Gran Canaria slightly favourite to win the Eurocup over Turk Telekom

The Final of the 2022-23 EuroCup season will take place on Wednesday evening in the Gran Canaria Arena in Las Palmas, between Gran Canaria and Turk Telekom Ankara. The winner of this game will not only add a EuroCup trophy to their collection but will receive a spot in next season’s EuroLeague.

For Gran Canaria, it wouldn’t be the first time that they compete in Europe’s strongest competition, as they played in the 2018-19 season when they finished with an 8-22 record. Back then, they reached the EuroLeague through their presence in the semifinals of the ACB League, but this time Jaka Lakovic and his team can make history and win the first European trophy for the club founded exactly 60 years ago (the team from Canary Island played 14 EuroCup seasons in its history and the best result in the competition so far was reaching the semifinals in 2021).

After Bursaspor reached the EuroCup Final last season, only to lose against Virtus Bologna, another Turkish team will attempt to win the trophy this year. Just like in the case of Dusan Alimpijevic’s team last year, nobody expected Erdem Can and his Turk Telekom team to go this deep in the playoffs. However, they played solid basketball all season long and after finishing second in their group with a 13-5 record they managed to beat Ulm and Prometey in two close games. Besides the great results, Jerian Grant was named MVP of the EuroCup Regular Season, so it has been a perfect season so far for the team from the Turkish capital.

On most betting sites Gran Canaria is considered favourite with odds around 1.50. This is not a surprise as the Spanish team showed that it can take advantage of the home court, winning all 12 games played at home this EuroCup season. Another argument in favour of Gran Canaria is that the two teams met in the group stage and the Spanish side won both games (the previous game in Gran Canaria ended with a 10-point win for the hosts).

Imre Halasz

Photo credit: EuroLeague

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