Which teams will make it to the championship game?
At a glance: Final Four week has arrived!
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4 Min lectura
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four takes flight with the excitement of Friday's semifinals, where four fabulous teams will give everything to keep their title hopes alive. Here's your guide to the action.
Friday, May 23, 2025
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul vs. Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (19:00 CET)
The opening semifinal will see reigning champion Panathinaikos continue its quest for back-to-back titles, while Fenerbahce aims to stay on track for its first crown since 2017.
Both regular season games were won by the Greens, but they were very close encounters with a 76-81 road victory for Ergin Ataman's men followed by February's 91-90 thriller in Athens.
Sarunas Jasikevicius's team was the most impressive of all in the playoffs, comfortably sweeping Paris Basketball to earn a few days extra rest compared to Panathinaikos, which needed all five games to eventually overcome Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
Although the offensive prowess of regular season MVP Kendrick Nunn and four-time champion Kostas Sloukas will grab most of the pregame attention, a key to this contest could be whether Panathinaikos produces the same kind of defensive prowess that successfully stifled Efes's dangerous scorers in the playoff decider.
Dominating the boards through the likes of Juancho Hernangomez, Wenyen Gabriel and Cedi Osman will be a focus for the Greens, while Jerian Grant has a key defensive role to control the tempo.
On the other side, Fenerbahce boasts a proven game-winning shot-maker in the form of Nigel Hayes-Davis, but the Turkish team relies first and foremost on a collective ethic spearheaded by the experience of combo guards Marko Guduric and Devon Hall.
Perimeter threats Tarik Biberovic, Bonzie Colson and Nicolo Melli give Fenerbahce a strong combination of size and deep shooting, while the ability of Wade Baldwin and Errick McCollum to penetrate from the backcourt adds another dimension to a multifaceted attack.
With so many factors in the mix - including two of the game's most passionately competitive coaches in Ataman and Jasikevicius - this game has all the ingredients to become an instant classic, and anything other than another close finish would be a surprise.
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. AS Monaco (22:00 CEST)
Friday's action concludes with the renewal of a growing modern rivalry as Olympiacos takes on Monaco.
It will be the 14th meeting between the teams since 2022, including another semifinal two years ago, which was taken by Olympiacos after a historic 27-2 third quarter surge.
Mike James will lead Monaco's attempts to prevent the Greek giant's attempts to exert another defensive stranglehold. The star guard again showed his clutch mentality by scoring 20 points in Game 5 of the playoff series against Barcelona, and his backcourt partnership with the smooth scoring skills of Elie Okobo and the three-point shooting threat of Matthew Strazel will propel the Monaco offense.
A key player for Olympiacos will inevitably be effortlessly elegant forward Sasha Vezenkov, who followed a fabulous regular season by being named Playoffs MVP with averages of 19 points and 7 boards in the 3-1 series victory over Real Madrid.
But the Reds are far more than a one-man team, and the leadership of experienced guards Thomas Walkup and Nigel Williams-Goss will be crucial in the Greek team's attempts to control the tempo.
Three-point shooting excellence is guaranteed from Evan Fournier and Alec Peters, while the big man combo of Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov face a bone-shattering battle for physical dominance against Monaco pair Georgios Papagiannis and Daniel Theis.
Another intriguing duel takes place on the sidelines, where the iconic Vassilis Spanoulis makes his Final Four coaching debut against his former boss Georgios Bartzokas, who is seeking his second crown after leading a Spanoulis-inspired team to the title in 2013.
Master or apprentice? James or Vezenkov? Free-flowing offense or stifling defense? We'll find out soon which weapons will propel their team to the championship game.