lt’s a rematch of last year’s champions game as Chus Mateo and Real Madrid battle Georgios Bartzokas and Olympiacos in the Euroleague Final Four. Who comes out on top to progress to Sunday’s title game?
Real Madrid enter the Euroleague Final Four in Berlin as defending champions. Chus Mateo is hungry to claim a 12th crown by Georgios Bartzokas and Olympiacos stand in his way.
Key details
Who: Real Madrid (30-7) vs Olympiacos (25-14)
Where: Uber Arena, Berlin
When: Friday 24 May 21.00 CET/ 20.00 (UK/Ireland)/ 15.00 EST
How they got here
Real Madrid
Regular season: 27-7 (1st)
Playoffs: 3-0 vs Baskonia
Chus Mateo and Los Blancos got off to an electric start, going 16-1 through the first half of the season. Things cooled off somewhat in the second half but their 11-6 record down the stretch was still home court advantage level form.
Any fears that they might cool off in the playoffs were put to bed in short order. Real Madrid swept Baskonia 3-0, the only series to not go the full five games, to book their place in the Euroleague Final Four.
Olympiacos
Regular season: 22-12 (5th)
Playoffs: Beat FC Barcelona 3-2
Consistency was an issue for the Reds through the first half of the Euroleague campaign. When they eventually got it together, they rallied hard and looked like they might snag home court in the postseason.
That didn’t happen but they showed no fear against a star studded FC Barcelona side. The veteran Olympiacos roster worked and grinded to punch their ticket to a third straight Euroleague Final Four.
Key battles
With the Euroleague Final Four, this discussion begins on the benches. Chus Mateo was a midseason replacement for Pablo Laso a couple of years back. Despite having only a couple of months to gel with his players, he led them to the championship game. In his first full season a year ago, he won it all.
Georgios Bartzokas won his lone Euroleague title to date with Olympiacos in London in 2013. Fun fact, that was my first Euroleague Final Four. His second spell with the Reds has seen him cement his legacy with success on all fronts. The only thing that has eluded him in this run is that second Euroleague championship.
The backcourt of Real Madrid is led by Facundo Campazzo, a wizard of a ball handler. Thomas Walkup has a big job in the one on one battle there. Up front, it’s going to be Vincent Poirier, Guerschon Yabusele, and Walter ‘Edy’ Tavares against Moustapha Fall, Nikola Militunov, and Filp Petrusev. That will…
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