Barcelona vs Olympiacos: Analysis and Prediction – Barcelona and Olympiacos will play an EuroLeague playoffs game.
Barcelona vs Olympiacos Odds
Barcelona Team News
Against all odds and despite certain challenges, Barcelona managed to finish the regular season in the fourth position with a record of 22-12. This secured them home-court advantage in the playoffs, where they have only suffered two losses in 17 games this season.
When Sarunas Jasikevicius left the helm of Barcelona before of the season and was replaced by newcomer Roger Grimau, expectations weren’t overly high. Barcelona’s last EuroLeague title was won in 2010, and since then, they’ve been in a drought. Interestingly, Grimau and Ricky Rubio, who returned to the team this season, were part of that championship-winning team. This season, only Jan Vesely and Nicolas Laprovittola have consistently shown the potential for great achievements. However, Barcelona lacks the good form of Tomas Satoransky and the intermittent performance of Alex Abrines, who often fluctuates between hot and cold. There’s also a noticeable decrease in Nikola Kalinic’s involvement since Grimau took over, despite Kalinic’s wealth of championship experience. Jabari Parker and Willy Hernangomez need to step up their game significantly to defend their home-court advantage.
Barcelona performs much better in their own arena, especially with the presence of fans, which serves as inspiration for the players. To secure a win, they need to impose a much faster pace, led by Laprovittola and Rubio. It seems they may seek an advantage in the backcourt, as they may face deficits in the paint against Olympiacos’ taller players.
Olympiacos Team News
Olympiacos, along with Anadolu Efes, faced the most injury challenges in the earlier part of the season. Despite this, they finished fifth in the table with a record of 22-12, ranking among the top three teams in away performance (9-8).
After losing Sasha Vezenkov and Kostas Sloukas, two leaders from the previous season, nobody saw Olympiacos as a significant threat. However, under the system implemented by head coach Georgios Bartzokas, they rose above expectations, utilizing a well-defined role distribution to achieve new milestones. They have the opportunity to qualify for the Final Four, where they narrowly missed the trophy in the previous seasons’ finals. The return of Nikola Milutinov, one of the top centers in Europe, has bolstered their lineup. Alec Peters is having a career-best season, while Thomas Walkup remains a strong contender for EuroLeague’s best defensive player. With the addition of Isaiah Canaan, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Nigel Williams-Goss, along with the versatility in the center positions with Moustapha Fall and Moses Wright, Olympiacos possesses the potential for significant achievements.
In this matchup, their control of rebounds and versatility in the center positions could provide them with a crucial advantage. It’s notoriously difficult to defeat Barcelona without a good three-point shooting percentage, so players like Canaan from the guard line could potentially tip the scales in their favor.
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Barcelona vs Olympiacos H2H
Absences and Injuries
Barcelona vs Olympiacos Prediction
Tip-off Time: Wednesday, 24.04.2024, 21:00 CET
Prediction: Under 157.5 points
Odds: 1.80
Sportsbook: MyBookie
*Odds are active at the time the article is published
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