By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The EuroLeague experts believe that Panathinaikos has the upper hand against Olympiacos in the latest edition of their round table. This week’s panel includes Ermal Kuqo, long-time EuroLeague player and recent Final Four Ambassador; Piti Hurtado, professional basketball coach and current EuroLeague analyst on DAZN; Vladimir Stankovic, veteran journalist and longtime EuroLeague.net collaborator; Drazen Kanazir, Editor, Eurohoops Germany; and Andy West, EuroLeague.net contributor and EuroLeague.TV commentator. They answered the following questions.
Will Panathinaikos or Olympiacos win the first Greek Derby of the EuroLeague season?
Ermal Kuqo
“Olympiacos has won the last two games and seems to be in good shape, slowly coming along as a team after having had some crucial changes in personnel over the summer. Most importantly they changed their coach early in the season, so their instability went on for a little longer than expected. Panathinaikos also had a coaching change, but the good news for the Greens is that the new coach is a familiar face and that’s a great advantage because their adaptation period should be almost instant, considering that Coach Pitino knows the players extremely well. Factoring in also the home-court advantage I see Panathinaikos having a slight edge.”
Piti Hurtado
“Panathinaikos will win. It’s about playing at home and Coach Pitino’s new energy for Fredette. The scorer is feeling all the confidence from his new coach; the two college basketball legends are at the beginning of their relationship and everything is working well. The Greens won’t beat the Reds easily; Kill Bill boys will fight on every possession and defense will be very important for them. Olympiacos will try to play an 80-point game, control the rebounds and have good defense on pick-and-rolls from the top of the key. But Pitino’s team is in its best form of the season right now.”
Vladimir Stankovic
“I believe that Panathinaikos is the favorite. I think it has more continuity in its game and scores 10 points more per game. Its two-point and three-point shooting percentages are slightly better. Both teams are tied in rebounds and assists. Moreover, Panathinaikos plays at home.”
Drazen Kanazir
“This is a tough question, but the momentum is in favor of Panathinaikos. The Greens won their last three games in the competition and the last one in an impressive way against Baskonia under the guidance of Rick Pitino – who returned to Athens for his second stint with the club. For the first time this season they held their opponent under 70 points. Heading into Round 12, the team from the Greek capital holds the sixth place in the standings with seven wins and four losses. There is also extra motivation because, since the 2016-17 season, Panathinaikos has only managed two wins in this derby.”
Andy West
“I think you have to favor Panathinaikos. Partly because the Greens are playing on their home floor, where they are looking very comfortable and have been very strong this season – just ask Baskonia, which was blown away at OAKA last week. The arrival of Rick Pitino has brought a new level of energy and it looks like Panathinaikos is heading in the right direction, whereas I feel Olympiacos is still a team in transition and finding its feet, despite the positive recent results. And of course, the vibrant atmosphere will very much work to Panathinaikos’s advantage.”
Which player will make the difference for your winning team in that game?
Ermal Kuqo
“It’s a tough question that I can’t give a precise answer to because I don’t think this will be a one-man job. As I already have given the edge to Panathinaikos, many names come to mind who could have a huge impact and to beat such a strong team and sworn rival like Olympiacos, the Greens will need maximum impact from all of its players.”
Piti Hurtado
“Nick Calathes. He’s the man, the floor general at OAKA and very close to a triple-double in almost every game. Calathes’s season has the right mental balance, motivation and momentum. Some teams have decided to give him space on pick-and-roll defense to limit the passing lanes and let him shoot, but that could be risky. He knows the Panathinaikos–Olympiacos rivalry and that it’s maybe an even a bigger game this season. Calathes can make the difference.”
Vladimir Stankovic
“Nick Calathes. He is Panathinaikos’s undisputed leader and its game’s ideologist. He is scoring, too, as his team’s second-best scorer with 157 points (13.8 ppg.) and assisting, leading the EuroLeague at 9.1 per game. He is a natural-born leader and an irreplaceable player.”
Drazen Kanazir
“It will be a close game between the two Greek heavyweights and little things will decide the outcome. The perfect guy for the job and the biggest threat for the Olympiacos defense will be the floor general of Panathinaikos, who goes by the name of Nick Calathes. The 30-year old playmaker has recorded 13.9 points, 9.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds this season so far. Calathes is like a Swiss army knife who is able to score in a variety of ways or provide for his teammates. Number 33 has finished four rounds with a double-double and is always capable of doing that.”
Andy West
“Jimmer Fredette. I attended the preseason Media Day at Panathinaikos in September and just watching him casually throwing up a few shots for the cameras you could see that he’s an effortlessly smooth shooter. Olympiacos is not the quickest team and I expect Panathinaikos to play a fast game, which will open up good shooting positions for Fredette on the perimeter. With Nick Calathes running the offense, he’s got the perfect passer to feed him in open positions and he also has a big enough personality to impose himself on these high-profile occasions. Fredette has been in good form recently and this game could be made for him to shine.”
Read the rest of the roundtable here.