Euroleague Panathinaikos vs Real Madrid Game 1 Spread and Prediction

In this Euroleague Basketball quarterfinals matchup, we have game 1 between the Greek champions and 4^th Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens (19-11) and the legendary Spanish club and 5^th Real Madrid (19-11), with both teams needing a tie-breaker in order to determine their regular season positions.

Date/Time:  04-17-2018, 14:15 EDT

Spread: Panathinaikos -2.5

Total: +161.5

Panathinaikos had a 19-11 record in the regular season and finished in the 4^th place of the league table. They have won their last 5 games and in their latest matchup they were victorious against against Olimpia Milan on the road in overtime with a 95-96 score. Mike James leads the team in scoring with 14.8 ppg, adding 4 dimes per game. Nick Calathes follows with 14.2 ppg, 3.9 boards and a team-best 8.1 dimes per game, while Chris Singleton adds 10.3 ppg and a team-best 5.8 boards per game.

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Real Madrid also had a 19-11 record in the regular season but ended up in the 5^th place of the league table by losing both tie-breakers against Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. They have won their last three games and in their latest matchup they were victorious against Bamberg at home with a 106-86 score. Luka Doncic leads the team in scoring with 16.9 ppg, adding 4.8 boards and 4.6 dimes per game. Gustavo Ayon follows with 9.6 ppg and a team-best 6.2 boards per game, while Anthony Randolph adds 9.4 ppg.

Panathinaikos have a 13-2 home record so far this season (second-best), while Real Madrid are 8-7 on the road (third-best). Each team has been victorious at home in their two previous matchups this season (Real Madrid by 17 points and Panathinaikos by 2). Last year each team also managed to win at home. Real Madrid are better offensively, scoring a second-best 86.2 ppg to Panathinaikos’ 78.9, while Panathinaikos are better defensively, allowing a third-best 77.5 ppg to Real’s 79.8. Real have better accuracy both from the field with 48.3% to Panathinaikos’ 46.2% and from behind the arc with 37.7% to Panathinaikos’ 35.2%. Real also grab more rebounds (33.1 to 29.4) and dish more assists per game (19.5 to 16.3), while both teams commit almost identical number of turnovers (11 to 11.1). Panathinaikos have been extremely strong at home and they haven’t lost in Athens by Real Madrid since the 2014/15 season, so expect them to get away with the home win by more than 3 points today.

Panathinaikos vs Real Madrid Game 1 Prediction: Panathinaikos -2.5 (-110)