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Just as in every season, the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs feature four best-of-five series in which only the winners advance to the 2012 Final Four in Istanbul, Turkey. CSKA Moscow takes Gescrap BB in one of the series. Montepaschi is hoping to reach European club basketball's marquee even for the ninth time in the last 10 years. Gescrap in its first Euroleague season and will try to keep beating the expectations. In a rematch of last season's Euroleague final, continental basketball giants Panathinaikos and Maccabi Electra will battle for a Final Four spot. Despite their 25 previous matchups, Panathinaikos and Maccabi face each other in a playoffs series for the first time ever. In another series featuring a classic powerhouse against an emerging club, FC Barcelona Regal has the home court advantage against Unics. Barcelona beat Unics twice earlier this season but anything can happen this time around. Last but definitely not least, Montepaschi takes Olympiacos to get to Istanbul. Last season, Montepaschi overcame a 48-point loss in Game 1 to beat Olympiacos 1-3 in the playoffs. Both teams meet again, but Montepaschi will have the home court avdantage this time around.
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Playoffs, Game 1
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The last two Euroleague champions started their respective beast-of-five playoffs series with convincing wins on Tuesday and two more series get underway Wednesday as for the first time ever, the best eight teams in the competition will be in action twice each over the course of four consecutive days as part of the race to basketball’s promised land, the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul. MORE | MVP |
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Playoffs, Game 2
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After the first week of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs, the two top teams record-wise this season are a victory each away from the Final Four, while two other series are even and headed to at least four games. CSKA Moscow showed its dominance at home again by downing Gescrap BB by 79-60 on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series. Andrei Kirilenko had a season-high 20 points and 12 rebounds for CSKA, while Milos Teodosic went for 18 points and 9 assists. MORE | MVP |
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Playoffs, Game 3
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Two more close contests in Tuesday’s Game 3s were followed by big wins for the home teams Wednesday in the first part of another exciting and dramatic week of Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs action. When the dust had settled, only one team – 2010 champion FC Barcelona Regal – had secured a spot at the 2012 Final Four in Istanbul, with three more potentially decisive games on top Thursday and Friday. MORE | MVP |
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Playoffs, Game 4
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Only one more game remains before the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos Piraeus made sure of their trips to Istanbul with tough wins on Friday to win their series 3-2. However the defending champs made sure one playoffs series would go the distance with a Game 4 road win. Moscow and the Reds join previously qualified FC Barcelona Regal to make up three-quarters of the Final Four. Panathinaikos hosts Maccabi Electra next week to decide the fourth club. MORE | MVP |
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Playoffs, Game 5
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In one of the greatest playoff games in Euroleague history, the reigning champs held off the runners-up on a go-ahead free throw and tremendous defensive play by the reigning Euroleague MVP inside the last 5 seconds. MORE | MVP |
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Best-of-five series, 2-2-1 format
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| March 20 - April 5, 2012 |
| PLAYOFF A |
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CSKA Moscow 3
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Gescrap BB 1
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| PLAYOFF B |
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Montepaschi Siena 1
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Olympiacos 3
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| PLAYOFF C |
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Panathinaikos 3
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Maccabi Electra 2
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| PLAYOFF D |
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FC Barcelona Regal 3
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Unics Kazan 0
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