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A match whose result doesn't matter

After both teams secured the home floor advantage in the playoff by winning their games last week, their goals are fulfilled and this is a game of prestige

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Olympiacos won one of the toughest road games in Europe two days ago, in the Belgrade Arena. They beat Crvena Zvezda and that meant that the Greeks got the home floor advantage in the playoff, which was their basic goal. But that was anything but easy because Zvezda are really tough to beat at home this season. Olympiacos felt that, too. Not even the double digit advantage after the first half helped, they still had to play the overtime.

Georgios Printezis stepped up again, he took care of Zvezda in an almost identical way to what he did in the legendary Euroleague final against CSKA when Olympiacos won the title. This time, Green assisted because Spanoulis was sick and sat out most of the game. But, Papanikolaou and Agravanis helped and showed that Olympiacos definitely have the width needed for this competition. It could be a bit easier today even though fatigue will definitely make things harder, especially for the players who are struggling with minor injuries. But the coach Sfairopoulos doesn't even want to hear about it:

- Whoever is tired can go home. You've seen how Spanoulis sacrificed himself for the team in Belgrade. He's still not healthy, but he's feeling better. And we'll see about Lojeski.

Their offense will have to do a lot better in Madrid than in Belgrade, but the key is the defense, like always. That's where Oly were inconsistent at the beginning of the season because they accepted the faster rhythm played across Europe. But lately, they're back to the basics and became the best defense in Europe again:

- Against Real, it's important to control the rhythm because they're a team with lots of offensive potentia. We have to stay focused for the entire 40 minutes because they've got a lot of players who can hurt us offensively.

Good news for Oly would be if Lojeski recovers because he can definitely help in the offense. This way, they're doomed to keep things slow in the defense, and wait for Green and Printezis to get creative, while others, including Spanoulis, have been very slim offensively lately.

Real never had problems with their offense. They proved it in the derby against Barcelona on Wednesday, when 10 different scorers hit 85 points. Llull was the most efficient again with 21 points, and the centers Ayon with 14 points and Randolph with 13 points were decent, too.

Llull lead Real in the first match against Olympiacos, when he hit 22 points. The Greeks will definitely focus on him today, which means he'll get multiple different guards who'll try to pressure him as much as possible. On the other hand, Pablo Laso is focused on the legendary Olympiacos back guard:

- Spanoulis worries me the most because he generates their offensive game. But there's also Printezis who's got great frontcourt game, and their centers are extremely tough, too.

If the result of this game mattered, the game would probably get very physical and Olympiacos would have the advantage. But with the home floor advantage already secured, both teams can be a lot more relaxed, and that could definitely reflect the result of the game.