiest schedule? / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Imago-Scanpix Credit Imago-Scanpix

The decisive stretch of the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season begins. In the next 23 days, the EuroLeague playoffs race will be over. As many as eight teams are still in the mix of making or failing.

3-pointers this season

33%7,7Points made:7,7Accuracy:33,0%Place in standings:15Record max:15Record min:3Most made 3FGs:Marko GuduricTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

BasketNews checked Anadolu Efes Istanbul, FC Bayern, AS Monaco, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, ALBA Berlin, and Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz's remaining games and measured the easiest and toughest schedules combining the winning percentage of each team's remaining opponents to determine their strength.

Numbers-wise, the defending EuroLeague champions Anadolu Efes have the toughest remaining schedule. Their last five opponents hold the highest winning percentage (57.3%) among all the Top 8 contenders.

Efes play all five games against the Top 10 EuroLeague teams, including two Top 4 clubs, Real Madrid (March 22) and AX Armani Exchange Milan (March 24).

They're also hosting ALBA (April 1), Bayern (April 6). Efes will finish the regular season on April 8 in Belgrade vs. Crvena Zvezda.

They can still climb as high as the 2nd seed. But the Turkish powerhouse was so inconsistent recently that they should take it step by step, starting with just securing the playoffs berth.

"Our goal two weeks ago was the Top 4. With two losses in Baskonia and Monaco, we understand that playoffs are at risk," Efes head coach Ergin Ataman told after the last week's victory in Kaunas.

Efes will have a home-court advantage. They play 4 of 5 games at Sinan Erdem Arena. Usually, they're getting fantastic support from their home crowd, who holds the highest attendance record this season.

It's fair to say that Bayern will have probably the most complicated regular-season finale.

Fenerbahce Istanbul / Schedule

Fenerbahce Istanbul FC Bayern MunichTue17:45 Fenerbahce Istanbul Zenit Saint PetersburgFri17:45 Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz Fenerbahce IstanbulWed19:30 FC Barcelona Fenerbahce IstanbulFri20:00

Coronavirus not only took them out of the rhythm again but made a huge mess in their calendar.

In the last week of the regular season, Bayern will have a triple-game week, all on the road. Bayern will go to Istanbul for Fenerbahce (April 4) and Efes (April 6) and will finish the week in Madrid (April 8).

Currently, they're scheduled to play two games in two days, as the German league game in Oldenburg is planned for April 3.

Until the triple-game week, Bayern also will visit Athens (March 22), and Milan (March 29). The single home game left is scheduled for April 1 vs. Crvena Zvezda.

"We have been in a kind of emergency situation consistently all season, and the current phase is no exception," Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri spoke of the upcoming stretch of games. "We have to deal with this reality and accept the unfortunate circumstances."

On the other side, Baskonia have the most manageable schedule. All of their last opponents are under 50% wins this season and their winning percentage is only 38%.

However, Baskonia have only three games remaining (vs. Fenerbahce on March 23, at Monaco on March 25 & vs. Zalgiris on April 1). To make the playoffs, they can't lose a single game, and on top of that, they need a lot of other games to finish in their favor.

Baskonia can still go as high as the 6th seed, though.

Crvena Zvezda Belgrade are next with the easiest schedule (44.6% winning percentage), but they will play 3 of 4 games away (Alba March 25, Bayern April 1, Zalgiris April 3). At the single home game, they will host defending EuroLeague champions Efes (April 8).

Teams Games left Opponents W% Toughest opponents Efes 5 57.3% Real, Milan Monaco 4 54.7% Olympiacos, Milan Maccabi 6 53.6% Barcelona, Real, Milan Bayern 6 52.5% Real, Efes, Milan ALBA 6 49.3% Barcelona, Efes, Monaco Fenerbahce 6 48.6% Barcelona, Bayern Crvena Zvezda 4 44.6% Efes, Bayern Baskonia 3 38% Monaco Remaining EuroLeague schedule EuroLeague standings EuroLeague playoff race scenarios

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