This weekend Istanbul is hosting Basketball Euroleague Final Four 2011/2012. On Friday May 11 there will be the semifinals and on Sunday, May 13 there will be the finals. Let’s see which teams will play.
CSKA Moscow
They’re the favorite to win this Euroleague. The team lost only two games throughout the tournament proving to be very strong. In semifinal they’ll play against Panathinaikos Athens: CSKA defeated the Greek team in both of their the regular season games. It’s true that the Final Four are almost a different sport from the group stages but if CSKA Moscow plays at its best it will win for sure.
Panathinaikos Athens
It’s the defending champion team and both players and the coach have a huge experience even at the Final Four level. After the thrilling quarter-finals series where it defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in five games my impression is still that the team isn’t at the level of previous years but you can be sure that everyone will do their best. They’ll likely lose in the semifinals but if their opponents don’t give 100% they’ll try to conquer yet another Euroleague title.
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Olympiacos Piraeus
After a regular season and a Top 16 has not extraordinary, they played with great energy the quarter-final defeating in four games a Montepaschi Siena which for the first time gave the impression of suffering from their injury problems. Honestly I’m still not convinced about them at the highest levels so I think they’ll lose the semifinal.
Regal FC Barcelona
They won the quarter-finals in three games proving they’re the main alternative to CSKA Moscow to win the title. Their last loss in this Euroleague dates back to the regular season. In my opinion they’ll win quite easily the semifinal and in the final they could have a 40% chance of victory.
In the Final Four do-or-die games we’ll see which players and coaches will be the best under the great pressure of playing for the Euroleague title. Inevitably there will be more competitive spirit that technical finesse but there will certainly be many emotions!
