Intro:

Barcelona Regal beat Rubin Kazan in Russia to secure a series win and book their spot in the Euroleague semi-finals on Tuesday (27th March).

Maccabi Electra meanwhile moved 2-1 up in the best of five series against Panathinaikos after a nail-biting win in Tel Aviv.

Script:

The first ever Euroleague playoff game in Kazan, Russia took place on Tuesday (27th March) as Unics hosted Spanish side Barcelona Regal.

Barcelona led the best-of-five series 2-0 going into the match and a win would see them seal a place in the semi-finals of the competition.

Henry Domercant top scored for Unics Kazan with 19 points, his fellow-American, Terrell Lyday, chipped in with 12 points.

Unics led 19-17 after the first quarter and stretched their advantage to six points by half time, as they went into break 34-28.

But Barcelona upped their game after that and turned it around in the third quarter to lead 46-45.

Juan Carlos Navarro, who scored 18 points for Barcelona in their tight 66-63 win in the second game, was again the Spanish sides leading points scorer in the third with 21, helped by four three pointers.

The 2010 Euroleague final MVP proved to be the difference between the sides, as Unics struggled to deal with the all-time leading scorer in Europe's premier competition.

Barcelona won 67-56 to clinch the series with two games to spare and became the first team to reach the Euroleague Final Four.

Israel's Maccabi Electra hosted Greek side Panathinaikos in Tel Aviv.

The two sides met in the Euroleague final last year and their best-of-five series was level at 1-1 going into the third game after Maccabi brought the series level at with a 92-94 overtime win on Thursday (22nd March).

Panathinaikos guard Sarunas Jasikevicius returned to the Nokia Arena for the first time since he led the Israeli champions to back-to-back Euroleague titles in 2004 and 2005.

Maccabi guard Yogev Ohayon was top of the point scoring charts for the home side against Panathinaikos with 12 points, one more than Devin Smith.

The match was a tight affair and Panathinaikos moved within one point of their hosts with a little over two minutes remaining when Stratos Perperoglou scored a two pointer to make it 61-60.

Richard Hendrix got what proved to be the winning basket with under 16 seconds left of the match.

The six time Euroleague champions still had an opportunity to send the game into overtime, but Nick Calathes three point attempt came off the rim.

Maccabi Electra hung on for a 65-62 win that puts them 2-1 up in the series, they need just one more win to clinch a place in the semi-finals.