There are seven former Euroleague champions, including the last five and a newcomer involved. Three of the four games will also be rematches of previous finals, and that includes last year’s, as Olympiacos look to conquer the Euroleague for the third straight year as they face their 2013 opponents Real Madrid. The Liga Endesa side have grown since then. The team chemistry is at a high, and Sergio Rodriguez and Nicola Mirotic are playing the best basketball of their career right now.
So we look at Tuesday’s game one encounters. Both will be in Spain, as Barcelona host Galatasaray and Real Madrid do battle with reigning champions Olympiacos in a rematch of the 2013 Euroleague final in London. We’ll look at Wednesday’s games tomorrow.
The road to Milan is getting ever closer…
Barcelona vs Galatasaray
Now on paper, Barcelona should sweep this series 3-0, but despite quarter-final newcomers Galatasaray being rank outsiders, they have weapons with individually skilled players, plus strengths as a team. Barcelona have the experience and the star power to get it done and will be scorching favourites to head to the fashion capital. But the Turks will make the Abdi Ipecki a fortress.
The Turkish side currently boasts one of the hot shooters at the moment in veteran Carlos Arroyo. He has averaged 15.1 points in the Top 16 and is second overall with a combined 211 points overall. The Puerto Rican has also dished out a Top 16-high 6.9 assists a game. Overall, apart from the occasional blip, he has been a true leader in Galatasaray’s progression to this stage this season.
The former NBA guard has a good supporting cast as well. Great Britain international Pops Mensah-Bonsu will look to quietly impose his mark on the game and Serbian big man Zoran Erceg has enjoyed a good spell of play. He nearly led his side to a big win away at CSKA Moscow, but narrowly missed out.
As a team, Galatasaray take care of the ball better than any other side in the Euroleague. They averaged just 9.75 turnovers a game and have some dead-eye shooters on their roster. Their Achilles heel this season has been injuries and it will be interesting to see how they fare in a best of five.
Barcelona could find themselves under more pressure as they are expected to win this series. But they will be in for a battle. Saying that though, the Catalan side have enjoyed playing against Turkish opposition this season, they are 6-1 and have played exciting basketball against them. Turkish sides are generally not known for their defence, but Galatasaray will make life difficult for them as much as possible.
It’s taken a while for Barca to get going this season. A star-studded line-up of signings including Maciej Lampe, Kostas Papanikolaou and Bostjan Nachbar to name a few and stars like Juan Carlos Navarro, Ante Tomic and Marcelinho Huertas were all expected to blitz the competition with ease. Unfortunately though, it hasn’t turned out that way for them. A loss at Fenerbahce followed by a stunning defeat to Nanterre on home ground dropped them to a 1-2 start in the regular season and domestically, things didn’t get off to the greatest of starts. Barca went 6-3 in their first nine games as they trailed Real Madrid and Valencia early and haven’t recovered from that since.
Barca have turned it around in the Euroleague though. They advanced to the Top 16 then stormed to the last eight by winning their first 12 games. Barcelona look like they have found that chemistry and skill-set that fans wanted to see at the beginning. They have what many people think is the best draw. Galatasaray have nothing to lose here, and everything to gain.
Real Madrid vs Olympiacos
A rematch of the 2013 Euroleague final and a chance for Real Madrid to get some revenge after being outplayed in the final quarter of their fateful night at the O2 Arena in London. Both sides finished the regular season a perfect 10-0 but Real Madrid have been by far the most impressive side this Euroleague season.
The firepower of Rudy Fernandez, who can score 20+ points on any given night, point guard Sergio Rodriguez, who is playing sublime basketball, maybe possibly some of the best in his career so far with Nicola Mirotic putting some big numbers across the stat line. The list of offensive threats though doesn’t stop there either – it’s a who’s who of offensive firepower – with players in all positions able to make solid contributions.
Real have improved defensively this season, but only slightly. Real Madrid like to wear their opponents down and they love the extra pass to the open shooter. Real Madrid, like in 2013 will start as favourites and the added bonus is, they get a maximum of five attempts as opposed to the one they had in London last year.
Despite Real Madrid being favourites to exact revenge, a buzzer beating three-pointer from Vassilis Spanoulis to beat bitter rivals Panathinaikos could have a bigger impact on this tie than people think. Since beginning their Top 16 campaign, Olympiacos have faced a bumpy road, en route to this moment and had to wait until the penultimate night to confirm their quarter-final place. With Spanoulis as their leader, Olympiacos will be stern opposition for the team many consider to be favourites to go one better this year and win it all.
It’s hard to say what Real Madrid’s true weakness is. But two things that Olympiacos utilized effectively last year in London was a lack of help defence along the perimeter. The Reds spread themselves around the perimeter and were able to knock down three-pointers. And when Olympiacos were down 27-10 after the first ten minutes, they became aggressive and took the game to the Liga Endesa side. Hey, what did they have to lose?
Those two stragetic options worked for Olympiacos as they went on to record a 100-88 win. The key will be to attack Real Madrid and unsettle them early. And if they don’t, the Reds will be in for a long evening.
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John Hobbs is our lead Euroleague writer and co-editor of TalkBasket. You can follow him on Twitter @johnswisshobbs
