Two serious Final Four contenders will square off for a much-anticipated battle in the Greek capital on Thursday when Panathinaikos hosts Montepaschi Siena at OAKA Sports Hall. The Greek champs bounced back from a rare blowout loss to Barcelona in Week 2 by cruising past Nancy in France last week behind strong showings from veteran stars Mike Batiste and Dimitris Diamantidis. Moreover, guard Vassilis Spanoulis has returned from injury and will see action, further bolstering one of the deepest and most talented backcourts in the league. Meanwhile Montepaschi is off to an undefeated start after downing Barcelona last week. Newcomer Henry Domercant his some big shots in his best game yet for the club, while the core of stars from last year’s Final Four squad continued its strong play. The Italian champs have been extremely efficient so far and are among the top four in the league in steals (10.7 spg.), two-point shooting (56.6%), free-throw shooting (85.3%), while committing just 9 turnovers per game – the fewest in the league.
But head coach Simone Pianigiani’s men won’t get many easy baskets from the Greens. With the quintet of Diamantidis, Spanoulis, Sarunas Jasikevicus, Drew Nicholas and Dusan Kecman in charge of the ball, steals won’t come easily. But that won’t stop ball hawks Terrell McIntyre, Romain Sato, Domercant and Morris Finley from trying. Rimas Kaukenas joins McIntyre, Domercant and Finley in forming a tough backcourt that will challenge the Greens, while Sato will square off with Stratos Perperoglou as small forward. The strength of these teams can be seen in their big men, as both teams boast versatile players that can score inside and out. Batiste, Kostas Tsartsaris, Nikola Pekovic and Antonis Fotsis make up a powerful force that will go up against the likes of Ksistof Lavrinovic, Ben Eze and Shaun Stonerook. In addition to all the great players on both sides, the battle on the sidelines between the legendary Zeljko Obradovic and the up-and-coming Pianigiani will also impact the game greatly. The depth on these teams makes it tough to single out on particular matchup that could outweigh the others, nevertheless the duel between perennial Best Defender Award winner Diamantidis and All-Euroleague pick McIntyre at point guard will be crucial for their respective leadership qualities as much as for setting the pace. If one of those two players can outplay his opponent, that team will enjoy a distinct advantage in a game that could be a preview of an even bigger one this May in Berlin.
IMPORTANT FACTS
Montepaschi Siena has good memories from Athens. In the 2003-04 season, Montepaschi beat Panathinaikos 77-86 and secured a spot at the Euroleague Basketball Final Four in Tel Aviv. Last season Montepaschi lost 77-76 at OAKA, but clinched a ticket to the Quarterfinal Playoffs with that result.
BETTING ANALYSIS
Great battle between two top teams of Euroleague. Usually such kind of games don't have value and pretty strong lines but today I think we still have a value in a line. As you can read few lines above Montepaschi knows this field very well and they know how to compete there. This year is a 3rd year for Montepaschi with this roster and I hold them as seriuos opponent to give a fight to CSKA this year. They have balanced roster with 5-6 player who make result in different ways and you never know who will be a leader of this team on any given night. According to official Montepaschi website team is ready for 2 big games in a row (with Panathinaikos and Roma) and without hesitation they claim that they want to win in Athens and most important they can enough weapons to achieve this result. As for this at this moment of the season they are in better form and have more balanced game comparing to Panathinaikos.
Panathinaikos is a top team for sure but so far they don't impress me on the field. Some problems were seen with Zalgiris, -27 in Barcelona, tight game with Nancy.. Even with Spanoulis and Fotsis being on court I still can't expect big games from Panathinaikos yet. They have more new players who still can't find their roles on the field like Nicholas or Kecman. Sure home crowd support will help PAO to fight in this game and maybe will help them to win this game but I can't see them trashing Montepaschi. According to my data during last 2 seasons Montepaschi lost only once by more than 7 points in 4th game of final series with Roma.. but the series score was 3-0 into Montepaschi favour and next game was in Siena.
I expect tough battle again with some up and downs from both teams but in the end I think this game will be pretty tight and I would not be suprised to see Montepaschi winning this one by few points.
Recomended Pick: Montepaschi +7 @ 1.71 BET365 
Free Picks 
Panathinaikos Athens vs. Montepaschi Siena