Euroleague Quarter Finals

EuroFan · Post #1 » by **EuroFan** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 12:46 am

OK, let's start fresh and from scratch, avoiding ANY off-topic discussion.

Olympiacos-Real Madrid

Olympiacos managed to win last night although Real Madrid had a 27-1 run at some point of the game and Bouroussis close to non-existent. If Real Madrid couldn't win last night, they will never win, at least not in SEF anyway.

Prediction: Olympiacos win.

Barcelona-TAU

Barcelona is just hopeless against TAU. They are now 7-0 in the last games. Barcelona played four overtimes away 2 days before they hosted TAU. Not very smart, to say the least. TAU will take advantage with their run n gun style of play.

Prediction: TAU wins and goes for a 3-0 sweep next week.

Panathinaikos-Siena

Panathinaikos beat Siena missing their best player, Dimitris Diamantidis. And it showed as there was a huge gap in their perimetre defense where McIntyre and Sato dominated PAO's guards. Regardless PAO managed to win using their massive front line of Pekovic-Batiste-Fotsis. Siena's game is based on three points too much for this level.

Prediction: Panathinaikos win

CSKA-Partizan

I will be surprised if Partizan scores more than 55 points. They lack the depth to fight against CSKA. They already won once in Moscow this season, they won't do it again.

Prediction: CSKA win

Apollo64 · Post #2 » by **Apollo64** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:35 am

Diamantidis is expected to play today.

Undrafted Rook · Post #3 » by **Undrafted Rook** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:13 pm

That Greer-Pargo backcourt might still cause trouble for OLY though, they're going to need Papaloukas to play near that level through the series. I think Madrid still has a change if they can clutter the Pick and Roll -offense again today, if they can pull out a win tonight I think we'll see an upset here.

Apollo64 · Post #4 » by **Apollo64** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:35 am

I think Olympiacos matches up against Real very well and it would be a big surprise to see an upset here. In fact, i expect the series to end at 3-1 or even 3-0 and not go to a fifth game.

I expect a sweep from CSKA next week and a very low scoring game.

Siena beating Panathinaikos was not a surprise for me, they were due for a win in OAKA. I've said before that PAO is actually playing below average this year given the quality of players in the roster and, while this may sound like sacrilege, the fault lies squarely on Obradovic for mismanaging the squad. PAO can win a game in Italy, but honestly whichever team goes through this bracket has close to zero chances of winning the whole thing.

Also, i don't think that CSKA's supremacy can be disputed at this point, they are the team to beat and a big favourite to win the Euroleague again.

EuroFan · Post #5 » by **EuroFan** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:47 am

Oh well as long as Obradovic trusts Spanoulis to run the point when he has Diamantidis and Jasikevicius that are far better in doing that, PAO will be underachieving forever.

Simple as that.

Toxicity · Post #6 » by **Toxicity** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:53 am

What a game by Siena... what a game... despite all (crowd, refs, gap, etc)...

KWSN-Men · Post #7 » by **KWSN-Men** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:53 am

EuroFan wrote:Oh well as long as Obradovic trusts Spanoulis to run the point when he has Diamantidis and Jasikevicius that are far better in doing that, PAO will be underachieving forever.

Simple as that.

Which makes perfect sense considering that Spanoulis is a far better point guard and much more skilled and talented player than either the washed up Jasikevicius or the totally one dimensional Diamantidis. :roll:

KWSN-Men · Post #8 » by **KWSN-Men** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:56 am

Toxicity wrote:What a game by Siena... what a game... despite all (crowd, refs, gap, etc)...

McIntyre is my pick for league MVP as things stand right now. Siena is a great team but I don't think that series is over at all yet.

KWSN-Men · Post #9 » by **KWSN-Men** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:56 am

Apollo64 wrote:I think Olympiacos matches up against Real very well and it would be a big surprise to see an upset here. In fact, i expect the series to end at 3-1 or even 3-0 and not go to a fifth game.

I expect a sweep from CSKA next week and a very low scoring game.

Siena beating Panathinaikos was not a surprise for me, they were due for a win in OAKA. I've said before that PAO is actually playing below average this year given the quality of players in the roster and, while this may sound like sacrilege, the fault lies squarely on Obradovic for mismanaging the squad. PAO can win a game in Italy, but honestly whichever team goes through this bracket has close to zero chances of winning the whole thing.

Also, i don't think that CSKA's supremacy can be disputed at this point, they are the team to beat and a big favourite to win the Euroleague again.

I agree about Obradovic. His game management was really poor. I actually think CSKA will have a hard time in Belgrade though.

KWSN-Men · Post #10 » by **KWSN-Men** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:58 am

Apollo64 wrote:Diamantidis is expected to play today.

It would have been much better for PAO if he had sat out.

Post #11 » by **jman3134** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:45 am

talkbasket wrote:
EuroFan wrote:Oh well as long as Obradovic trusts Spanoulis to run the point when he has Diamantidis and Jasikevicius that are far better in doing that, PAO will be underachieving forever.

Simple as that.

Which makes perfect sense considering that Spanoulis is a far better point guard and much more skilled and talented player than either the washed up Jasikevicius or the totally one dimensional Diamantidis.

Please stop trying to bait him.

KWSN-Men · Post #12 » by **KWSN-Men** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:54 am

jman3134 wrote:
talkbasket wrote:
EuroFan wrote:Oh well as long as Obradovic trusts Spanoulis to run the point when he has Diamantidis and Jasikevicius that are far better in doing that, PAO will be underachieving forever.

Simple as that.

Which makes perfect sense considering that Spanoulis is a far better point guard and much more skilled and talented player than either the washed up Jasikevicius or the totally one dimensional Diamantidis.

Please stop trying to bait him.

Diamantidis and Jasikevicius played absolutely HORRIBLE games. Spanoulis had an above average game. So he was actually baiting. If you don't believe it please check the game video and the box score.

Ironballs · Post #13 » by **Ironballs** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:39 pm

i have both games of panathinaikos in rapidshare..i dont know if i am allowed to post it

anyone who wants them sent me a pm

Joana · Post #14 » by **Joana** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:43 pm

No surprises for me so far.

Partizan trying to score on CSKA is painful to watch. Things will change in Belgrade, but I can see the moscovites winning one of the games. I still feel CSKA is the team to beat.

Real Madrid is apparently done and Olympiacos is clearly the better team. However, they're good enough to win the next two games and who knows what can happen in a 5th - teams like Madrid are always unpredictable. Btw, Pargo is absolutely clueless.

Lavrinovic's return helped Siena to even things, they're a different team with him. They played awesome basketball in the 2nd half, that team proved to be though as nails. Like others, I also blame Obradovic. Although I'm very far from being a fan from a selfish hog like Spanoulis, yesterday it was DD who hurt them more. But, essentially, why has he left Pekovic sitting on the bench for so long, wheb he's such a difficult matchup for Siena?! Batiste wasn't even playing well. When Pekovic returned to the game, he was completely frozen and Siena already had all the momentum. Truly puzzling decision. Anyway, in spite of the mistakes committed by the Greeks, it's more important to stress the merit of the Italians. Especially McIntyre (criminally underrated, PAO has to stop him in order to have a chance to win this) and Stonerook (very, very good defence).

TAU stopped playing by the start of the 2nd half when things started going wrong. Very disappointing. They must kill the series in Vitoria.

Undrafted Rook · Post #15 » by **Undrafted Rook** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:10 am

Well, Greer certainly stepped up his play. Real Madrid plays lackluster, but Olympiacos isn't all that great right now either. If CSKA plays strong in Belgrade too they'll be clear favourite's going into Final Four.

Joana · Post #16 » by **Joana** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:12 pm

Tau Ceramica (2) vs. Regal Barcelona (1) 69-62

Real Madrid (1) vs. Olympiacos (2) 71-63

Montepaschi Siena (1) vs. Panathinaikos (2) 53-72

Partizan (0) vs. CSKA Moscow (3) 56-67

CSKA is the first team to clinch a Final 4 spot. Partizan scored 46, 50 and 56 points in each of the three games. Anyway, it was a great year for them, congrats to Coach Vujošević. Oh, and the views of the crowd were amazing. Big win for Panathinaikos at Mens Sana, where Siena struggled with the shooting (when McIntyre and Lavrinovic are off, they're a fairly vulgar team, they needed another quality big). Oh, and Siena was undefeated for 57 consecutive home games till tonight.

Real is now only 1 behind Olympiacos (I'm going to give a pass to Childress, he is what he is, but how much are they paying Pargo?? What a waste of money.) As I've always said, I wouldn't be surprised to see this series go to 5 games. Tau with a solid win over Barcelona.

KWSN-Men · Post #17 » by **KWSN-Men** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:24 pm

Joana wrote:(I'm going to give a pass to Childress, he is what he is, but how much are they paying Pargo?? What a waste of money.)

It's something like 5 million euros net to Josh Childress and Jannero Pargo is around 2.55 million euros net (although part of that is in the year with Dynamo) but that's his salary anyway. They are the most overpaid players in Europe along with Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbajosa, and Sarunas Jasikevicius. All of those guys are ridiculously overpaid IMHO.

However, Arvydas Macijauskas takes the prize probably.

Post #18 » by **jman3134** » Wed Apr 1, 2009 5:54 am

^ Please check your Pms and email me when you get the chance.

KWSN-Men · Post #19 » by **KWSN-Men** » Thu Apr 2, 2009 4:38 am

jman3134 wrote:^ Please check your Pms and email me when you get the chance.

How can I email you without knowing your email address?

Apollo64 · Post #20 » by **Apollo64** » Thu Apr 2, 2009 9:33 pm

So, we are going to have a CSKA-Panathinaikos final, with CSKA having the slight edge to win

Panathinaikos has made a statement by beating Siena twice in their homecourt in a very dominant fashion. They clearly disrespected them in the first two games in Athens, once they got serious, they showed who was the better team and shut some mouths. Also, McIntyre: the guy should be in the NBA, best player of the quarter finals.