Olympiacos vs Monaco EuroLeague Playoffs Prediction – April 30

Olympiacos took full control of this EuroLeague playoff series with a dominant 91 to 70 win in Game 1, and Monaco now faces a must-win situation just one game in. Sasha Vezenkov dropped 20 points to lead the way, while Cory Joseph and Tyler Dorsey added big scoring bursts off the bench.

Monaco held a narrow lead late in the first half, but a punishing 10 to 0 run by Olympiacos right before the break changed the entire tone of the night. Game 2 tips off Thursday, April 30 at 20:00 CET, and the Monegasques desperately need a response to keep this series alive.

🏀 Olympiacos vs Monaco EuroLeague Playoffs Prediction: Elie Okobo Over 10.5 Points @1.86

Monaco’s three-point shooting in Game 1 was a disaster, with the team going just 4 of 28 from beyond the arc for a brutal 14.3% clip. Matthew Strazel finished with zero points in nearly 24 minutes, missing all seven of his three-point attempts and going scoreless for the entire game. Nemanja Nedovic contributed absolutely nothing either, leaving head coach Manuchar Markoishvili badly short of firepower. Add in the absence of Nikola Mirotic, whose scoring and experience would have been huge in a playoff series like this, and Monaco’s problems run very deep right now.

The cold hard truth for Monaco is that they simply cannot contain Olympiacos defensively. Milutinov dominates the paint, Vezenkov is an MVP-level threat every time he touches the ball, and the Piraeus roster is loaded with shooters who punish any defensive lapse.

For Monaco to have any realistic chance in this series, virtually every player on their roster needs to deliver an outstanding offensive performance because they cannot win a defensive battle against this Olympiacos side. One or two cold shooters, like they had in Game 1 and they cannot compete for the win.

Olympiacos ran the second half like a well-oiled machine in Game 1, moving the ball freely and attacking the glass through Milutinov at every opportunity. Their offensive rebounding percentage on the season sits at 35.7%, ranking second in the league, which punishes any team that misses a shot and fails to box out.

Dorsey and Joseph both delivered double-digit points in individual quarters off the bench, showing exactly how dangerous this rotation is from top to bottom. Even when Bartzokas had to send Vezenkov to the locker room after a hit to the face, Olympiacos has huge depth and that led to never lose the lead.

Bartzokas will demand a cleaner performance at the free-throw line after his team missed seven of 18 attempts in Game 1. Monaco beat Olympiacos twice in the regular season, proving the talent gap is not that big, but doing it again in Piraeus in a playoff series is a completely different challenge. Depth, incredible atmosphere and elite offense give Olympiacos every reason to expect a commanding series lead by Thursday night.

Elie Okobo averages 11.3 points per game this season and scored 8 in 27 minutes during Game 1, finishing just slightly below his usual output. With Mirotic out and Monaco in desperate need of more from their backcourt, his role is set to expand significantly in a do-or-die situation.

Mike James cannot carry the full scoring burden alone, he has the full attention from Walkup and others all the time so other Monaco players can find more space for open shots. Monaco needs a near-perfect offensive showing from everyone on the roster and Markoishvili will need Okobo to be far more aggressive and assertive with the ball in his hands.

He shoots 47% on two-point attempts this season and gets to the free-throw line at a solid rate, meaning his points can come in multiple ways even if the three-ball does not fall away from home.

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