The fitting finale to an already excellent course in the regular season of the EuroLeague wants to write o Olympic. On Maundy Thursday (21:00, Novasports Prime, News Bulletin 247 and sport-fm.gr) welcomes the Baskonia in SEF with the goal of finishing first in the regular season, something that no other Greek team has ever achieved.
The “red and white” will line up complete and with the sole aim of victory, which will keep them on top regardless of other results. In the event of a defeat, Olympiacos can still be top, but for that Real will need to lose to Maccabi in the game that is being played almost simultaneously in Tel Aviv (21:05).
On the other side, Baskonia is coming for the “final” in Faliro. The Basques only want a win, since otherwise they will beg for Zalgiris to lose in Munich to an indifferent Bayern on Good Friday (21:30). In fact, Joan Peñaroja’s team with a win could finish from eighth to fifth, in an extreme scenario. Out of the fight is only the (long time) suspended due to a doping violation Pieria Henry. However, this has not cost Baskonia, where it is pioneer in ACB (22-4), ahead of Real and Barcelona (21-5).
An ally of Olympiakos is tradition, as he has 27 wins in 45 games against Baskonia. At the same time, they have won 2/3 of the games as a home team, with the last home loss this season 2020/21 with 90-76. In total, they count three consecutive victories, two of them in SEF, while this year they passed with 97-92 from Vitoria.
The referees of the match will be Sreten Radovic (Croatia), Gitis Vilius (Lithuania) and Sefi Shemes (Israel).
The scenarios for the opponent
The team of Giorgos Bartzokas cannot finish below second placetherefore expects to compete as first with the eighth seed or as second with the seventh seed in the playoffs. If Olympiacos is first, then they will definitely avoid Partizan, which under no circumstances can finish eighth. Maccabi, Fenerbahce, Baskonia and Zalgiris will be, in this case, his potential opponents in the playoffs. If Olympiacos is second, then Partizan is added to the above four potential opponents.
Overall there are 32 different scenarios for ranking in positions 5-9. In four of them Fenerbahce is ninth and out of the playoffs, in twenty Zalgiris and in eight Baskonia. The only one not holding luck in their hands is Zalgiris, who are hoping for a defeat of Baskonia or Fenerbahçe on Maundy Thursday in order to win this Maundy Friday in Munich and qualify.
At double ties, Fenerbahce is ahead of Maccabi and Partizan and behind Baskonia and Zalgiris. Maccabi are ahead of Zalgiris and Partizan and behind Fenerbahçe and Baskonia. Partizan are ahead of Zalgiris and Baskonia, but behind against Fener and Maccabi. Baskonia is ahead of Fener, Maccabi and Zalgiris and behind Partizan. Zalgiris is ahead of Fenerbahçe and behind Maccabi, Partizan and Baskonia. In a three-way, four-way or five-way tie, only Fener and Zalgiris are in danger.
See here all the possible ties (source lost gps):
And here are all 32 combinations for 5th to 9th position in #EuroLeague .
First image the 16 combinations with Partizan win.
Second image the 16 combinations with Partizan loss. https://t.co/IewBSkO0We pic.twitter.com/WYPc97RxgK— lost gps (@lostgps) April 8, 2023
The last match in detail:
M. Thursday 13/4
Alba Berlin-Willerban 20:00
Red Star-Fenerbahce 20:00
Olympiacos-Baskonia 21:00
Maccabi Tel Aviv-Real Madrid 21:05
Virtus Bologna-Armani Milan 21:45
M. Friday 14/4
Anatolou Efes-Monaco 20:30
Bayern Munich-Zalgiris Kaunas 21:30
Partizan-Panathinaikos 21:30
Barcelona-Valencia 21:30
Source: Sport Fm
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