Baskonia

Vitoria's “Baskonia” (16-14) is currently ranked 9th, but has only one more loss than the team currently in 8th place, St. Petersburg's “Zenit”. Baskonia, which started the season weakly, is becoming more dangerous as the regular season approaches the finish line – winning 7 out of the last 8 games. Probably the most memorable victory for Baskonia in these matches was achieved in Madrid, against the local Real team, which the Basques crushed by a margin of 20 points.

Baskonia also plays excellently at home – a series of 4 consecutive victories, which could have been longer if not for an unexpected loss to one of the league's outsiders, Alba. In the match against Alba, Baskonia's defense struggled significantly, leading to Alba's excellent shooting percentage and an away victory. For comparison, in the last 4 consecutive home victories, Baskonia allowed an average of ~68 points per game, while Alba won by scoring 84 points.

Olimpia Milano is one of the individually strongest teams in the EuroLeague, so to continue the winning streak at home, Baskonia will need not only good defense but also a consistent offense, often involving Lithuanians. The small forward position in the Milan team is very strong, so a large part of the team's success will depend on how Rokas Giedraitis handles defense and takes advantage of opportunities in offense.

Olimpia Milano

Olimpia Milano (19-11) is currently sharing the 3rd-4th places in the standings with Anadolu Efes, but is only one loss behind the 2nd place team, CSKA Moscow. Olimpia Milano will enter the match against Baskonia after a hopeless loss to Barcelona at home (56-72). Averaging nearly 81 points per game, the team absolutely struggled in offense against Barcelona, hitting only 2 three-pointers out of 15 attempts. Only Shavon Shields scored double-digit points, but it didn't help against the league leaders.

Essentially, this loss can be a very good impulse for the Milan team to draw conclusions and use the gained experience when playing against potentially weaker opponents. Olimpia Milano is one of the best teams in the league in terms of individual strength, as Kaunas Žalgiris also experienced – Olimpia's defense simply locked down the Žalgiris players, and Shavon Shields along with Kevin Punter simply tore apart Žalgiris' defense with difficult shots. Olimpia is still fighting for home-court advantage in the playoffs, so there's no need to elaborate on motivation and the importance of the match – the importance of the match is very high for both teams, so we will see a serious fight.

Prediction

Bookmakers did not single out a favorite in this match – equal odds are given for both teams (1.9 x 1.9). The importance of the match is high for both teams, and no information about injured players was announced, so it is likely that both teams will enter the court with full rosters. Although Baskonia has won 4 out of the last 5 matches against Olimpia and suffered only 1 loss, despite the match against Barcelona, Olimpia looks like a stronger team this season. The team should be motivated by the very poor performance against the already mentioned Barcelona, and for a team of Olimpia's caliber, 2 consecutive losses would be a big disappointment. The bet is risky, but we would give a slight advantage in this match to the Milan team.