From 2013 to 2026, thirteen years of waiting for a fourth European trophy intervened for Olympiacos. In the seventh Final Four since then and fifth consecutive (2015, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026), Olympiacos… hopes that the trophy will return… home, to Piraeus, via Athens and Telekom Center Athens, with a win tonight (21:00), against the 11-time champion Real Madrid.

There have been many disappointments since 2013. In Madrid in 2015 and Istanbul in 2017, the hosts Real Madrid and Fenerbahce respectively said “no” to Olympiacos in the final. In 2022 in Belgrade it was Vasile Mickic’s three-pointer in the semi-final against Anadolu Efes, in 2023 in Kaunas Sergio Yul’s… hand 3.2 minutes before the end of the final against Real Madrid, in 2024 Real Madrid in the semi-final and in 2025 Vassilis Spanoulis’ Monaco in the semi-final.

This time, after Olympiacos’ comfortable victory over title holder Fenerbahce (79-61) in the semifinal last Friday (22/5), Olympiacos is more determined than ever to…. to reach the source and drink water. To “break” the curse that wants the first regular season team in the Euroleague to not win the trophy. To reduce to 3-2 the Real Madrid-Olympiacos win-loss record in 5 Euroleague Finals between the two teams in history.

Olympiacos captain Kostas Papanikolaou, his superstar Sasha Vezenkov, NBAer Evan Fournier, this year’s reborn Tyler Dorsey, the Euroleague’s leading rebounder this season Nikola Milutinov, semifinal MVP Alec Peters, outstanding defender Thomas Walkup, Tyson Ward, along with the athletic and explosive centers Tyrick Jones and Doda Hall, Corey Joseph, Shaquille McCisick, and those who were not in the dozen in the semifinal against Fenerbah (Giannoulis Larenzakis, Monte Morris, Mustafa Fall, Frank Nilikina, Keenan Evans, Homer Netzipoglou and Giorgos Bourneles)…. had a… crazy dream last night, that it was Monday morning (25/5/2026) and they were European Champions!

With the way Olympiacos has been going all season, leading the regular season (26-12) and beating Monaco 3-0 in the playoffs, Olympiacos is the favorite for the title, and while they are playing in their home country and city, not at home. Olympiacos has played complete basketball on defense and offense, and the 90.7 points he averaged leading up to the semifinal against Fenerbah placed him at the top of the productivity chart this season. Giorgos Bartzokas has “weapons” at all five positions in both starters and players coming off the bench. It’s no exaggeration to say he has three… five-man rosters.

Real Madrid finished the regular season in 3rd place (24-14), and went 3-1 in the playoffs against Dimitris Itoudis’ 6th-place Hapoel Tel Aviv. In the semifinals, they defeated the season’s pleasantly surprising but Final Four rookie Valencia 105-90. Madrid will take their place in the jamboree “hurt” in the “5” position. Three of their centers are injured.

And after 30 wins – 12 losses for Olympiacos, and 28 wins – 15 losses for Real Madrid, the European Champion or European Champion… will be decided in the last 40 minutes, at the Telekom Center Athens, at 21:00 tonight!

Eddy Tavares and Alex Len were out before the Final Four started, only for Garouba to be injured in the semi-final against Valencia and unable to help his team in the title match. Real Madrid hysterical in size. That’s why they are expected to look to go at a faster tempo, more possession, in the final against Olympiacos. The Piraeus team will try to attack the rim with Milutinov, Tyrick Jones and Doda Hall, but will also need the three-point shooting of Vezenkov, Dorsey, Fournier, Peters, Papanikolaou… and so many other players he has that are fluent outside the 6.75.

And that’s because Real also has players who “kill” outside of 6.75. Organizer and leader in assists and steals, Facundo Cabacho, compatriot Gabriel Deke, scorer Mario Hezonja (13.2 ppg), Canadian forward Trey Liles, Alberto Abalde and Andres Felith and Frenchman Theo Malenton… can threaten from outside the three-point line with authority. Sergio Jules is here again for Real Madrid. He may not be getting the playing time he used to because of his age, but he hasn’t… forgotten how to shoot…

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Olympiacos has hit 422 3-pointers in 42 games this season, while Real Madrid has hit 428 in 43 games. The two teams have 10 3-pointers per game!

There is no comparison to the semifinal against Fenerbahce, when Olympiacos scored only 79 points (they averaged 90.7 before the semifinal jump ball). Because Fenerbahce is the team with the best defense this season. Real scored 105 points against Valencia in the semifinal, but that game was up tempo and the bats’ defense was elastic compared to the one Olympiacos is playing.

Real makes changes on all screens because they have almost equal players in all positions. In addition, in zone defense with various variations (“match-up zone”) they are the best in the Euroleague. Scariolo used a zone against Valencia, he will do it against Olympiacos. That’s why Olympiacos will need shooting accuracy from three-point range on Sunday night (5/25).

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The stats of both Olympiacos and Real Madrid show balance. With 90.5 points average in productivity (after the semi-final against Fener), Olympiacos will take their place, while the “queen” with 88.2 ppg. Olympiacos is allowing 82.4 points on average, while Real is allowing 82.8. Rebounding is 37.3 ppg. for Olympiacos, 37.9 ppg. for the Spanish team. Olympiacos is dishing out 21.5 assists avg. while Real is dishing out 19.2 avg. Real Madrid has the edge in cuts, with 3.9 compared to 2.3 for Olympiacos, but only in numbers, since Tavares, Garouba and Len will be absent in the final. Olympiacos has 12.2 m.o. and Real Madrid 12.4 m.o. As for shooting, Olympiacos has a small difference in its favor in two-point percentage, Real has an infinitesimal difference in its favor in three-point and free throw percentage.

The T-Center will once again be dressed in Olympiacos’ red and white, as Real Madrid fans are not even 500. The boost from the fans’ cheers is a non-negotiable advantage for Giorgos Bartzokas’ team that wants to win the second European trophy of his career, after the one in London 2013, when he became the first Greek coach to win the Euroleague title. If he succeeds, Giorgos Bartzokas, in the 7th Final Four of his career, will catch Dimitris Itoudis, who led CSKA Moscow to the top in 2016 and 2019. Sergio Scariolo, in his 3rd Final Four as a coach, claims his 1st trophy.