By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Welcome back to the Experts Round Table, where we ask a variety of the most knowledgeable Turkish Airlines EuroLeague followers across the continent their opinions on the topics of the day. This week’s panel includes Ermal Kuqo, long-time EuroLeague player and recent Final Four Ambassador; Juan Antonio Casanova, the former long-time EuroLeague writer for La Vanguardia in Spain; journalist Donatas Urbonas of leading Lithuanian website 15min.lt; Nikos Varlas, Publishing Manager, Eurohoops.net Global; and Frank Lawlor, Editorial Director for Euroleague Basketball.
Which team now in fifth place or lower should the top four want to avoid most as a playoff opponent?
Nikos Varlas
As the situation has taken shape, I think that Anadolu Efes Istanbul will face FC Barcelona Lassa in the playoffs and Barcelona is the team ranked fifth through eighth with the best chance to win its playoff series. For me, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid have a clear advantage in a best-of-five series with home-court advantage against any opponent that will end up in places six, seven or eight. And not only because of the home-court factor. We’re talking about the last three European champions, the best-quality teams in the league with the most long-lasting core players.
Ermal Kuqo
It’s such a complex question. The level of play has never been more balanced than this year and any of the bottom teams could have easily been ranked higher in the standings. To think that even the bottom team, Darussafaka, has lost seven games by 5 points or less. I’d be wary of any of the teams below, but to me, the one team that strikes me as the most avoidable is Baskonia. They are the Final Four hosts and have a dangerously powerful team with high-level players and if their main player Shengelia comes back in time, watch out!
Juan Antonio Casanova
Olympiacos. Barcelona is the best team not counting the four teams that will have the home-court advantage, but Olympiacos is a specialist in surprises, normally positive, thanks to players so competitive as Spanoulis and Printezis. Their path in the last weeks is deceiving (six losses in seven games, but all of them affordable) and I think the team will finish sixth because the normal thing would be for them to win the four remaining games, despite Spanoulis’s injury. It is a good reason for the top teams to fight to avoid third place.
Donatas Urbonas
FC Barcelona Lassa. They show the highest-quality basketball among the other candidates. Barcelona is a very deep and quite unpredictable team with many different offensive weapons to use. They’re disciplined on defense and their depth will let them play very intense basketball throughout a whole series. Svetislav Pesic can prepare his team for the playoff series very well and Barça has all the tools to steal home-court advantage.
Frank Lawlor
A lot depends on injuries and which players can come back from them in time for the playoffs, but as things stand now, if Barcelona does not finish as one of the top four teams, it would seem to be the team to avoid. Its six road wins are tied for fourth-best in the competition, behind the big three of Fenerbahce, CSKA and Madrid. Its depth, defense and varied talent pool also mean that Barcelona should be able to adjust on the fly during a five-game series enough to move momentum in its favor, a necessity if you start the playoffs without home-court advantage.
The five experts were also asked on their pick for the most improved player in the second half of the season as well as which stats leader impressed them the most. Check their answers at EuroLeage.net.
Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague