Which team will find more energy tonight, PAO or F.C. Barcelona?
After the first five games full of intensity and with some interesting results, the Euroleague continues on Friday with 4 more games to conclude the Round 25. While Real Madrid took an impressive win against Fenerbahce, their big rivals Barcelona will travel to Athens and face Panathinaikos in another great encounter and worthy of a Euroleague Final.
Panathinaikos plays a great basketball on their home soil, winning 13 of last 15 matches played in O.A.K.A in all competitions. They are currently on 6th position with a 14-10 record, 3 more wins than 9th place Olympiacos. In the weekend they played in the Greek League and recorded a win over Aris with 88-81. With that win, they continue to lead the competition and to add another win difference from second-place AEK Athens. Their main contributors in the game were Ioannis Papapetrou (21 points and 6 rebounds) and DeShaun Thomas (19 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes). For this game against Barcelona, Andy Rautins and Jacob Wiley are out, while DeShaun Thomas missed some practices this week, so he won’t be 100% clear and that’s bad news for them because he is the leading scorer of the team.
This season is very good for Barcelona until now, being on top in Euroleague (3rd) and Spanish League (1st). Also, they are currently in a very good form, winning 9 of their last 10 games. The only loss came last Thursday in Spanish Cup, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by another Euroleague participant, Valencia, 78-82. That loss came as a little surprise because Barcelona already beat Valencia four times this season and everybody gives small chances for them to stop that run. But, Valencia proved once again that they have a very solid team and with a great effort and smart team plays they can beat many teams this year. Nikola Mirotic (25 points and 8 rebounds) and Victor Claver (15 points and 4 rebounds) had very good numbers, but that didn’t stop Mike Tobey and co. to go further in the Cup. Valencia stopped in the next round, where Real Madrid smashed them 91-68. The only players out for Barcelona will be Thomas Heurtel and Kevin Pangos.
In their previous meeting, with the same players being out, Barcelona won 98-86 thanks to Nikola Mirotic who ended with 23 points and 7 rebounds. The only change made by both teams compared to that game was the addition of Andrew Rautins for Panathinaikos. Can Panathinaikos display another great offensive game against Pesic’s defensive tactics? We will find out on Friday night.
Photo: Euroleague
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
