When Virtus Segafredo Bologna hosts UNICS Kazan in Game 3 of the 7DAYS EuroCup Semifinals on Wednesday night, it will mark just the second time in the five years since the competition adopted a best-of-three playoff format that a semifinals series will go the distance. The first time was in 2017 when Valencia Basket defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 90-75 to reach the finals.
After Fernando San Emeterio scored 21 points and Bojan Dubljevic posted a double-double to lift Valencia to an 83-68 Game 1 victory, Tarence Kinsey and Curtis Jerrells combined for 35 points to lead Hapoel to a 79-66 win in the Israeli capital in Game 2. The third and deciding Game 3 was held at Valencia's La Fonteta on March 22, 2017.
Valencia dominated Game 3 from the start. A Jerrells triple made it 2-3, but Jerusalem never led again. The hosts had an excellent first half in which they made 15 of 24 two-point shots (62.5%), outrebounded Jerusalem 15-7, collected 5 steals and forced 11 turnovers to take a 44-32 margin at the break. Valencia then scored 31 points in a near-perfect third quarter: 9-of-10 shooting on two-pointers, 3-of-3 on threes and 4-of-4 on free throws – to lead 75-50 after 30 minutes.
San Emeterio led six Valencia scorers in double figures with 15 points in Game 3, Dubljevic combined 14 points with 7 rebounds and Romain Sato and Luke Sikma added 12 points apiece. After that, Valencia won the opener of the EuroCup Finals against Unicaja Malaga, but Unicaja protected home court in Game 2 and won game 3 in Valencia to win the title.
Aside from the Valencia vs. Jerusalem duel, the other six series have all been sweeps. Unicaja needed just two games to knock out Lokomotiv Kuban in the 2017 semifinals. In 2018, Darussafaka Istanbul and Lokomotiv each won Game 2 on the road to eliminate FC Bayern Munich and Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia, respectively and set up a date in the finals. The following season, ALBA Berlin swept MoraBanc Andorra and Valencia made quick work of UNICS. Last season the competition was ended before the quarterfinals began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Already this season AS Monaco clinched a berth in the finals by taking the first two games from Herbalife Gran Canaria.
In the 12 Game 3s to date, the home teams are 8-3. Unicaja won Game 3s at Bayern in the quarters and at Valencia in the 2017 finals and Andorra edged LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Game 3 of the 2019 quarterfinals. Andorra's 80-82 victory was the closest of all Game 3s to date. Seven of the games so far have been decided by 5 points or less.