Monaco shocks Olympiacos in Euroleague playoffs

Game 2 of the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs continued to flip the script as another series was evened up 1-1 in Friday’s first game, but the last showdown of the week left one team only a single victory away from the Final Four!

Olympiacos Piraeus 72-96 AS Monaco

Monaco shocked a sellout crowd of 11,500 in Piraeus by turning the series around with a 72-96 dismantling of host Olympiacos on Friday for its first-ever Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs victory. Monaco’s 0-20 second-quarter burst, tied for the third-longest shutout run in playoffs history, proved too much for the Reds to overcome. Mike James starred for Monaco with 23 points while Danilo Andjusic added 19 and Dwayne Bacon 17. Sasha Vezenkov led Olympiacos with 14 points. Tied 1-1 now, the series moves to the French Riviera for Game 3 next Wednesday and Game 4 on Friday, where if it defends its home court, Monaco can become the extremely rare competition debutant to reach a Final Four.

Real Madrid 95-66 Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

Real Madrid moved within a victory of returning to the Final Four when it overwhelmed visiting Maccabi by a resounding 95-66 in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series. Real can return to the Final Four for the eighth time in 11 years if it wins Game 3 in Tel Aviv next Tuesday. Real’s 56-37 halftime lead gave it the second-highest first-half scoring total in the playoffs since 2007-08, and nothing Maccabi could do after that was nearly enough. Real dominated so much that its team performance index rating of 126 was the sixth-highest in playoffs history. Sergio Llull finished with 17 points to lead the winners, while Vincent Poirier and Guerschon Yabusele added 16 each. Poirier doubled his fun with ten rebounds. Keenan Evans led Maccabi with 9 points.