EL2022/23 - The Playoffs

[Levenspiel2]

EL2022-23 Playoffs

We have the match-up set:

Olympiakos (1) - Fenerbahce (8)
Barcelona (2) - Zalgiris (7)
Real Madrid (3) - Partizan (6)
Monaco (4) - Maccabi (5)

 

[maccabeo2]

biggest question of the year, why efes is not here and cant fight for the third title in a row, being best el team,imo. anyway partizan have one chance with real madrid. i never saw worse madrid in long years. also, they are 10th as 3p attempts! impressive stat for real madrid. something so far from their tradition.
monaco-mta is a 50-50 . both teams have the same problem: their presumed star. james and baldwin will make disaster for their team so they'll not be a factor. mta has brown , monaco has home court adv. so 50-50.
as usual Brtzokas showed to be one of three best eu coaches, but i'd always pay attemption to fener
id say oly 65%, barca (despite saras) 99%, real 60%, mta51%

 

[ronmercer802]

I don't understand the poll.

 

[tonia2]

I don't understand the poll.

I guess it is a way to vote the teams we think that they will reach F4. In this occasion we just vote the teams with court disadvantage we believe that they will proceed.

 

[Levenspiel2]

I don't understand the poll.

Apologies, I was testing something but the forum does not react the way it should.

That poll's been removed and a new poll has now been added, with a question this time . let's see if it works.

 

[Levenspiel2]

Which lower-seeded team(s) do you think can make an upset?
> multiple-choice allowed.

 

[ronmercer802]

Ok, now everything is clear.

Monaco-Maccabi any result won't be a surprise. So I will add something else. Barcelona objectively seems unbeatable considering the home advantage.

 

[Levenspiel2]

Ok, now everything is clear.

Monaco-Maccabi any result won't be a surprise. So I will add something else. Barcelona objectively seems unbeatable considering the home advantage.

yeah, Maccabi is actually the favorite. but the HCA is with Monaco, and that was an issue for Maccabi in the first part of the season.

 

[vivo2]

biggest question of the year, why efes is not here and cant fight for the third title in a row, being best el team,imo.

Because they were not the best EL team this year

I believe that Fener will either lose 3-0 or win 3-2. We MUST win a game over there to have a chance imo. And I wouldn't count us out, that's what people did in Pana - Fener series where we had injuries towards the end of the regular season and they had the home court advantage. Of course we don't have Zeljko and Bogdan this time... But who knows

I think Barca wins this 3-1 or 3-2, talent difference is too much

I have high hopes for Zeljko and Partizan - I think they will go 3-2 in a great series against Madrid.

Monaco, lol. I think Maccabi takes it 3-1 or possibly even 3-2

 

[Serbian_Layup2]

Real hasn't been convincing but I still think they will edge Partizan in a close series. If Partizan keeps this core of players and improve their roster with one or two solid players, with expected growth of domestic role players, they are going to be really good and one of top contenders to win it all. The key for them next season is to finish in top 4 and have home court advantage because there will be basically no chance for anyone to steal the game in front of 20 000 Partizan fans.

By the way, Obradović has a record of 20 wins in playoff series and only 1 loss. His attention to details is ridiculous and probably unparalleled in the last 30 years. He neutralized Tavares in Belgrade by using Smailagić in a lot of P&P sets drawing him on the perimeter and attacking him on closeouts. Getting Tavares out of his comfort zone and make him move constantly on defense is the best chance to win against Real.

 

[ronmercer802]

Maccabi-Monaco would have been 90% Maccabi, but now it is a different thing. Monaco is difficult to beat at home, their crowd is really a warm one and in the second part of the season they defend better especially close to the paint area.

I am happy that one of the two will play the final 4. I added Fener as a possible surprise, Oly is the favourite team but both coaches know very well their opponent, the games will be tactically very interesting.

 

[MikeMaccabiFan2]

Real hasn't been convincing but I still think they will edge Partizan in a close series. If Partizan keeps this core of players and improve their roster with one or two solid players, with expected growth of domestic role players, they are going to be really good and one of top contenders to win it all. The key for them next season is to finish in top 4 and have home court advantage because there will be basically no chance for anyone to steal the game in front of 20 000 Partizan fans.

By the way, Obradović has a record of 20 wins in playoff series and only 1 loss. His attention to details is ridiculous and probably unparalleled in the last 30 years. He neutralized Tavares in Belgrade by using Smailagić in a lot of P&P sets drawing him on the perimeter and attacking him on closeouts. Getting Tavares out of his comfort zone and make him move constantly on defense is the best chance to win against Real.

Will Real miss Poirier? That is a big question. If he was playing in TA, I don't know if we could win. BTW Maccabi did very good job on Tavares, and after he was fouled out it was much more easier for Maccabi bigs.
As for Monaco, I don't know, it is all open. Meanwhile I see some psychological warfare from French side - interviews from some obscure French NT center and also Kyle Hines saying that Monaco will easily win... If Maccabi comes in full roster and same form as we had in last two months, we can give a good fight. Poythress is back, looks like Kattash tries to (finally) construct some plays for Hilliard (can be X-factor), and hopefully small ankle injuries won't prevent Brown and Colson from playing. As I said, everything is open.

 

[Killer Bob2]

Real hasn't been convincing but I still think they will edge Partizan in a close series. If Partizan keeps this core of players and improve their roster with one or two solid players, with expected growth of domestic role players, they are going to be really good and one of top contenders to win it all. The key for them next season is to finish in top 4 and have home court advantage because there will be basically no chance for anyone to steal the game in front of 20 000 Partizan fans.

By the way, Obradović has a record of 20 wins in playoff series and only 1 loss. His attention to details is ridiculous and probably unparalleled in the last 30 years. He neutralized Tavares in Belgrade by using Smailagić in a lot of P&P sets drawing him on the perimeter and attacking him on closeouts. Getting Tavares out of his comfort zone and make him move constantly on defense is the best chance to win against Real.

How serious are Vucic's demands for paying 7.5 mio tax debts?

 

[Killer Bob2]

Will Real miss Poirier? That is a big question. If he was playing in TA, I don't know if we could win. BTW Maccabi did very good job on Tavares, and after he was fouled out it was much more easier for Maccabi bigs.
As for Monaco, I don't know, it is all open. Meanwhile I see some psychological warfare from French side - interviews from some obscure French NT center and also Kyle Hines saying that Monaco will easily win... If Maccabi comes in full roster and same form as we had in last two months, we can give a good fight. Poythress is back, looks like Kattash tries to (finally) construct some plays for Hilliard (can be X-factor), and hopefully small ankle injuries won't prevent Brown and Colson from playing. As I said, everything is open.

Randolph can play some minutes on C.

 

[MikeMaccabiFan2]

Randolph can play some minutes on C.

Neither Randolph, nor Abalde saw any minutes of play time in Tel Aviv.

 

[Killer Bob2]

Neither Randolph, nor Abalde saw any minutes of play time in Tel Aviv.

Because Randolph was out for almost 1 year, he's back now, playing almost 20 minutes in Acb. Not 100% yet but he for sure brings some new options for Real.

 

[Serbian_Layup2]

How serious are Vucic's demands for paying 7.5 mio tax debts?

Probably true, but him being a Zvezda fan to say the least, it comes a lot easier for him to come at Partizan. Obradović is a big name, so it's harder for Vučić to try and discredit him in some way, and basically Partizan could afford players like Punter, Leday just because Obradović attracted a lot of sponsors. When he leaves, Partizan will be in a tough position once again. So what I'm guessing is that Partizan is trying to persuade Euroleague to give them a long term license (if freaking Asvel has it, then Partizan should absolutely get it) and don't worry about Vučić, ABA league ect. Winning against Zvezda in ABA league would be of much less importance and pressure coming from Vučić, Čović and company.

That ABA league final is going to be really ugly. God help those referees.

 

[saras2]

We support greeks so good luck to partizan (cause of papapetrou and obradovic), fener (cause of itoudis,calathes,dorsey and antetokunbo), monaco (cause of james) and barcelona (cause of saras).

Maccabi over monaco,i wouldnt mind either cause of kattash,he was a key factor for our second euroleague in 2000

 

[markkanen2]

I voted for Zalgiris, because that would be so great! Zalgiris in F4, in Kaunas, in front of their home crowd! On more serious note, here is my thoughts:

Monaco - Maccabi: Yellow - blues had a very good momentum so far, they are in great shape and full of confidence in themself. Now, Monaco have HCA, but they have very slim chances to beat Maccabi in Tel Aviv, so they must win all three games in front of their fans. Not impossible, but very though task for them.
Real - Partizan: Real played their last games pretty bad, but they already secured HCA and they have very strong centers and forwards. Lull and his skills may be crucial, he is very important player for blancos. Partizan made it to the PO, they played really good last month or two, but they missed their chances for 5th place or even HCA. So, I can't see them making their way to F4, it will be too much. Maybe next season?
Barcelona - Zalgiris: Barca is 100% favorite, they are much stronger than Zalgiris which played great this season. I hope that Zalgiris can made to the 5th game, that would be great!
Olympiacos - Fenerbahce: Too bad for reds and our greek friends from Pireaus, but Itoudis is great coach, one of the best in this season, and it will be very difficult to play against his guys. I guess we will see 5th game, and, then, everything is possible. Good luck to both teams!

 

[markkanen2]

Probably true, but him being a Zvezda fan to say the least, it comes a lot easier for him to come at Partizan. Obradović is a big name, so it's harder for Vučić to try and discredit him in some way, and basically Partizan could afford players like Punter, Leday just because Obradović attracted a lot of sponsors. When he leaves, Partizan will be in a tough position once again. So what I'm guessing is that Partizan is trying to persuade Euroleague to give them a long term license (if freaking Asvel has it, then Partizan should absolutely get it) and don't worry about Vučić, ABA league ect. Winning against Zvezda in ABA league would be of much less importance and pressure coming from Vučić, Čović and company.

That ABA league final is going to be really ugly. God help those referees.

I mean, it's just serbian goverment, nothing to do with coach. First you got the money, than you got the coach, not the other way around. Regardless of Partizan after Obradovic, it will depend on serbian goverment and their will to spend money on both clubs. Without money, you are nothing to euroleague, and you will be kicked from competition, with or without licence. Same will happen to the Red Star or any other club. Ask Montepaschi if you don't believe me.