Olympiacos will take on Anadolu Efes in the first of the two semi-finals of the 2022 EuroLeague Final Four.
On the one hand, the reigning champions Efes (third straight Final Four, one championship) enter the game as the favorite.
Head coach Ergin Ataman has already said his team will be the one to get the title and join an elite group of back-to-back champions, which also includes the “Reds” (2012, 2013).
On the other hand, the Piraeus team (10 Final Four appearances, 3 championships) comes back to the Final Four after 2017 and seeks to return to the European throne.
Efes had a lousy start to the regular season. Since then, though, they managed to ascent to sixth place and secure the playoff ticket.
Against Armani Milano, even though they did not have the home-court advantage they managed to close out the series in four games, securing the Final Four position early.
Vasilije Micic is the best rated player of 2021-2022 and, along with Shane Larkin, they are the most unpredictable duo in Europe.
The team has been playing together for the last four years and seem to be very well balanced on both ends.
Olympiacos, for its part, has been very stable all season long. The post Vasilis Spanoulis era began in a very promising way and the “Reds” have a very balanced team with depth, clear roles and versatility on both ends of the court.
Kostas Sloukas, Georgios Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou have multiple appearances in the Final Four and lead the team safely.
In my point of view, although Efes has the upper hand, Olympiacos will be the team to get to the Championship Game.
Olympiacos will manage to edge over Efes for two reasons. Firstly, Belgrade will be like playing at home for the “Reds”, with more than 6000 Olympiacos fans having already bought their tickets for the game.
In addition, Serbian fans are also expected to support the “Reds”, who could have as many as 10K fans in attendance.
Secondly, Olympiacos comes off a very competitive playoff series, where they had to face Monaco, a team led by James and Bacon, and managed to overcome the competition.
The gameplay of Efes looks very much alike Monaco’s one, so Olympiacos has already been prepared for such a game. In any case, both teams will give their best and we will have a very enjoyable game.
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