Now that the schedule for the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season has been unveiled, EuroLeague.net's staff is eyeing all the mouth-watering action.
Games I am looking forward to in March
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3 Mins read
Here are the games staff members are most excited about in March. They already selected their must-see games for Round 1, October, November, December, January and February.
Round 28: A new derby that is capable of fireworks
Geoff Gillingham
In what could be the beginnings of a budding rivalry, Paris Basketball takes on AS Monaco in early March. They are France’s two most aspirational clubs and met in last year’s French League Finals, with Monaco coming out on top 3-1. Monaco has been an example to follow after winning the BKT EuroCup in the 2020-21 season and going on to make the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs in each of its three seasons in the competition.
Should Paris achieve a similar level of success, this matchup could easily become France’s answer to El Clásico, the Derby d’Italia or the Eternal Derby. Looking more short term, it is always a lot of fun to see Paris’s TJ Shorts and Monaco’s Mike James face off – last season’s EuroCup MVP and EuroLeague MVP, respectively – while Paris’s Nadir Hifi and Monaco’s Elie Okobo are both capable of putting on a show, too. This Round 28 contest should be a lot of fun.
Round 28: A championship game rematch in Athens
Frankie Sachs
Whenever the last two champions meet, it is always interesting. And when it’s a rematch of the previous year’s championship game, all the more so. Add to that the fact that both Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and Real Madrid have kept the cores of their teams together with strategic additions and it’s even spicier. In Round 28, with just one month remaining in the regular season and the top teams jockeying for position and home-court advantage in the playoffs… We have some must-see basketball on our hands.
Los Blancos are 7-1 in their last eight trips to OAKA, so you can count on the Greens faithful to create a wild atmosphere to change that trend. That said, will Real’s veteran roster be intimidated? Probably not, which for me solidifies this game as appointment viewing.
Round 29: A pivotal derby in Greece
Javier Gancedo
This is a must-watch game: Olympiacos Piraeus hosts Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens on March 14, 2025. After this game, there will be just five regular season games to be played, and that should be enough reason to set your alarm clock, clear your agenda and find a way to watch TV (on EuroLeague TV, preferably).
Kostas Sloukas returns to the Peace and Friendship Stadum for the first time in a EuroLeague game since winning the championship last season. He won EuroLeague crowns with the Reds in 2012 and 2013. Ioannis Papapetrou also played a couple of championship games with Olympiacos in 2015 and 2017. Luca Vildoza played for Panathinaikos last season and is wearing the red jersey now. Two of the best centers in the competition, Mathias Lessort of Panathinaikos and Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos, are set to go against each other. Masterminds? You have Georgios Bartzokas on one side of the court and Ergin Ataman on the other. Fans? Believe me, the arena will be packed and the whole country will be watching.
James, Calathes visit the Reds
Igor Petrinovic
Despite never meeting before November 2021, the games between Olympiacos and Monaco have quickly become EuroLeague's modern day rivalry. That's in great part thanks to their five-game playoff series in 2022 which Olympiacos won in a memorable Piraeus atmosphere. Then came their Final Four semifinals clash in Kaunas in 2023, when Olympiacos erased a 12-point halftime deficit, allowing just 2 third-quarter points. Over the past three seasons, Olympiacos and Monaco have each won six of their 12 head-to-head games, but meeting in such important games in a short period of time is what will catapult a rivalry into the sphere of derbies, and among the most anticipated duels each season. But so will the teams' ambitions.
Olympiacos and Monaco are perennial EuroLeague contenders, both because of their roster constructions and on-court performances. Then there is also something about the reigning EuroLeague MVP and the EuroLeague all-time leading scorer Mike James playing against a club that is responsible for depriving him of winning the EuroLeague crown – twice. And now, James has former Panathinaikos stars Nick Calathes and Georgios Papagiannis alongside him in Monaco uniforms. With the playoff and home-court places usually not decided until April, a collision between these two teams in Round 32, in Piraeus, with the playoff races peaking, is one I am looking forward to in the month of March.