Barcelona
Euroleague regular season winner Barcelona is not looking as confident in the play-offs as many basketball experts and fans had hoped. Zenit struggled both at home and away, bringing the series to 5 games. In the decisive game, Barcelona played as expected - confidently and without any major mistakes, leading to a 26-point victory.
In the game against Olimpia Milano, we saw both sides of Barcelona. This time, Barca, who started the game well, seemed to fall asleep in the third quarter, only to wake up in the final quarter and narrowly avoid a fiasco. It is fair to say that the team's most expensive player, N. Mirotic, had his first good game in the playoffs, scoring 21 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. C. Higgins, who made the decisive shot, and P. Gasol, who had a great start and scored 10 points in 11 minutes, also shone for the team.
Barcelona has not won against Anadolu Efes this season, although both games were very hard-fought. In both games, Anadolu Efes was led by the defensive duo of Micic and Larkin, who combined to score 40+ points. Stopping this duo will be one of Barcelona's main challenges on Sunday to win the Euroleague trophy.
Anadolu Efes
Anadolu Efes' play raised a lot of questions at the beginning of the season, but those questions were answered during the season. Unlike Barcelona, Anadolu Efes looked the better team in the first playoff series against Real Madrid in all 5 games, but after dominating at home, they relaxed considerably, and in the third game, which was supposed to close the series, Efes lost the 4th game by as much as 14 points, allowing Real to get back in the series.
The same story continued in the 4th meeting between the two teams, with Real winning the 4th period by 15 points after trailing by 9 points after 3 periods. After taking the initiative, Real clung on to the victory in the deciding game of the series, where the teams played point-to-point until the middle of the 4th quarter, and only at the very end did Efes manage to pull out the win. The whole series was one big attraction and the uncertainty carried over to the Final Four.
Anadolu Efes, who had won by 16 points against CSKA Moscow after three periods, decided to relax and at one point in the fourth period had a one-point lead, allowing CSKA to make a shot that could have been crucial, but unfortunately Clyburn missed it. At one moment Efes looks like the best team in the Euroleague, simply sweeping their opponents with an impressive offensive attack, but in the very next period we see that the lead that they have built up over 3 periods can be squandered in just a few minutes, and that if they fall asleep against Barcelona, they may not be able to pull out a win.
Forecast
We have a very interesting basketball spectacle ahead of us, and it is very difficult to predict the winner. Both teams have a lot of pluses and a few minuses, so the team that takes advantage of the opponents' mistakes and plays with more confidence will win. The bookmakers have Anadolu Efes as the favourite, but after the circus and being within one shot of being eliminated with a 16-point lead after 3 trips, this does not seem so certain. The match is at least 50/50, maybe even slightly in Barcelona's favour, so giving 2+ odds for a Barca win has value.
Barcelona, 2 kof., betsafe
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