Euroleague playoff action

In Thursday’s Euroleague playoff action, Bayern blasted Barcelona, 75-90, and Milan outlasted Efes, 73-66, to even both series!

The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs continue on Thursday with a pair of Game 2 encounters in Barcelona and Milan.

FC Barcelona 75-90 FC Bayern Munich

Bayern stunned the regular-season champion Barcelona by leading for all but a couple of first-quarter possessions en route to a 75-90 road win in Game 2. Deshaun Thomas propelled the winners with 25 points on 6-for-7 three-point shooting. Andreas Obst followed with 15 points, Nick Weiler-Babb with 12, and Ognjen Jaramaz with 11 in Bayern’s first-ever playoff road victory. That ties the series at 1-1 as it heads to Munich for two games next week. Barca got 16 points each from Nikola Mirotic and Nicolas Laprovittola.

AX Armani Exchange Milan 73-66 Anadolu Efes Istanbul

Milan shook off the absence of an injured star to outlast visiting Efes 73-66 in Game 2, evening their best-of-five series at 1-1. Kyle Hines made a huge block, and Shavon Shields followed with a three-point play in the final minute to seal the victory. Shields led Milan with 21 points while Sergio Rodriguez had 17 before leaving the game injured, as forward Nicolo Melli had in Game 1. Efes got 19 points from Shane Larkin and 18 from Vasilije Micic. The next two games will be played in Istanbul next week.