The closest EuroLeague Playoff Series in History will be decided at Roig Arena 

The fifth game of the EuroLeague Playoff series between Valencia Basket and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, to be played on Wednesday, May 13 at 9:00 PM at the Roig Arena, will bring to an end the closest series in the history of the competition. Since the 2008–09 season, when the best-of-five format was adopted to determine the participants in the Final Four, none of the 67 playoff series played so far had reached a fifth game with a combined margin of just ten points across the previous four games.

The Greek side won the first two games in Valencia by 67–68 (+1) and 105–107 (+2) after overtime. The orange-clad team responded by winning both games in Athens, 87–91 (+4) and 86–89 (+3). Every game remained undecided until almost the final possession for the team that eventually lost. Valencia Basket was unable to capitalize on a final possession to try to win the opening game. The second game was tied with five seconds left in overtime and was decided by a buzzer-beater from Hayes-Davis. In the third game, Rogkavopoulos had two three-point attempts that could have tied the score with five seconds remaining. And in the fourth, Hayes-Davis attempted a deep three-pointer that would have sent the game into overtime.

Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, a familiar face in close series

There are two previous EuroLeague Playoff series that reached a fifth game with a similarly narrow margin. Coincidentally, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens was involved in both. The total scoring across the first four games of the current series favors Valencia Basket by 352–348, a difference of four points. Last season’s playoff series between Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and Anadolu Efes Istanbul went to a fifth game with an even smaller aggregate difference: the Greeks scored 326 points and the Turks 324, a margin of only two points. In the decisive fifth game, Panathinaikos secured its ticket to the Final Four by winning 75–67 — the largest margin of the series, as none of the previous games had been decided by more than four points.

The tightest opening to a EuroLeague Playoff series in history also featured Panathinaikos, this time against FC Barcelona in the 2012–13 season. The first three games were decided by margins of two points or fewer, and although the Greek side had the chance to clinch a Final Four berth at home, the Catalan club won Game 4 at the OAKA by 60–70 before finishing the job at the Palau Blaugrana with a 64–53 victory.