2024 EuroLeague Final Four Preview: How the players are preparing for the semifinals

The 2024 EuroLeague Final Four will begin today in Berlin. Panathinaikos will face Fenerbahce in the first semifinal followed by Real Madrid against Olympiacos. The two winners will face off on Sunday in the 2024 EuroLeague championship game. These teams played each other twice during the regular season and have known their matchups since the playoffs ended over two weeks ago. 

With some of the best basketball minds in the European game squaring off, they have had ample time to prepare and strategize for their opponents, and in the win-or-go-home format of the Final Four, every team will be prepared to throw the kitchen sink at their opponents to try to get an edge. FanSided talked to players from Olympiacos, Fenerbahce, and Real Madrid about how they are preparing for their biggest tests of the season. 

A primary focus for Fenerbahce will be to figure out how to slow down Panathinaikos' deadly pick-and-roll offense. With Kendrick Nunn, Kostas Sloukas, Jerian Grant, and so many other options who can create for others and themselves out of the two-man game their offensive machine can be completely unstoppable at times. Fenerbahce will have to prevent this with a variety of approaches, and will likely try blitzing and aggressive schemes to force the ball out of the Greens stars hands.  

“Obviously it’s the Final Four, a bigger challenge and bigger game but you know, putting two on them — even for me a lot of teams put two on me and make me get rid of the ball,” said Tyler Dorsey. “This kind of slows down the game, slows them down from making assists and making other players make the plays.”

Scottie Wilbekin added, “We are trying to work on ways that we can disrupt their rhythm.” 

And lastly, forward Amine Noua referenced their playoff series with AS Monaco where they had to figure out how to defend Mike James' pick-and-rolls. 

“It’s going to be like Monaco where all the guards are really skilled,” Noua said. “They can drive to the basket, they can shoot the ball so it’s really tough to contain them. We try our best to play aggressively and try to impose our game to control them.”

On the offensive side, Fenerbahce is a team that lives and dies with the three. In spite of their lack of dynamic perimeter creators sans Mark Guduric, they have managed to be an elite shooting team and consistently generate good looks from beyond the arc. Noua talked about how they can make this happen as well. 

“We know on the season when we are aggressive going to the basket, when we drive and kick, we know we are tough to beat so we have to be focused on this to be aggressive and to find our shooters,” Noua said. “I know it’s a lot of excitement with the event but at the end of the day this is about basketball we know how to beat them, we beat them this season.”

Scottie Wilbekin is a key player Fenerbahce will need to try to get going early, especially with some spot-up opportunities. 

“I want to let the game come to me but I’m always looking for an open catch-and-shoot three and I’ll take it whenever I can get it,” Wilbekin said. “Hopefully, I can get one or two good looks and I can get in a good rhythm.” 

It will be a tall task for Fenerbahce — containing Panathinaikos' offense on one end while making sure they generate enough good looks from beyond the arc on the other end. Finding the right blend of personnel that can accomplish this is an equation head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius has solved multiple times this season. Can he do it again against Ergin Ataman’s powerhouse side? 

For Real Madrid and Olympiacos, the result will be decided by who can truly dictate the flow of the game. For as resilient as this Olympiacos side is, there is a talent gap between them and Real Madrid particularly in terms of elite offensive talent. The Reds will aim to slow the game down, keep it low-scoring, and hope they can generate just enough offense with creativity inspired by their cohesion and chemistry. This was something mid-season addition Naz Mitrou-Long talked with Fansided about directly. 

“For whatever reason I’ve always enjoyed playing Real Madrid,” Mitrou-Long said. “When you look over and you see them you respect their excellence and their experience and you know the names that they have on that team. I think again, you kind of read it with the flow of the game. See what they’re giving you. I don’t think you try to do too much when you try to do too much and impress against guys like Tavares you can put yourself in some sticky situations so as guards and point guards we have to keep things simple and make the right plays.”

Defensively, Olympiacos is arguably the most physical team in EuroLeague. At times, they seem to embody the philosophy that they can’t call every foul. That is not to diminish their defensive excellence. Being physical at this level is a skill and one that Olympiacos can execute brilliantly because of their personnel and the buy-in they get from the players. 

“I think we, the coaching staff in particular, have an amazing system and we’ve stuck to it all year long and it’s gotten us to this point,” Mitrou-Long said. “Through injuries, and through the addition of players like myself.”

The key tactical question will be how much Olympiacos lean on their standard switch-heavy tactic. This has proven a highly beneficial approach throughout the course of the season, again thanks to their personnel. Having perimeter players like Kostas Papanikolaou and Thomas Walkup who are comfortable switching onto bigs and then centers like Moustapha Fall and Moses Wright who are solid perimeter defenders for their size makes switching a much more seamless scheme. But when you play against Real Madrid, you face Edy Tavares, a player much more adept at punishing smaller defenders in the post. 

“Ultimately I think you go with the flow of the game,” Mitrou-Long said when asked about switching everything. “If adjustments need to be made that’s what the most elite coaches do. It’s a game of adjustments in the playoffs that’s what everybody says.”

“I don’t know if we’re gonna switch if we’re not gonna switch, I really don’t know,” Moustapha Fall told FanSided. “I don’t make the adjustments, the coach makes the adjustments. So this is a question for the coach. I don’t know what he had in mind. It’s also a feeling of the game. What’s going to help us, and what’s not going to help us. It’s a question for the coach.”

A counter to Olympaicos’ physicality for Real Madrid is to generate transition opportunities. Something they hunt throughout the course of the game but particularly early in the game. Getting their transition offense going early flusters opponents, and opens up the game even more in the halfcourt as their stars find their rhythm. 

“Our defensive rebounding will be a key tomorrow,” Fabian Causeur told FanSided. “As you said if we get these rebounds we will be able to run, get some early offense, get some transition, and get that confidence. In this kind of game, you need this confidence with early shots to get into rhythm. Getting rebounds will be very important. Olympiacos is a very strong, very physical team and as you said they really push you to the limit of the fouls for the entire game.”

And while Olympiacos likes to switch, Real Madrid prefers to go for a drop coverage defense with Tavares. A defense that can be made even stronger against a point guard who isn’t a threat from beyond the arc like Thomas Walkup. 

“That’s the kind of defense we play. We always are open to adjustments during the game. We’ll see. If I stay too back it could cost me a lot of points so I’m gonna be a little bit higher so I think we just have to adjust,” Tavares told FanSided. “The game is the game we don’t know how it’s gonna go. If Walkup is going to hit five threes in a row we’re going to be up or if not we’re going to be down so the EuroLeague is like that. There’s a lot of great players so we’ve got to fight and make adjustments.”

The tactical battles will be on full display for today’s semifinals. If Olympiacos can limit the number of possessions and thus, total points. They may be able to overcome the talent gap and pull off an upset — which would deliver decisive revenge after Sergio Llull’s game-winner in last season's final. But the task is tall, both figuratively, and literally when facing a player like Tavares. The Reds could pull it off, but regardless of what head coach Chus Mateo said at yesterday’s press conference Real Madrid is the favorite and should prevail to the Final.