Cinderella threatens the fierce Greek ogre

This will be the 36th edition of the Euroleague and the European Cup resolved with a Final Four, which began to be used to decide the champion in the 87-88 season. That course crowned Dino Meneghin’s Olimpia Milan just before Jugoplastika’s three consecutive successes, but this system had a double precedent in 1966 (in Bologna with a victory for Milan) and in 1967 (victory for Ferrándiz’s Madrid at home). . Since 1988, only one exception with another format, in 2001 with a best-of-five playoff final. In all these editions there have been 30 different teams with the debut of AS Monaco in this Final Four, a round that leaves very little room for surprises, to fairy tales. And it is that the last newcomer to reach the final was Baskonia in 2005, which was charged to the favorite and host CSKA in Moscow. Then, the people from Vitoria chained another three Final Four for four in a row, although they did not qualify for a final again, either in 2016, when the last debut of a club took place, Lokomotiv Kubanto the present of AS Monaco.

Those records are not rosy for those of the Principality, a Cinderella who faces the fierce ogre of the competition, Greek Olympiacos, dominator of the regular season (24-10) and favorite in the pools almost on a par with Barça. However, there is another precedent that does smile on the Monegasques and they are the face to face with the Greek team: double victory this courseat home (64-60 with 19 points from Mike James) and away (76-83 with 53 points between James, Elie Okobo, and Jordan Loyd). The three magnificent of the perimeter of Sasa Obradovic average more than 41 points and when they exceed that figure, the block flies and victory approaches.

Olympiacos, on the contrary, has more recordsis more solid and capable of playing more things, with Sasha Vezenkov as brand new MVP and with Kostas Sloukas (ninth Final Fouralthough the Greeks point ten to him despite the fact that he did not participate in the 2010 one, and for his fourth Euroleague, the heir to Spanoulis), absolutely decisive in the playoff against Turkish Fenerbahçe (14.6 points and 4 assists). A guarantee when he hits the winning shot, as was the great Vassilis.

THIS IS HOW THEY ARRIVE

olympiacos

AS Monaco

TEMPLATES

	pos.	Height	Age
25 Alec Peters	TO	206	28
9 George Papas	B.		25
5 Giannoulis Larentzakis	AND	196	29
6 Iosif Koloveros	B.		twenty
3 Isaiah Canaan	AND		31
twenty-one Joel Bolomboy	PA	206	29
16 Kostas Papanikolaou	PA	203	32
eleven kostas sloukas	B.	190	33
4 Michalis Lountzis	AND	195	24
10 Moustapha Fall	P	218	31
19 Panagiotis Tsamis	TO		twenty-one
14 Sasha Vezenkov	TO		27

	pos.	Height	Age
18 Adrien Moermann	TO	201	3. 4
eleven Alpha Diallo	P		25
6 Ambroise Couture	PA	198	twenty
1 Chima Moneke	PA	198	27
twenty Donatas Montiejunas	P	213	32
Four. Five Donta Hall	AND	205	25
4 jaron blossomgame	TO	201	29
10 John Brown	TO		31
3 jordan loyd	AND	193	29
32 Matthew Strazel	AND	182	twenty
55 Mike James	AND	185	32