Tau Ceramica vs. Olympiacos

"The result, of course, was huge for Olympiacos and obviously has to be very disappointing for Tau. I was interviewed a couple days before the game though, and I said what I'll say now, and not just because I played for them once: I like Olympiacos because Olympiacos has the chemistry to get it done and go all the way. The game against Tau showed that. It speaks volumes for a team to go against Tau, which has played well all season, and beat them at home. That's a very, very powerful statement and should give Olympiacos a lot of confidence going forward. Tau should learn from it, too. By no means are they out. We're just getting to the heart of the matter for everyone trying to raise the cup this year. That was a well-balanced game going in, with two teams full of superstars, but what I like about Olympiacos is its very, very balanced attack. With them, you don't see one dominant factor. There are multiple guys who can hurt you and they use all of them equally.

"Of course, playing with an early lead was key for Olympiacos, and is always vital to having success on the road. Once I saw they were good enough to get and hold the lead - they even expanded it to 16 at one time - on the road, with that margin, I expected Olympiacos to win, even against Tau. But if the roles were reversed and Tau had taken that kind of lead at Peace and Friendship Stadium in Pireaus, I would expect them to hold onto it, too. That's what any good team wants, control of the game going into the third and fourth quarters. Will the other great team come back on its home floor? Almost surely, just like Tau did. But they will spend a lot of energy doing it and if the team ahead doesn't stop playing, they still have an advantage, as we saw with Olympiacos after Tau got close. Another good example of that was the Panathinaikos game on Wednesday. They endured a great comeback by Unicaja and almost lost. Even though Partizan losing meant that Panathinaikos didn't have to win the game, they ended up winning in overtime. It took a lot out of Unicaja to come back and force overtime, so whether home or the road, this time of year it's difficult to play from behind and still win the game even if your team rallies.

"One of the keys for Olympiacos was easy baskets, and that was the result of two or three great passers on the floor at all times. You had a big man like Nikola Vujcic working with Theo Papaloukas and Yotam Halperin, and when you have big men and other guys helping, it's such a tremendous help, especially in these big games. Scoring averages come down this time of year, and that's indicative of the intesity of defenses picking up. That, in the end, is what is going to win and allow a team to lift the championships trophy, that defense, but any team that can break the other's defense with good passing has something extra going for it.

"I was happy to see Panagiotis Giannakis get that big win for Olympiacos. We played against each other when Panathinaikos won the Euroleague in 1996, so we had some very, very enjoyable battles. He was a great point guard who knew how to direct his team, so it's no surprise to me that he has Olympiacos in this position, playing the way they are. Considering the amount of superstars on the team, what I've noticed all season is how balanced they are. When a talented, impact player like Josh Childress only scores 7 points, like on Thursday night, or another like Jannero Pargo is not far above him, and the team still wins against Tau on the road, that's balance. If their defense proves solid, Olympiacos can go far. What they can't allow is their confidence from beating Tau to make them relaxed. Confidence can have an adverse effect, too. They have the homecourt advantage in the playoffs, but they want to have the same mentality as Thursday's game, that of going into the opposing team's gym and winning again. They can't be thinking of an advantage in the fifth game. It's all about winning on the road at this point.

Playoff thoughts

"I think there's a huge difference between three- and five-game playoff series, speaking from a player's perspective. The team that on the losing end or doesn't have the homecourt advantage now has more time to strategize and readjust to what is happening on the court. The perfect example from my own career playoff experience was a Fortitudo vs. Virtus series in Bologna when I was in Italy. It was a three-game series that we lost, but when we did, I knew that if it had gone to five games, no doubt in my mind, we probably would have won. Five games gives players more time to get their nerves settled, gives coaches more strategizing time and will make the playoffs more exciting, for sure.

"Looking forward at whose the favorite to become champion, I think that obviously CSKA feels a lot of confidence and motivation to make it two in a row. But again, given the way these teams are performing, on any given night, any one can beat any other. It's going to take a high level of concentration and consistency. There may be one slight favorite and seven others now, but any one of these teams could get focused and get it done."