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On Tuesday april 15 the basketball Euroleague 2013/2014 quarter-finals will start. This round will be played in a playoff series to the best of five games in which the teams qualified from each group will cross path the the ones qualified from the other group. The first classified teams of each group will play the fourth classified ones of the other group and the second classified ones of each group will play the third classified ones of the other group.
The formula is the 2-2-1: game 1 and game 2 will be played on Tuesday 15 / Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 / Friday 18 at the home of the teams best classified in their Top 16 group, Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4 will be played on Sunday 20 / Monday 21 and Tuesday 23 / Wednesday 24 at the home of the teams worst classified in their group. If necessary, Game 5 will be played on Friday 25 at the home of the teams best classified in their Top 16 group.
FC Barcelona – Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul
Barcelona dominated its Top 16 group remaining undefeated until the bad defeat suffered in Milan and the one at home in a useless last Top 16 gameday. A bit of focus loss definitely impacted on the latest results and certainly the team will be ready for the quarter-finals. Galatasaray reached the quarter-finals on the last Top 16 gameday with a final 7-7 record and in the second phase but always lost to the best teams. In my opinion, Barcelona can win even 3-0.
Real Madrid – Olympiacos Piraeus
It’s the rematch of last year’s Euroleague Final therefore is the most interesting series. Real Madrid played a Top 16 overall excellent finishing with a 11-3 record after losing the useless last game and has every intention of returning to the Final Four to try again to win the title. Instead, Olympiacos played a Top 16 below expectations even considering that it played a few games without Vassilis Spanoulis. The final 8-6 record condemned the Greeks to face Real Madrid but in the past two seasons they gave their best in the last Euroleague phases so I think the series will be balanced. The Spaniards have the home court advantage and for this reason I think they’ll win the series 3-2 but I think we can expect surprises.
CSKA Moscow – Panathinaikos Athens
CSKA Moscow confirmed to be one of the favorite teams to win the title with a 12-2 record in the Top 16 even though the team won some games by a small margin. Panathinaikos won the last spot for the quarter-finals ending the Top 16 with a 7-7 record. CSKA should still try to win a game in Athens to avoid the pressure to win Game 5 at home but I think the Russian team will win the series 3-1 or even 3-0.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
EA7 has grown a lot in the Top 16, finishing with a 10-4 record after a difficult regular season. The arrival of Daniel Hackett gave the team a new balance allowing Curtis Jerrells to play almost always as a guard, where he can give his best, and not as a playmaker, a role in which he showed his limits. The Milan team is now very strong, the problem is that Keith Langford has just returned from an injury and Alessandro Gentile got injured. Maccabi has played a Top 16 pretty good but far from great, always losing against the best teams and finishing with a 8-6 record. Despite health problems, I see Milan still favored, also because it’s a team that always fights to the end, but it won’t be easy so the series could end 3-2.
The winners of the quarter-finals will compete for the Euroleague title in the Final Four to be held in Milan between May 16 and 18.
As always, may the best win! 🙂
