 FC Barcelona vs. Panathinaikos
MATCH PREVIEWA highly-anticipated Euroleague showdown is set to take place in Barcelona, Spain, where Regal FCB welcomes Panathinaikos in Group B on Thursday. Even though these teams have only faced each other 14 times in the past, Barcelona and Panathinaikos have become archrivals since the 1996 Euroleague final, one of the most controversial games in European club basketball history. Panathinaikos edged Barcelona 67-66 to win the first of its four Euroleague titles. Barcelona, a Euroleague winner in 2003, has fully reloaded its roster with former All-Euroleague first team selections such as Juan Carlos Navarro and David Andersen. Panathinaikos kept its core of players while adding Nikola Pekovic, Drew Nicholas and Antonis Fotsis.
It will be a very special game for Panathinaikos point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, a three-time Euroleague winner who played for Barcelona from 2000 to 2003 and remains a fan-favorite in that city. Jasikevicius leads a star-flooded backcourt that also features four-time Defensive Player of the Year Dimitris Diamantidis, Nicholas and defensive ace Dusan Kecman. Its other top guard, Vassilis Spanoulis is injured and not expected to play against Barcelona. Barcelona is also very deep at point guard with Victor Sada, Andre Barrett and former Panathinaikos superstar Jaka Lakovic, who will be a key factor in this game. Lakovic is just one of the many outside scorers Barcelona has. BETTING ANALYSIS This is a big game and there it is really hard to find a weak points in betting line for such kind of games. But today I think that Barcelona has a bit more chances to take this game because they are looking better prepared for such important match after 5 weeks of ACB league and Euroleague US Tour. They have better connections on the floor and most of their players are in well form. Barcelona has 12 man rotation as well as PAO but right now form of Navarro, Andersen, Vasquez, Ilyasova, Basile and Lakovic looks a bit better than greek main players. Also at home Barcelona is almost unbeatable team and taking into consideration that this game is top priority for them on this week I expect full motivation from Barca today.
PAO so far played only easy game against greek clubs and very poor Zalgiris. Nicholas, Kecman are yet to find their place on the floor, Jasikevecius and Diamantidis are not looking like superstars these days after Olympic summer and emotionaly team could feel out of gas in away matches. Also I noticed that Pao had some problems in offense against Zalgiris and it will be tough for them to crack Barcelona iron defense which is not allowing more than 70 points usually.
Big game.. great players.. emotions and Barcelona narrow win by 5-7 points. That is my prediction. But only for medium stakes. Prediction: Barcelona 76 - 71 Panathinaikos Pick: Barcelona to win @ 1.82 Unibet
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