At Piece and Friendship Stadium, Olympiacos (18-9) welcomes Barcelona (21-5). The “Reds” are the only team playing with motivation tonight. They are looking to extend their home dominance (12-1) in front of a sold-out crowd.
Should they win, they finish third on the table, no matter what Armani Milano’s result will be against ASVEL Villeurbanne next week. Olympiacos could end up being in second place, if Real Madrid loses to Bayern Munich next week.
In form Moustapha Fall (averaging 8.7 points and 5.1 rebounds) and Kostas Sloukas (averaging 11.4 points and 5.1 assists) will be out due to illness. Star guard Tyler Dorsey (averaging 13.6 points) may also miss this game due to illness.
Head coach Georgios Bartzokas told reporters that “even right now, I don’t know who’s going to be available to play. Regardless though, we are going to fight to win.” He also spoke a lot about fans’ support, as this will be the first game of the season with no Covid-19 regulations.
On the other hand, Barcelona has already secured the first place in the standings. Sarunas Jasikevicius’ guys are focusing on the playoffs and want to find out their opponent in the postseason. Brandon Davies (averaging 10.1 points and 3.2 rebounds) will be unavailable for tonight’s game.
Nevertheless, the “Blaugrana” are the most consistent team this season (21-5) and will fight for another victory.
They have won the last four out of five games against Olympiacos. The last one took place in Spain in October (79-78 in OT), with Nicola Mirotic scoring 22 points. Tonight’s game is hard to predict, especially with Fall and Sloukas out and Dorsey being questionable.
My first prediction is the safe handicap +5.5 for Barcelona (odds at 1.55). Second pick is that Olympiacos star forward Sasha Vezenkov will score more than 15 points (odds at 1.60).
He has done so remarkably over the last ten games. I also consider that the Bulgarian forward will be the top scorer of the game, passing the likes of Nikola Mirotic (odds at 3.25).
Safe bets
Barcelona +5.5 (1.55)
Sasha Vezenkov over 14.5 points (1.60)
Value bet
Sasha Vezenkov top scorer (3.25)
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