Four chances for a fifth game in the basketball league. Who has the biggest?

Arriva Polish Sugar Toruń

It has never happened before that a team that was in ninth place after the regular round advanced to the semi-finals. In fact, there were few such opportunities, because the play-offs usually involved simply the first eight, and various forms of play-offs for the knockout phase were only in force in a few seasons. Such as this year for the first time.

And as a result, the basketball players from Toruń played a total of seven games from May 4 to 19. It seemed that it had to end there, because with a narrow lineup, such a dose could destroy them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although they were crushed in the second game with Anwil in Włocławek, they won the third at home 105:82.

Suddenly, the perspective on this rivalry has changed a bit. On the horizon are the Włocławek demons from last season and the quarterfinal with Spójnia Stargard. At that time, with 2-0, it seemed that only a formality remained.

A lot has changed in Anwil since then – the coach and most of the players. Among the new ones is Karol Gruszecki, who played a part in the Stargard miracle last year and once played successfully in Twarde Pierniki. Maybe this will be helpful? Maybe he will give his teammates some advice based on his experience? Maybe he will remember how to punch holes in the baskets in Toruń?

With or without Gruszecki, and even with or without Kamil Łączyński (he was injured in match number 3) – Anwil is the favorite. It has everything to prove that Monday's defeat was an accident at work

But he will have to do it with talent or tactical ideas, because probably no one will believe that the Toruń players - Viktor Gaddefors, Michael Ertel, Barret Benson, Dominik Wilczek and the rest - will be simply tired and exhausted on Wednesday. They are indestructible.

Górnik Castle Książ Walbrzych

It would be an exaggeration to say that the coach of the newcomer Andrzej Adamek looked resigned after the 64:74 defeat by Legia Warsaw in the third match. But the fact is that when asked, he did not try to find answers that he did not have. In the play-offs, Górnik has hit 34% of shots from the field, including only 21.7 from long range!

— I don't know what happened. I won't pretend to be smart here — Adamek wasn't afraid to say directly that the shooting weakness of the Wałbrzych team was surprising. Because yes, Górnik wasn't one of the best offensive teams in the league in the regular round, but they still scored an average of 79.3 points. Now 59.3.

Nostalgically, the matches from the regular round, in which Górnik finished with 10 accurate three-pointers, were recalled in the corridors of the Aqua Zdrój sports hall in Wałbrzych. Or even more. In November, against Dziki Warsaw, it was 13. Now, in three matches, a total of 15.

Legia's coach, Heiko Rannula, pointed out that his team is limiting losses, which is why Górnik doesn't have many points from a quick attack. He said that this "matchup" suits Legia - that is, its players are better suited to the opponent and this gives the Warsaw team more advantages.

Adamek, when asked if we should expect tactical changes before the fourth match or if we should simply count on the fact that it will simply "fall" more often, replied: "We change something, add something. They try to surprise us, we try to surprise them. At the very end comes the element of decision-making, which is where we are suffering now," he concluded.

Górnik was in the best position of the lower-seeded teams just a moment ago, because they were the only ones to win away. Now they are probably in the worst position, because they are the only ones to lose at home. As a result, the initiative is on Legia's side. And Górnik looks like the air is slowly leaking out of them...

Energa Icon Sea Czarni Słupsk

At the beginning of the fourth quarter of the third match between Słupsk and PGE Start Lublin, the hosts' chances of drawing 2-2 looked quite high. They were leading so far in this match that it was not to be expected that the opponent would make up for the losses, and Start was again without Emmanuel Lecomte. The Belgian was ruled out by health problems.

The Blacks won the match 92:73, but a few minutes before the end an event occurred that changed everything. The team's best scorer in the whole season and in this match, Alex Stein, was injured. A few hours later the club announced that it was a cruciate ligament tear. In such a situation, the break lasts many months.

Without Stein, Czarni will not be the favorites in Thursday's fourth clash. Of course, we can expect them to be carried away by the Słupsk audience of Hala Gryfia, but will there be no lack of talent? In match number 2 in Lublin, Stein showed his weakest performance of the season, he was invisible, and Loren Jackson, who scored for two, helped him. Despite his 33 points, Start won.

But maybe things will be different in Słupsk now? If Bartłomiej Pelczar was able to cover up Lecomte's absence recently, maybe someone will do the same with Stein? But who? Jakub Musiał? Mateusz Dziemba? Justice Sueing?

King Szczecin

One failed play by Przemysław Żołnierewicz separated King's basketball players from vacation. One failed play by Nick Johnson separated them from leading 2-1 with Trefl Sopot. Two of the three games in this series ended with a difference of one point, and this alone is an argument for including the broadcast of the fourth game on Wednesday.

Trefl's host Žan Tabak said that now it's King's turn to have "momentum" (it's hard to translate into Polish, so let's stick to the original, not initiative or momentum) in the series. I wonder how much of that was sincerity, and how much of it was consciously directed at using such words in order to mobilize his players.

In theory, they don't need this mobilization. They should know perfectly well that even with a 2-0 lead and a dozen or so points advantage in the fourth quarter of the third match, they still have to be on their guard. A large part of this team are players who won 4-3 against King in the final a year ago, although they lost 1-3.

Among them is Jarosław Zyskowski, whom Tabak does not trust very much, which was visible in Szczecin. The Polish representative played only when the Sopot team had serious problems with fouls. He was given a few dozen seconds in the third quarter and returned at the end of the fourth. Well, Tabak could have waited him out, because after all, "only" four out of ten players from Sopot were sent off for five fouls.

The number of fouls may be surprising, but it is the norm across the series. In Szczecin, Trefl committed 32, and earlier at home 31 and 27. In total, in this quarterfinal, there were six cases where someone from Trefl had to leave for five fouls and eight cases of players ending the match with four. It certainly does not make it easier for Tabak to manage the match, but such is the price of aggressive play in defense. And we can expect it to be similar on Wednesday.

King gained faith in the last quarter of the third match that Trefl could be broken, even though it had not been visible for about 30 minutes earlier. The Szczecin team certainly still has reserves, because Jovan Novak, Isaiah Whitehead and even Marcus Lee can and should give more. But on the other hand – will we see Żołnierewicz approaching a career record?