Baskonia's big road win can't save its home-court hopes

Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz did its part to keep fighting for home-court advantage in the playoffs - at least momentarily - by rolling to an 80-103 win over host Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul on Friday. Baskonia lifted its record to 17-12 in a crowd of teams still aiming for fourth place, but its hopes were dashed later when Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens won to go 18-11. Any tie between them favors Panathinaikos, so Baskonia will have to settle for starting the playoffs on the road. Against Galatasaray, Baskonia posted its season high in points and matched its fifth-best scoring performance on the road this century. Galatasaray fell to 10-19. Baskonia broke open the game little by little to lead by highs of 33-53 in the second quarter and 71-101 in the fourth. Baskonia matched it's third-best three-point total since 2000 by making 14 of 22 shots. That was the best accuracy rate from the arc, 63.6%, ever in the EuroLeague for a team making at least 14 three-pointers. Kim Tillie led the winners with 20 points, while Ilimane Diop registered career highs of 18 and 3 assists. Johannes Voigtmann added 15 points, Adam Hanga 11 and a career-high 7 assists, while Shane Larkin scored 11, too. Galatasaray got 14 points each from Alex Tyus and Jon Diebler, 12 and 9 assists from Sinan Guler, and 11 points from Austin Daye.

Tibor Pleiss and Daye opened Galatasaray's scoring inside before Voigtmann dropped a long triple at 4-3. Pleiss kept it going with a three-point play that Larkin matched with a triple. Guler changed the lead again with a layup then hit Pleiss for an alley-oop jam. Hanga scored a pair of fastbreak baskets plus a free throw at 11-13. Voigtmann's free throw and layup extended the Baskonia lead to 11-16. Dueling triples from Guler and Chase Budinger preceded Larkin lofting a perfect alley-oop pass slammed by Diop. Tyus entered to finish a lob himself that Tillie answers with a jumper at 16-23. Diebler said hello for Galatasaray with a triple before Diop scored in close. Tyus finished near the rim again and Diop did the same on the buzzer for a 21-27 Baskonia lead after 10 minutes. Rafa Luz went coast to coast for Baskonia to open the second quarter then his blocked shot led to a Budinger ayup at 21-31. Rodrigue Beaubois arrived to the scoring column with back-to-back triples and fed Diop for a basket that make it 26-41. Diebler hit again from deep but his triple was swarmed by 2 from Tillie and one from Jaka Blazic as Baskonia's lead climbed to 31-50. Diop's three-point play made it a 20-point difference, then he and Tyus exchanged baskets while Hanga and Daye did so from long range as Baskonia pulled into halftime up 44-60.

Diebler's third triple and a free throws by Tyus and Day let Galatasaray pull within 50-60 right after the break. Voigtmann answered with a corner triple, but soon Vladimir Micov's first basket made it 57-67. Larkin struck from deep, then Voigtmann and Tyus exchanged quick baskets. Guler's layup was met by a shot from downtown by Hanga and a fastbreak basket by Budinger at 61-77. Guler hit a triple before Diop and Blake Schilb traded two-pointers as Baskonia held onto a 66-80 lead after three quarters. Guler scored to open the fourth but Larkin's free throws matched him. Diop kept hitting his shot and Budinger's tip-in made it 68-86. Three-pointers from Tillie and Larkin meant a new high lead, 71-92. A three-point play by Tillie with under 5 minutes left pretty much ended any chance of Galatasaray rallying. Rafa Luz did the honors of putting Baskonia over a 100 points in an 0-11 run on the way to the visitors reaching the scoring high for the season so far.