The final ticket for the Final Four will be taken as Barcelona and Olympiacos go head to head to conclude a series which had been very tightly contested until Game 4, when the Reds handed out Barca's heaviest-ever road defeat to tie the series and seize the momentum.
Roger Grimau, Barcelona: 'It will be an emotional game'
Seasons
3 Mins read
That 92-58 Olympiacos victory saw a sparkling performance from Shaquielle McKissic with 21 points on 8-for-11 field goal shooting, while Nikola Milutinov dominated the paint to the tune of 11 rebounds in his first full performance since returning from injury.
Two more Olympiacos big men, Moustapha Fall and Filip Petrusev, also had a strong influence on Game 4, combining for 22 points and 10 boards. Barca will look for its own centers, Jan Vesely and Willy Hernangomez, to bounce back after the Spanish team was outrebounded 47-31 on Thursday.
Barca's only double-digit scorer last time out was Jabari Parker (10), and he has been in great form throughout the series with an average of 15.0 points on 62.5% three-point shooting. For Olympiacos, a big boost has been the return of veteran leader Kostas Papanikolaou, who made 3 of his 6 attempts from long-range in his comeback appearance in Game 4 as well as offering the positive energy that will be very much needed at Palau Blaugrana on Wednesday.
Roger Grimau, Barcelona head coach
"Playing at home gives you a little bit extra, but it does not guarantee anything. We will have to do many things well, as we did in three of the previous four games in this series. On defense, especially, we will have to show that bit of intensity and that we know what to do at any given moment. We must be loyal to our style. It's hard to run against Olympiacos because they like to collapse the paint, but we must stay with the Barca philosophy. We must take advantage that the Palau will give us, but we also have to be aware of the style of our opponent, a team that punishes your every mistake. It will be an emotional game, but players are used to this kind of situation."
Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos head coach
"The previous game was decided by a huge difference, but you never know how this is going to work in view of the next game. It often motivates the opponent who feels hurt. On the other hand, we saw that should we follow a specific plan and play a good game, our ceiling is a high one and we can compete against anyone. We want to get the ticket to Berlin very much. We have the same hunger and motivation we had in the first season we advanced to the Final Four two years ago. We want it a lot and we believe it's going to be the culmination of a huge effort made this season, in regard to the many setbacks and injuries we went through. If we manage to do it, we are once again going to be a tough opponent for any other team."
Tomas Satoransky, Barcelona player
"Not many things can surprise either team anymore. The games were won by the most aggressive and physical team. In Game 3 we did fine, and for this Game 5 I expect a lot of defense. It is what tends to happen in this kind of games, which are decided by the small details. We must be solid durinng the 40 minutes, again, something that we did in Game 3."
Kostas Papanikolaou, Olympiacos player
"There's no other thought in our minds. We are ready to compete to win. Of course, Barcelona has the advantage of playing at home and they are going to have their fans by their side. But, just like I said following the previous game in the series, if you are mentally ready and powerful enough just like we were in the previous game or like have done in many road games during the second round of the competition, we have good chances at winning. It's clearly not going to be a game like the previous ones. Both teams are going to fight hard. It's going to be a close game and the details will decide who wins."