Partizan - Olympiacos: preview

It's been a long time since either Olympiacos Piraeus or Partizan Belgrade have sniffed a Euroleague title game, but one of them will make it there on Friday. Olympiacos battles Partizan in the second game of the 2010 Euroleague Basketball Final Four at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy on Friday night for the right to face the winner of the opening game between CSKA Moscow and Regal FC Barcelona for the Euroleague crown. Olympiacos has not won a Euroleague semifinal since 1997, the year it won its only Euroleague title. Partizan has not been to a title game since 1992, the year it won its lone Euroleague championship. That will change for one of these teams on Friday and both have shown all season long that they have the talent to get the job done. Olympiacos arrives in Paris with a deep and talented squad that features three former Euroleague champs and eight players that took part in last season's Final Four. Head coach Panagiotis Giannakis's team boasts three All-Euroleague candidates in playmaker Milos Teodosic and forwards Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza. Partizan hits the Final Four as the only team to overcome the lack of homecourt advantage to reach the Final Four this year, eliminating Maccabi Electra in the process. The Serbian champs have the only defending champion still in the running this season, Dusan Kecman, who won it all last year with Panathinaikos. Head coach Dusko Vujosevic's team is led by All-Euroleague candidates Bo McCalebb at point guard and Aleks Maric at center. The game promises numerous exciting head-to-head matchups all of which could be crucial to the outcome of the game. It will be interesting to see how the guards line up, with Teodosic boasting a significant height advantage over McCalebb. The Reds can look to the quicker Scoonie Penn and Patrick Beverley to stop Partizan's playmaker if needed. Meanwhile Partizan may call upon Aleksandar Rasic or veteran Petar Bozic to handle the Reds' ace sixth man and former Euroleague MVP, Theo Papaloukas. Kecman and Olympiacos's Yotam Halperin will likely duel at shooting guard. Perhaps the two tallest and most athletic small forwards in the league, Jan Vesely of Partizan and Childress, will clash at one forward spot, while Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy Kleiza faces Partizan's sturdy Lawrence Roberts at power forward. Partizan often starts 2.29-meter Slavko Vranes at center before turning to Maric. The Reds counter with the shorter, but wider and stronger Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who is followed by former All-Euroleague picks Nikola Vujcic and Ioannis Bourousis off the bench. Center Loukas Mavrokefalides and forward Panos Vasilopoulos could also have important roles off the bench for Giannakis. Vujosevic could turn to teenage forward Branislav Djekic to shake things up too. The pace of the game could be the determining factor. Olympiacos will try to play fast as evidenced by its league-best 87.9 points per game this season - 15 ppg. more than its opponent. Partizan will try to slow the pace to maximize its big men, since it led the Euroleague in rebounding (37.4 rpg.) and offensive rebounding (12.4 orpg.). Olympiacos has the edge in experience, but that has never hindered Partizan before. Both teams figure to be ready for the most important game they have played this season and will have their fans cheering loudly too in what promises to be a thrilling semifinal clash that could go to the buzzer.