Just one win separates the teams from a spot at the Final Four, but who will come out on top?
Barcelona vs. Olympiacos: History on the line
When two giants come head to head, excitement is guaranteed. But add in the drama of a Game 5 and it goes into overload. That is the mouth-watering prospect awaiting fans who will be tuning in to EuroLeague TV to watch FC Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus face off on Wednesday night (21:00 CEST).
This will be the 40th meeting this century between the Blaugrana and the Reds, with Barcelona having the historical edge after winning on 24 occasions to Olympiacos’s 15. However, for the first time in this matchup, a Game 5 will determine which team makes it to the 2024 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Berlin, Germany.
When Olympiacos stole Game 1 at Palau Blaugrana by coming away with a 75-77 victory, the momentum completely swung in favor of the Greek team. Not only had Georgios Bartzokas’s squad managed to overturn the home-court advantage in the first game of this best-of-five series, but they sent a statement to Barcelona that they are more than capable of winning at the Spanish team’s home, where Roger Grimau’s charges had gone a joint league-best 15-2 through the regular season.
Barcelona went away and licked its wounds ahead of Game 2 and hit back with a 77-69 win to level the series. When the action switched to the Greek city of Piraeus, a tight Game 3 went right down the wire before Jabari Parker kept his cool from the free-throw line with 0.5 seconds remaining, going 2 for 3 to give Barcelona an 80-82 triumph. Suddenly, the two-time EuroLeague champion knew it needed just one win to advance to the Final Four and eliminate Olympiacos.
But, just as Barcelona had done ahead of Game 2, Olympiacos responded to a loss on its home floor by coming out on top in Game 4. While the first three games of this series had been tight, the Reds completely wiped the floor with Barcelona in Game 4. A 17-0 first-half run making it 53-37 at halftime before they went on to win 92-58, thus securing their second-biggest playoff win of all time. Will the confidence of that victory catapult Olympiacos to a win in Game 5? Will Barcelona be able to react after being humbled? We’ll find out soon enough.
History on the line
If Olympiacos is able to pick up where it left off and win at Palau Blaugrana in Game 5, it would do something that no team has ever done – win on the road in a Game 5 situation. To date, home teams have gone 19-0 in Game 5s since the playoffs became best-of-five quarterfinals in 2009. By the time Olympiacos play, that could be 20-0 if AS Monaco manages to defeat Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.
That’s not the only piece of history Olympiacos is looking to overcome. Never before have the Reds made it to three Final Fours in a row, so there is also that hurdle to overcome. The Greek giants have reached European basketball’s showpiece event in each of the last two years, having also done so on two prior occasions this century – in 2009 and 2010, then in 2012 and 2013. Coach Bartzokas and his players therefore have the chance to knock off two demons in one go with a win on Wednesday night.
Curiously, a similar situation faces Barcelona. The Spanish club in the midst of a three-year run of playing at the Final Four, something it had only done once before this century – the three-year stretch between 2012 and 2014. As such, Barcelona can do something that it has never done in its history by appearing at a fourth straight Final Four. History is on the side of Coach Grimau’s men, given how Game 5s have always gone until now, and the fans inside Palau Blaugrana will be doing their all as the sixth man to push their team over the line.
Olympiacos does have the edge over Barcelona in Game 5 contests, going 4-1 all time compared to the Spanish team’s 4-2 mark, which includes a Game 5 triumph over Fenerbahce last year to advance to the Final Four. Yet, in a game that is incredibly hard to call, anything could happen. Make sure to tune in to EuroLeague TV to watch the action unfold.