Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and Monaco can reach the Final Four with a win
Game Center, Game 4: Olympiacos beats Real Madrid to seal Final Four spot
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Thursday, May 1
Real Madrid 84-86 Olympiacos Piraeus
Olympiacos has secured its fourth straight passage to the EuroLeague Final Four after beating Real Madrid 84-86 at Movistar Arena on Thursday night. Evan Fournier led all scorers with 23 points and Kostas Papanikolaou recorded 12, of which 9 came on three huge three-pointers early in the fourth quarter. Sasha Vezenkov and Nigel Williams-Goss netted 10 each. Mario Hezonja paced Real Madrid with 21 points, Mario Hezonja had 12 and Sergio Llull bagged 11.
Friday, May 2
Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (19:30 CEST)
After relinquishing home-court advantage with a narrow loss on Wednesday, Anadolu Efes Istanbul needs to bounce straight back against reigning champ Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.
It was inevitable that Kendrick Nunn would recover from a slow start to the series at some stage, and the season MVP proved decisive in Game 3 with 25 points. So Efes will focus its defensive efforts on attempting to prevent Nunn from staying hot, but the Greens will feel that it also possesses plenty more weapons which are waiting to spring into life – just as the previously quiet Konstantinos Mitoglou did on Wednesday with 18 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting.
Against such a potent opponent – Panathinaikos ranks second in the league in scoring with 87.8 points – Efes knows it will have to improve its offensive output from the 77 points mustered last time out. The hosts definitely needs big man Vincent Poirier to overcome an injury which restricted him to just 2 points and 3 rebounds in Wednesday’s loss, although Dan Oturu stepped up with his best game of the series and could have to reach those standards again.
As always, though, the key player for Efes will be Shane Larkin. The star guard has averaged nearly 33 minutes on the floor during the series and delivered well with 18.0 points and 4.3 assists. If Panathinaikos can slow down Larkin, a ticket to Abu Dhabi will be within reach.
FC Barcelona vs. AS Monaco (20:45 CEST)
This week’s action concludes with FC Barcelona seeking another home win to keep the series alive against AS Monaco.
Joan Penarroya’s team delivered a determined performance on Wednesday to seal a high-scoring victory, with the key role played by backup big man Willy Hernangomez as he recorded 19 points and 10 rebounds.
With Jan Vesely’s status uncertain, that kind of presence from Hernangomez will again be crucial for the Blaugrana, while visiting coach Vassilis Spanoulis will hope that his own centers Mam Jaiteh and Daniel Theis will offer better protection of their backboard after allowing Barca to claim 14 crucial offensive rebounds in Game 3.
Another statistic to concern Spanoulis is the fact that his team failed to snare a single steal in Game 3, and visiting backcourt stars Mike James and Elie Okobo will look to recover their usual defensive intensity to complement their ever-present offensive threat.
Having scored 89 points in defeat on Tuesday (led by James with 20 points and Okobo with 19), Monaco will not particularly concerned by its offense, which has performed with fluidity and efficiency throughout the series.
Instead, the key to the game is likely whether the visitors can stop Barca’s key scorers Kevin Punter, Jabari Parker and Dario Brizuela – who all scored in double figures in Game 3 – from forcing a series decider next week.