The battle for the postseason is heating up
Olympiacos, Virtus start a series of playoff-race clashes
Article
4 Mins read
A busy Thursday night in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague pits a winner of four games in a row, Olympiacos Piraeus (16-11), against the visiting Virtus Segafredo Bologna (17-10) at a sold-out Peace and Friendship Stadium. It’s fair to say that this is a fixture that could have big playoff implications.
After all, the two sides are a part of a six-team group that has separated itself in the standings and are battling in two simultaneous races.
The first is the race for the five remaining places that ensure direct qualification to the playoffs. We say remaining because those five teams would be joining the all-but-qualified league leader Real Madrid (22-5).
The battle for home-court advantage
But those six clubs are also battling, alongside Real, for the all-important home-court advantage in the playoffs.
Each of the next five four rounds brings one clash between the six teams in question.
FC Barcelona (18-9) is in the best position among the six clubs, but it has five of its last seven games on the road, including trips to Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (17-10) and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (16-11) in Rounds 30 and 31, the final double-round week of the season.
Panathinaikos has the toughest schedule among this group, with three games against direct playoff opponents, including road contests in Piraeus and Bologna.
Virtus, apart from that Round 32 game against Panathinaikos, also welcomes Real next week, while AS Monaco (17-10) is the outlier. Monaco is the only team that plays all of its last seven games against teams that currently do not have a winning record, and five of those contests are on its home floor.
Fenerbahce, which is two wins behind Barcelona in the standings, has one game against a direct playoff-chasing rival in the next five rounds, which is against the Greens, but it will have to travel to Piraeus in the regular-season finale.
Both Fenerbahce and Olympiacos still have four home games remaining, one more than Panathinaikos and Virtus, but one could say Olympiacos holds its destiny in its own hands given it has three more fixtures against direct rivals, all of which are on its home floor.
Olympiacos vs. Virtus
So, the unraveling of the playoff race starts tonight as Olympiacos will try to continue its historic home dominance over Virtus and get revenge for a dramatic loss in Bologna in Round 15, which was Virtus's first win over the Reds this century.
Olympiacos has won all nine of its home games against Virtus in an almost 50-year history of their head-to-head clashes, including a 117-71 thrashing last season that saw the Greek side set a club scoring record.
But the Reds will not have all of their weapons at their disposal as Thomas Walkup (9.3 ppg, 4.7 apg., 1.3 spg.), the leader of the EuroLeague's best defense (75.3 ppg.), is nursing an ankle injury and might miss the game, while center Nikola Milutinov has been sidelined after foot surgery.
Meanwhile, Virtus forward Tornike Shengelia might be out following an ankle injury in Round 27.
But both teams have lots of other weapons and experienced players. Forward Alec Peters is having a career year, averaging 14.3 points on an outstanding 55.8% three-point shooting while pulling down 5.1 rebounds, while sharpshooter Isaiah Canaan makes triples at a 45.9% rate and averages 12.4 points per night.
Look for them to lead the Reds against the visitors, who got the win in their first meeting behind 13 points from Isaia Cordinier and 12 from Marco Belinelli, while Daniel Hackett had 8 points and 6 assists.
If Virtus pulls out a win and gets a regular-season sweep, it would bring a little more clarity to the playoff race. However, if Olympiacos protects its home floor and wins, it will complicate things a little more.