The Roig Arena will decide the Final Four ticket in one of the tightest playoff series the EuroLeague has ever seen. Valencia Basket and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens will face off on Wednesday, May 13, at 9:00 PM local time in a decisive Game 5 that has already made history for its extraordinary parity.
Since the league adopted a best-of-five playoff format in the 2008-09 season, no series had ever reached a winner-take-all fifth game with a cumulative point difference of just ten after the first four contests. The series is almost perfectly balanced heading into the decider, with the “taronja” squad totaling 352 points against the Greek side’s 348.
**Four Tightly Contested Games**
The opening two matches, held in Valencia, went to Panathinaikos by narrow margins. The Athenians won 67-68 in Game 1, then claimed a 105-107 overtime victory after a buzzer-beating shot by Hayes-Davis. However, Valencia responded in Athens with two equally close wins: 87-91 and 86-89, restoring complete equilibrium to the series.
Every game has been decided in the final moments. Valencia had a chance to win Game 1 on their last possession. Game 2 was tied with five seconds left in overtime. In the third game, Rogkavopoulos had two three-point attempts to force a tie, and in the fourth, Hayes-Davis had a long-range shot to send the game to overtime.
**A Historic Series**
Recent EuroLeague history offers few comparable precedents. Interestingly, Panathinaikos was also the protagonist in the closest recent series. Last season, the Greek side pushed to a Game 5 against Anadolu Efes Istanbul after four games separated by only two points in the aggregate score (326-324). Panathinaikos ultimately secured their Final Four ticket with a 75-67 victory in the decisive match.
Another particularly tight series occurred in the 2012-13 season when Panathinaikos faced FC Barcelona. The first three games were decided by two points or fewer. Although the Greek team had a chance to close out the series at OAKA, Barcelona forced a Game 5 with a 60-70 win and then clinched the series in the Palau Blaugrana with a 64-53 victory.
