EL2022/23 - The Playoffs

[Levenspiel]

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

[Levenspiel]

We have the match-up set:

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

[maccabeo]

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%

[ronmercer80]

I don't understand the poll.

[tonia]

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.

[Levenspiel]

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.

[ronmercer80]

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.

[Levenspiel]

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.

[vivo]

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_Layup]

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.

[ronmercer80]

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.

[MikeMaccabiFan]

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 Bob]

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 Bob]

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.

[MikeMaccabiFan]

Randolph can play some minutes on C.

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