Road to Final Four: Real Madrid
The start of the 2024 EuroLeague Final Four is just a few days away and while usually the tournaments played in this format are unpredictable, this year’s Final Four is even more balanced than usual. However, if we had to pick a favourite to win it all, it has to be Real Madrid. The Spanish team won the regular season with a 27-7 record after sitting at the top of the standings all season long (they lost their first game in Round 11, two months into the season) and was the only team that had no problems in the quarterfinals, winning the series against Baskonia in the minimum number of games.
Real won the trophy last season in Kaunas in dramatic fashion, beating Olympiacos by one point in the Final thanks to a Sergio Llull mid-range jump shot with just 3 seconds left in the game. Llull, just like some other veterans in the team like Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez are still key players coming from the bench and in general Real is the most experienced team in this Final Four. Mario Hezonja and Dzanan Musa lead the team in scoring, Facundo Campazzo dished the most assists, while Walter Tavares and Vincent Poirier are the best rebounders. Besides the experience of the players, Real has probably the longest bench in Europe as every player in the roster can make a difference.
On Friday the Blancos will play in the second semifinal in the Uber Arena in Berlin against Olympiacos, a rematch of last year’s Final. The Greeks eliminated Barcelona in the quarterfinals with a score of 3-2 after winning twice in the Palau Blaugrana. Real is a more fast-paced team that scores a lot more (89 points per game vs 78.6 by Olympiacos) however the Greeks managed to keep opponents to just 74.4 points per game, while the team from Madrid received over 81 points per game this season. Olympiacos is also better in steals, but Real is the best in the EuroLeague in rebounding, assists, blocks and free throws made.
While Real Madrid is the favourite, the team that will impose its style of basketball will have the better chance to win and there are chances that this year’s Real-Olympiacos will again be decided in the last seconds.
Imre Halasz
Image credit: EuroLeague
