Of the eight teams who will fight from April 19 in the quarterfinal playoff to get into the Final Four in Belgrade, Only Barça knows its final classification in the regular phase: the undisputed leader. The other seven, no; although Madrid, Armani Milan and Olympiacos are guaranteed to finish in the top four and have home court advantage, which is key in the playoffs. The three equal 18 victories, but the white team is the only one that depends on itself to be second, since they beat Armani in both duels and also have the mean favorable with Olympiacos by two points. So, In case of a tielike the one seen now in the table, Madrid would be ahead. If he beats Panathinaikos today at OAKA (8:00 p.m., Dazn) and Bayern on Friday 8, he will be second no matter what his rivals do. If you only add one win, at least third place is guaranteed and it would be second if those from Messina only win one of their two games (Olympiacos only has one left, this Friday against Barça).
So far the easy part, more complex is to get the pairings right because up to six other teams (Efes, Maccabi, Monaco, Bayern, Alba and Red Starin that order, as Bale would say) they fight for the other four places and none of them has a guaranteed pass. And then there’s the Baskonia, with remote options although not mathematically eliminated because he could sneak in in the event of a quadruple tie for eighth place.
The objective of the whites (according to the current classification they would face the seventh, AS Monaco) may be to avoid the European champion, an Efes that, if they do not fail against Alba, Bayern and Red Star, will be fifth, but with certain bizarre combinations it could fall to ninth position. And watch out, they equal Maccabi with 14 wins and those from Tel Aviv also have three days left. Of course, the tiebreaker favors the Turks. That pulse between the fourth and the fifth in the playoff, perhaps an Olympiacos-Efes, is presented as even. In the dispute for the remaining places, tomorrow there is a face-to-face between Bayern and Red Star. One of the two may be eighth and cross paths with Barça. And a point, if Monaco gets involved, participation in the next Euroleague would be guaranteed and only the Eurocup champion would make the jump directly to the top competition.
New injury: Hanga is out
The Madrid He comes from linking five missteps away from home, but his open streak against Panathinaikos is incredible: 13 wins in a row since 2018, five at the OAKA. Laso reported yesterday that Hanga suffers a muscle injury and is absent, while Abalde and Randolph are still rushing their recoveries. The technician likes the panorama he contemplates: “In December some fellow coaches told me that we were doing very well, I was not so optimistic then because I saw the clouds that could come, and now I see the team better in general aspects of the game that do make me optimistic“.
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