Basketball: EuroLeague regular season to end on Friday

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular basketball season will wrap up on Friday.

Turkey's Fenerbahce Beko, the finalists of last season, top the league and are set for the playoffs.

Before the last matches, Fenerbahce Beko, Anadolu Efes, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, and Barcelona Lassa have guaranteed the playoffs.

In the last round of matches, Baskonia, Panathinaikos, Zalgiris, AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan, Maccabi FOX and Olympiakos will compete to gain ticket for the playoffs.

In the playoffs, the leader Fenerbahce will face a team ranking eight at the regular season, while Anadolu Efes will play against Barcelona.

Sixteen teams are competing in the league -- four Spanish, three Turkish, two teams from Russia and Greece each, and one team each from Germany, Italy, Israel, Lithuania and Montenegro.

Turkey is represented by Anadolu Efes, Fenerbahce Beko and Darussafaka Tekfen. Two of the Turkish teams will compete in the EuroLeague playoffs.

The regular season is being played from Oct. 11, 2018 to April 5, 2019 with the top eight advancing to the playoffs to be held April 16-30.

Winners will advance to the Final Four between May 17-19 at Fernando Buesa Arena in the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in single elimination matchups.

The matches of round 30 are as follows:

Thursday:

CSKA Moskova (Russia) - Baskonia (Spain)

Anadolu Efes (Turkey) - AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan (Italy)

Panathinaikos (Greece) - Buducnost VOLI (Montenegro)

Real Madrid (Spain) - Zalgiris (Lithuania)

Friday:

Fenerbahce Beko (Turkey) - Maccabi FOX (Israel)

Bayern Munich (Germany) - Herbalife Gran Canaria (Spain)

Olympiakos (Greece) - Darussafaka Tekfen (Turkey)

Barcelona Lassa (Spain) - Khimki (Russia)