05 October, 2021
15 May, 2022
Rafa Martinez (MANR)
10/04/2022
Preview
to read

Tuesday Quarter-Finals preview: How many of the three series will end in a sweep?

MIES (Switzerland) - All four home teams won their respective Game 1 of the Quarter-Finals in the Basketball Champions League. Will all three home teams win Game 2 on April 12 to force Game 3, or will some of the series be sweeps?

Here's a look at the three games on Tuesday April 12:

Game 2: Tofas Bursa vs. Lenovo Tenerife (Tenerife lead series 1-0)

Where: Bursa, Turkey (Tofas Nilufer Spor Salonu)

When: 19:00 (GMT +3)

Game 1: Tenerife won 78-77

Lenovo Tenerife's Sasu Salin knocked down five three-pointers and scored 17 points in the first quarter of Game 1 and this Viziball chart below shows his impact early on in the game.

The darker the heatmap blocks, the higher the player's impact. Salin's big impact in the first quarter can be determined by the darker blocks above the first quarter section of the chart, as well as the first quarter section of the chart being full of heatmap blocks.

The spider chart below then shows in more detail the impact in certain aspects of the game. For Salin, his biggest impact was in two categories, shooting and catch and score, as both categories were a score of 100, the highest on the 0-100 scale.

  • Tenerife have won their last eight games in the BCL, their best winning streak in the competition; they have won 10 of their 11 encounters against Turkish teams, but the only loss came the last time they played in Turkey against Pinar Karsiyaka in this season's play-ins (80-88).
  • Tenerife are allowing their opponents to score only 46.6% of their two-pointers in the BCL this season, fewer than against any other team; on the other hand, they are the most accurate team with their two-pointers, scoring 58.4% of those.
  • Salin needs to make only two more three-pointers to overtake Vojtech Hruban for the top scorer from behind the arc in the BCL history (135, Hruban 136); Salin has made 2+ three-pointers in each of his last 11 BCL games.
  • Tofas have won their last four home games in the BCL, after winning only three of the previous eight; they were trailing on the scoreboard at the end of the third quarter in each of their last two home games.
  • Tofas' Tomislav Zubcic has lost his last two games as a starter in the BCL after winning 10 of his previous 11 starts in the league; he has always scored 10+ points in his 11 home games where he played at least 20 minutes (15.7 points per game).

Game 2: SIG Strasbourg vs. Hapoel U-NET Holon (Holon lead series 1-0)

Where: Strasbourg, France (Rhenus Sport)

When: 20:00 (GMT +2)

Game 1: Holon won 93-75

Holon's point guard Joe Ragland was presented with his MVP of March before the game.

  • Five of Holon's last six losses in the BCL came while playing away from Israel (including neutral venues), but only one of those losses ended with a double-digit margin; Holon were leading at half-time in five of their last six losses.
  • Holon's Rafael Menco has averaged 13 points and 5.5 rebounds in his last two away games in the BCL coming off the bench, after averaging 8.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in his previous five away games, all played as a starter; he has made a total of six three-pointers in his last two away games after making only four in his previous five such games.
  • Strasbourg won their last home BCL game (98-86 v Falco Szombathely) but are yet to win consecutive home games this season in the competition; they lost 81-86 the only previous time they hosted Holon in November 2019.
  • Strasbourg are conceding only 6.2 points per game from fast break in the BCL 2021-22, fewer than any other team; in fact, they have conceded fewer than 10 points from fast break in each of their last seven games.
  • Strasbourg's Kameron Taylor has scored 15+ points in his last three BCL games, his best streak in the competition and as many times as in his previous 15 appearances; he scored 18 points in his last home game, against Szombathely, the most he has scored in a home game in the competition.

Game 2: Unicaja vs. BAXI Manresa (Manresa lead series 1-0)

Where: Malaga, Spain (Palacio Municipal)

When: 20:30 (GMT +2) 

Game 1: Manresa won 86-63

Manresa had three players who stood out in Game 1: Chima Moneke (11 points, 11 rebounds, 5-of-9 FG), Juampi Vaulet (9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3-of-5 FG, 1-of-1 3P) and Joe Thomasson (16 points, 5 assists, 4-of-7 FG, 2-of-3 3P).

Player Impact Estimate (PIE) estimates the number of times a player has a decisive impact on the end of a possession - in both a positive and negative way and then shows it as a percentage of the total in the game. If all of the PIE percentages of the players from both teams in any given game are added up, the total would be 100 percent.

The chart below doesn't show who the best player was in the game or the most efficient, but it will give a solid estimate for which players have important roles for their teams and impact the game in multiple ways.

Vaulet (15.84%), Thomasson (14.48%) and Moneke (13.57%) had the three highest PIE ratings in Game 1 and were the only players to have a percentage in double figures for Manresa. Their respective larger circles in the chart indicate better performances and are positioned according to time spent on the court (horizontal) and Plus/Minus (vertical).

  • Each of Manresa's last seven wins in the BCL ended with a double-digit margin while their last four losses in the competition ended with margins of six points or fewer; Manresa have scored 85+ points in eight of their last 10 BCL games, after reaching that mark in only four of their previous 13 games.
  • Manresa have scored the most points per game in the BCL this season (85.4) and have the most possessions per game on average (76.7); on the other side, Unicaja have conceded fewer points per game than any other team (71.1) and the fewest three-pointers per game (6.8).
  • Manresa's Chima Moneke's best three scoring performances in the BCL came in his last three away games in the competition, registering his personal best in his last game away from home, 26 points against Darussafaka; he has grabbed 5+ rebounds in each of his five away games in the BCL.
  • Unicaja have won four of their five home games in the BCL, with each of those four wins coming with margins greater than 15 points; Unicaja have failed to score more than 75 points in their last two home games however, after scoring at least 83 points in each of the previous three.
  • Six different players have scored 10+ points for Unicaja in their last three games in the BCL, but none of them managed to do it twice in that span; Jonathan Barreiro was the only Unicaja player to score 10+ points in the last game, after failing to reach that mark in any of his previous 11 appearances with the team in the competition.