Barcelona – Panathinaikos

International - Euroleague, Round 6

Barcelona has suffered consecutive defeats for the first time this season. They lost to Real Madrid in the EuroLeague last week by 65:64, and then Valencia defeated them in the domestic league by 71:68. Nicolas Laprovittola missed both games due to injury, while Jan Vesely sat out the second half on Sunday due to discomfort in his back. According to Spanish media reports, both players will be available for the clash against Panathinaikos. So far in the EuroLeague, Barcelona leads in statistics as the most dominant team. They have the best offensive and defensive ratings, and this becomes more significant when considering their challenging schedule. In the first five rounds, they faced Anadolu Efes, Olympiacos, Partizan, Bayern and Real Madrid. Their ball movement in offense is exceptional, and they have no trouble creating open shots. When those shots go in, it's very difficult to limit them to under 80 points. 

Panathinaikos achieved their biggest win of the season on Monday, defeating Olympiacos in a domestic league game, although the host contributed significantly to their win with disastrous shooting. The "Greens" have only won twice in the EuroLeague so far and, somewhat unexpectedly, are having difficulties in offense. Except for Kostas Sloukas and Jerian Grant to some extent, no one is capable of assisting in scoring and speeding up the offense. Their primary idea is to get the ball to Mathias Lessort inside, who is the brightest spot on this team. The Frenchman is in the form of his life and continues from where he left off last season with Partizan. Last week, he played the best game of his career with 23 points and 14 rebounds against Baskonia. Dinos Mitoglou is also in fantastic form, and Panathinaikos' frontcourt  is doing the job. The problem lies with their backcourt, which doesn't provide enough support. Panathinaikos recently signed Kendrick Nunn, hoping he will address some of their issues, but it's unrealistic to expect an immediate significant contribution. 

Barcelona is 5-0 against the spread in the EuroLeague this season, meaning they have outperformed expectations in all their games. Even in their single loss to Real Madrid, they lost on the last possession. On the other hand, Panathinaikos won't be able to create significant defensive problems for Barcelona, while Willy Hernangomez and Vesely can certainly stop Lessort. Based on their performances so far, Barcelona appears to be at least seven or eight points better than Panathinaikos on neutral ground, which implies they shouldn't have trouble in this matchup, especially in front of their fans.