Baskonia vs Panathinaikos Prediction 17 January 2025

🔊 Can the hosts improve their long-range shooting? In the 22nd round of the EuroLeague, Baskonia will host Panathinaikos. The visitors have a top-tier roster that excellently realizes its potential in attack. The Basques can only hope for progress in accuracy - on their home court, it's possible. The "Fernando Buesa" arena might witness another high-scoring game.

📊 HEAD-TO-HEAD

The last time the teams met was in Athens: that encounter was won by Panathinaikos (104:69). In 4 out of the last 5 head-to-head games, at least 170 points were scored.

🔴 BASKONIA

Recently, the Basque club has been showing very poor results - 4 losses in the last 5 matches and 15th place in the EuroLeague as a result. Above all, the team has been unlucky. For example, this was the case recently with Olympiacos (101:102). Against Bologna (74:76), they also fell short by the slightest margin. Monaco will allow them to play faster than usual, giving the hosts another opportunity to shoot a lot. For such a scenario, there are several excellent shooters: Howard, Forrest, and Luwawu-Cabarrot. Rebounding will be crucial for the Basques: they are the best in this component (36.7 rebounds). Practice shows that the Spaniards can confidently play even against top opponents: like Olympiacos or Real Madrid (82:89). Playing pragmatically against Panathinaikos makes no sense, so we expect a rapid improvement in scoring statistics from the hosts (averaging 79.6).

🟢 PANATHINAIKOS

Panathinaikos is in great form, allowing them to be in 4th place in the EuroLeague standings. The recent loss to Barcelona (73:82) is more of an anomaly. The Greeks are doing well offensively: averaging 87.7 points per game. Another match in Spain will come with much better adaptation. Additionally, the players are motivated to redeem themselves. In terms of execution, the Athens club is doing excellently: best statistics for all shots (51.6% accuracy) and three-pointers in particular (40.2%). Nunn and company can act quickly and exploit the opponent's weaknesses. However, relying on defense is difficult. This is a routine regular-season game, especially a back-to-back. The tournament situation allows them to play openly. The match might resemble those against Partizan (96:84) or Bologna (111:90).

📝 EDITORIAL PREDICTION

The fact that Panathinaikos is the favorite is unshakable. The visitors' squad features players of noticeably higher caliber, which reflects in tournament standings and overall season prospects. As one of the contenders for the championship title, they can play from a position of strength and achieve the desired result even without extraordinary efforts in defense. Baskonia will try to respond with their offense. There are matches where the Spaniards show phenomenal execution and have chances for success until the last seconds. On average, games involving the hosts score 161.5 points. For Panathinaikos, the number is even more impressive - 169.8. In such a situation, our editorial team sees it logical to bet on a total over 161.5 points.