Bold predictions for Rounds 24 and 25

Check out some bold predictions from EuroLeague.net staff members for Rounds 24 and 25 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Rolling the dice on Baskonia winning both

by Frank Lawlor

Just two EuroLeague teams have positive road records, Real Madrid (9-3) and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (6-5), whose head coach Dusko Ivanovic has made a career of winning away from home. Now's the time for Baskonia (12-11) to make good on that tradition in Round 24 at FC Bayern Munich and take its momentum home against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv to sweep the next-to-last double round of the season. Baskonia's previous road win came in mid-December, but up-and-down Bayern is a good target to reclaim that knack. If that happens, I expect Baskonia to gain confidence to face dangerous Maccabi even though it's likely to arrive home later than the visitors make it there from Madrid. Baskonia will have to overcome Serge Ibaka in Munich and cool off Wade Baldwin of Maccabi to make a move in the standings, but with some much-needed poise early in those games, I have a hunch that Baskonia will win both.

Valencia will overcome missing centers

by Javier Gancedo

Valencia Basket has started its double-week road trip without centers. Brandon Davies and Boubacar Toure have stayed at home, but even so, I believe Valencia will take a significant step forward this week, getting as many as two road wins. Valencia has the depth and physicality to stay competitive without Davies and Toure. Nate Reuvers has a golden opportunity to prove himself as a great three-point shooter, rebounder and shot blocker. Jaime Pradilla and Damien Inglis should see extended playing time at the 'five' position, with Victor Claver and Semi Ojeleye ready to help at power forward. Having two physical small forwards like Ojeleye and Justin Anderson definitely helps Valencia avoid getting heavily outrebounded. Valencia has enough backcourt talent to give any team trouble, and after a big road win against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, head coach Alex Mumbru's team should keep its momentum going against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and ALBA Berlin.

Olympiacos is about to get Reds hot

by Frankie Sachs

If you don't like Olympiacos Piraeus, now is the time to take a screenshot of the standings. Because the Reds are about to get Red hot! They enter the week as part of the logjam of four teams tied between eighth and 11th place. Three of their next four games are against teams in the bottom quarter of the standings. By the end of that stretch, they could have both of their dominant centers, Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov, back in uniform. Filip Petrusev is also absent for Round 24, so Luke Sikma will get a chance to prove himself with a larger role. New signing Moses Wright has a good opportunity to introduce himself to the EuroLeague, too. That duo should be strong enough to handle the challenges that ALBA Berlin and FC Bayern Munich put forth this week. And those wins will be just the start of the Reds' march up the standings.

Evans will average 25-plus points this week

by Igor Petrinovic

In case you have not noticed, Keenan Evans has gotten hot lately. The Zalgiris Kaunas point guard has scored more than 20 points in four of his last five games, with the outlier being a loss in Barcelona when he played just 24 minutes. In each of the other four games, Evans played at least 27 minutes. Only Baskonia's Markus Howard has averaged better than his 21.0 points and made more than Evans's 19 triples over the last five games. What's interesting is that four of those five games have been on the road, including his 25-point performance against Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade last week. I believe that Evans will keep it up, and even turn it up a notch in this double-round week. Zalgiris first plays host to Anadolu Efes Istanbul and then welcomes Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens to Zalgirio Arena. If Zalgiris wants to stay in the playoff hunt, it needs to win both games. In front of two sold-out crowds, Evans will play a lot of minutes, and I believe he will continue to score a lot.

Milan to pick up momentum in the double-round week

by Geoff Gillingham

Fresh off a 74-70 win against FC Barcelona, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan faces back-to-back road challenges at Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and Anadolu Efes Istanbul this week. Nonetheless, I think Ettore Messina's men will find themselves winning both and putting themselves in position to make a late charge towards – at the very least – the Play-In Showdown. The return this week of Nikola Mirotic, the 2021-22 EuroLeague MVP, is a big boost for a team that has had injury issues throughout the season. Mirotic has featured in just 11 games in his first year at Milan, but I think he will remind the EuroLeague of his quality with a couple of standout displays in Rounds 24 and 25. On top of that, Shavon Shields is playing at an All-EuroLeague level right now and the Italian side suddenly has a ton of options at the guard positions, with Shabazz Napier, Devon Hall, Rodney McGruder, Diego Flaccadori, Giordano Bortolani and another returnee from injury, Maodo Lo, all jostling for minutes. The picture suddenly looks a lot brighter if you are a Milan fan.