ATHENS (Greece) - Sometimes, do-or-die games in basketball are all about deciding the outcome in the clutch, with fans of both teams biting their nails as time passes by heading towards the end.
It looked like the same equation could also be applied to Game 3 of the Quarter-Final series between AEK Betsson BC and Nanterre 92 - the only one of the four best-of-three series that went beyond a sweep.
Instead, it was a complete black-and-gold party in Athens' SUNEL Arena, which will now be home to the 2024-25 Basketball Champions League Final Four.
AEK hugely celebrated in front of their rocking fans a 104-69 victory, which means both qualifying, returning to the Semi-Finals after five years of absence, and hosting the biggest event of the season in the second weekend of May.
Turning point
Hunter Hale has been one of the most important players for AEK this season in the Basketball Champions League, and probably without him, there wouldn't be the spark for Wednesday's resounding win.
At the end of a pretty balanced first quarter in Athens, he was handling the ball in front of the former black-and-gold player Justin Tillman, now at Nanterre. He almost put him on skates.
With the clock running down, instead of getting to the paint and pointing towards the rim, he stepped back to deliver a clutch arc. Three points at the buzzer, the start of a 15-0 run that inspired a party night.
From then on, Dragan Sakota's team never looked back.
In fact, they went on to produce a 21-0 run to start the second half, a 34-9 third quarter, and even reached a 45-point (!) lead in the making. A Game 3 to remember.
Game hero
We were talking about Hunter Hale, weren't we? Well, his performance wasn't only about that three-point buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter.
The American scoring guard was all over the place, ending with a season-high 23 points and 7 assists, shooting 5-of-11 from beyond the arc and without a single turnover.
After condemning them to the early elimination in last season's Round of 16 with Promitheas Patras, he was the one inspiring AEK's joyful Wednesday night against the French team. Life changes fast.
Stats don't lie
Points scored are the first number you look up to when a basketball game finishes, and AEK fans had never seen their team overcome the century mark this season.
That's the stat from Wednesday's do-or-die matchup that really doesn't lie: losing a game while scoring 104 points happens rarely, as most of the time putting up such an amount isn't combined with sad emotions. Five players finished in double digits for the hosts.
AEK was particularly better than their opponents, also in scoring off turnovers (29-11), forcing Nanterre to 15 lost possessions in the final matchup of the Quarter-Finals.
Bottom line
Wednesday's difficult loss shouldn't confuse: Philippe Da Silva's team are way better than what they showed in Athens in their ultimate game of the Basketball Champions League season.
Overcoming all odds, they reached an unexpected Quarter-Final series by taking out the 2023-24 bronze medalists, UCAM Murcia.
They were dragged by Desi Rodriguez (15 points in Game 3) and Justin Tillman (17 points), but this time, almost nothing worked for them.
And now, all eyes are on Athens: from May 9-11, that's where everyone's eyes will be pointed at, for the biggest event of the whole Basketball Champions League season. It's almost Final Four time.
They said
"Congrats to AEK, they played an amazing game. They put a lot of pressure. We were still alive for 15 minutes and after that we made too many mistakes. We were too nervous, bad selections. We froze the ball and that's what gave AEK confidence and after that it was too difficult to come back with this atmosphere." - Philippe Da Silva, Nanterre 92 head coach
"I want to just finish with these type of words: Congrats to my team, to my players because they fought until the last game and we came back here to play the qualification for the Final 4. Nobody at the beginning of the season expected that we could be fighting to reach the Final 4, so they made an amazing effort during the whole competition. We had so many problems, but the guys always trusted, always fought and this makes me proud." - Da Silva
"First I want to congratulate Nanterre for coming all this way. They fought to the end and they are a really good, really well-coached team, but our guys came with it tonight. We had a lot of energy from the start of the game, both offensively and defensively. We played for each other, we shared the ball really well and I'm just happy for everyone in that locker room." - Hunter Hale, AEK Betsson BC
"First of all, congratulations to (our) guys. They played a really big game and also for the people coming here. It was a special moment to enjoy together and such a good game actually and an important game. We made history, this is Final 4 again in our town and we deserve this together. People came, and I have the impression that in the last two weeks we sold more tickets than in one year total before. Maybe two." - Dragan Sakota, AEK Betsson BC head coach
"A sold out gym is something special, a special feeling. I'm a bit old, but I was jealous, you know, that I couldn't play a little bit, to enjoy." - Sakota