The first finalist at the 2022 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four will come from the clash between Olympiacos Piraeus and Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Here’s a look at how these teams match up.
Semifinals matchups: Olympiacos vs. Efes
Backcourt
Olympiacos and Efes rely very heavily on their guards, though the teams’ perimeter attacks are quite different. Defensive ace Thomas Walkup and Tyler Dorsey are the Reds’ starters, while veteran and three-time champ Kostas Sloukas can be counted on to lead the team down the stretch. The Efes tandem of All-EuroLeague guards Shane Larkin and Vasilije Micic is among the best in the league and Rodrigue Beaubois is another offensive dynamo.
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Frontcourt
Sasha Vezenkov has enjoyed his finest season to date leading to an All-EuroLeague First Team selection. The power forward is complimented nicely by 2.18-meter force Moustapha Fall at center. Adrien Moerman and Chris Singleton have the inside-outside skills to match up with Vezenkov, while Tibor Pleiss and Bryant Dunston power the champs in the paint.
Bench
In addition to Sloukas, energetic swingman Shaquielle McKissic and the imposing big man Hassan Martin are game-changers off the bench for Olympiacos. Twelve different players have started for Efes so far this season; Elijah Bryant and James Anderson on the perimeter and Dunston and Singleton inside are players to keep an eye on for Efes.
Coaches
The two head coaches both boast experience, winning spirit and the respect of their players. Olympiacos’s Georgios Printezis led the Reds to EuroLeague glory in 2013 and was awarded the Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy that season. Coach Ergin Ataman of Efes won that same trophy last season after guiding Efes to its maiden continental championship. These two master tacticians will have plenty to say about how this game goes down.