The 2024 ENBL playoffs will continue on Thursday, March 7, at the SGS College WISE arena in southern England. The Bristol Flyers will host Šiauliai in the first game of best-of-two series.
Series history: Bristol Flyers and Šiauliai will face each other for the first time in a European competition.
Bristol Flyers finished fourth in the Group A with a 4-3 record.
Šiauliai finished first in the Group B with a 6-1 record.
Bristol Flyers are 1-2 in the ENBL home games.
Šiauliai are 2-1 in the ENBL road games.
Bristol Flyers will play their first ENBL play-off game on Thursday.
Šiauliai played at the 2022 ENBL final in Wloclawek, Poland.
Lithuanian team defeated the Newcastle Eagles, 94-92, on October 4, 2023.
The LKL teams are 2-0 against the BBL teams, as the Bristol Flyers lost a home opener against Uniclub Casino Juventus, 75-76, on October 31, 2023.
Key matchup: Brad Greene averages 14.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks for the Bristol Flyers.
Center shoots 61.5% from the field and 63.6% from the charity stripe.
Tomaš Pavelka averages 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks for Šiauliai.
Center represented Slovakia in the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers and played in a sold-out game in Riga against Latvia.
National championships: Bristol Flyers are 11-15 at the British Basketball league, four wins above the playoff line.
The Flyers are 0-5 in their last five games, including two tight losses against the 2024 BBL Trophy finalists – Cheshire Phoenix, 76-78, and the London Lions, 93-101.
London Lions won the 2024 BBL title on Friday, March 1 – around seven weeks before the end of the regular season.
Flyers head coach Andreas Kapoulas represented Great Britain in the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers on February 19-27, posting a 1-1 record.
The British team defeated the Netherlands, 98-94 at the Vertu Motors arena and then lost to Czechia on the road, 82-90.
Šiauliai are 6-15 at the Betsafe LKL, two wins below the playoff line.
The Lithuanian team are 5-4 in the LKL, starting from December 11, 2023, howevew, Gargždai was disqualified from competition after facing financial problems.
A new head coach – Žydrūnas Urbonas – has a 4-0 record in the ENBL.
Urbonas took the coaching reins of KB Prishtina in the summer of 2023.
His first game in the ENBL was scheduled at...Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena.
The match never took place as the Kosovo club was excluded from the ENBL.
Three months later Urbonas returned to Lithuania to take over Šiauliai.
Urbonas won a gold medal with Lithuania at the 1994 FIBA U18 European Championship in Israel.
It was the first title for the Lithuania national team since EuroBasket 1939.
Know your referees
Crew chief: Oskars Lucis (Latvia) – FIBA referee 2003-2023; Euroleague referee 2007-2016; FIBA referee instructor from Latvia; referee coordinator of the Latvian Youth Basketball league (LJBL).
Umpire 1: Gavin Williams (United Kingdom) – British Basketball league referee from 2008, FIBA referee from 2011, has worked at the Women`s EuroBasket 2015 in Hungary and Romania.
Umpire 2: Dovydas Kairys (Lithuania) – LKL referee from 2022; has worked at the 2022 NKL Final 4 and the European Women`s Basketball league (EWBL).
Observer: Mareks Voļskis (Latvia).
ENBL access: follow the game on YouTube live stream
SCHEDULE (local time only)
(A1) Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena – Royal Liège Basket (B4)
Game one: Wednesday, March 13, Liège 20:00
Game two: Wednesday, March 20, Utena 18:30
(A2) Bakken Bears Aarhus – Seriös Group Newcastle Eagles (B3)
Game one: Friday, March 1, Newcastle; Bakken Bears win 92-87
Game two: Wednesday, March 13, Aarhus 18:30
(A3) Tartu Ülikool Maks&Moorits – CSO Voluntari (B2)
Game one: Tuesday, March 12, Tartu 19:00
Game two: Tuesday, March 26, Bucharest 19:00
(A4) Bristol Flyers – Šiauliai (B1)
Game one: Thursday, March 7, Bristol 19:30
Game two: Tuesday, March 19, Šiauliai 18:00
The 2024 Final Four location will be announced immediately after the playoffs.
Final Four 2024
Tuesday, April 9 (tbc)
Semifinal one: Winners A1/B4 – Winners A3/B2
Semifinal two: Winner B1/A4 – Winner B3/A2
Wednesday, April 10 (tbc)
Medal games