Boys, it's about time. I'm getting increasingly restless; I can't wait for the big show to get started. The memories of Prague are still fresh in the minds of those who love the game, capital "G" please. The Game will be the only sure winner in Athens. The Game is bigger, stronger and better than everybody else, and the team that will honor its spirit best will emerge as European champion. What are you asking for? The name of this team? Wow, now this is tough to say. So many angles to study, and the intriguing Final Four formula that leaves a lot of room for surprises and coups...

Generally speaking I would say Panathinaikos and CSKA should get 2-3 percentage points more than the other two teams if this was a best-of-five or best-of-seven playoff. But the beauty of this thing is that it's really up for grabs, and it's not a cliche. Tau played brilliant basketball all season long and it has in the past done something painful and necessary in order to to win a Final Four, i.e. to lose a Final Four (like CSKA did in the past before winning last year). Unicaja is in a very peculiar state of mind, and though I'm sure Sergio Scariolo would sell his soul to the devil for the privilege of getting Daniel Santiago back. I'm equally sure he'll have everybody else super-motivated and super-concentrated. These teams are...

All right, this is it. Playoff time, the best time of the year. Four great matchups, with a caveat: the losers don't have to automatically be looked upon as failures. A place in the top eight teams in the continent is no small feat. I also tend to think that you don't often reverse at the end of the season what you did - and did not do - throughout a whole year of basketball. This being said, let's talk a little bit about the quarterfinals.

TAU CERAMICA-OLYMPIACOS

Obviously my last reference will be put under a tough test here. If Arvydas Macijauskas comes back, and all the indications are he will, this whole series might change its complexion. The drama will revolve around him, as he knows very well the Spanish club that he propelled to the final game in 2005. Nobody can predict what his impact will be, but my theory is the first game you play coming back from a long injury is relatively easier, since your desire to play can kind of compensate in the short term for the absence of "basketball shape". After that, though, you almost invariably experience difficulties and go through a slump. I think Tau played the best offensive basketball of the Euroleague season, together with Panathinaikos, and I'm talking about the quality of what they did, not about how many points they scored. Baskonia has leadership with Pablo Prigioni and Luis Scola, a big man who is more likely stopped by his own foul trouble more than by opponents. The team went through adversities without losing too many games, so the logical pick is to install them as favorites in a pregame analysis. Still, Olympiacos has the talent to make this a wonderful series, as at least two or three...

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It's mid-season in the Top 16, and the race for the Quarterfinal Playoffs is more exciting by the minute. Of course, teams at 0-3 look now like their seasons are done, while the unbeaten ones seem to be already advanced. Don't forget, however, the reversal of fortune Cibona and Panathinaikos had last year, when the Greens came back from an 0-3 start to make the Playoffs and the Croatian sensations were unable to capitalize on a shocking 3-0 start. This year Panathinaikos started the Top 16 a little bit better, and I was especially impressed by the win against FC Barcelona in Week 2. As for Week 3, the score that pops out immediately is the 85-64 dismantling of Olympiacos at home courtesy of defending champions CSKA. Yes, we all happen to think these two teams - Panathinaikos and CSKA - could or maybe even should play in OAKA on May 6, but it's definitely too early to jump to conclusions. It's the most educated guess now, but there is a reason why they play the games, and at least two or three other teams stand decent chances to beat these two powerhouses, especially if it comes down to a single game.

This does not diminish for a second the significance of what PAO and CSKA are doing. Last week, Panathinaikos's first half against Barcelona was as good an offensive show as you can witness on this continent. I have a play stuck in my mind: Mike Batiste gave up the ball like a water polo player from the low post, then three more laser passes over maybe 2 seconds found an open shooter in the opposite corner for a three-pointer. The stats in that game were amazing: Barcelona shot a whopping 77 % from two-point distance and still...

The Top 16 has started: long live the Top 16! You might say there was not too much drama in this first week, but experience teaches that on such a stage, literally every basket counts. You never know if your final fate will depend on point difference, and whether apparently insignificant baskets traded in the last two minutes of a blowout will eventually become the difference between being in the playoffs or not. The three road wins that Dynamo, Olympiacos and Tau earned will also come at a premium in such a short "season." Particularly impressive was Tau's win in Tel Aviv. Nokia Arena is in my opinion the best place to play basketball in Europe, but at the same time the most difficult to win at, despite the fans being simply very passionate and almost never rude at all. Tau won with authority despite having it tough the previous weekend in the Spanish Cup, despite still being without Planinic, a player very difficult to replace given his uniqueness, and despite the absence of head coach Velimir Perasovic, who was hospitalized with heart trouble a day before the game. (Best wishes to Coach Perasovic!) Tau started the game with a key 13-4 run sparked by Igor Rakocevic, who scored 16 points in a torrid first quarter and then bided his time until hitting the final dagger, a three in the last two minutes of the game. Perasovic's...