Eurolega: crisi Fenerbahçe, disfatta Olimpia e la classifica?

·46 min·3 clips

Fenerbahce coach Iasi Kevicius told Eric McCollum last year his team needed someone who 'fucking throws the ball in the basket' — and without De Colo injured, it is clear he meant exactly that.

1. Backdoor Podcast covers the penultimate round of the 2025-26 Euroleague regular season, with Simone Mazzola and Alberto Mazzagaglia reviewing verdicts and remaining standings implications. 2. Mazzola is the primary analyst; Mazzagaglia manages an extensive Excel standings tracker, which he calls 'Mazzagaglia Intelligence,' and both play off each other throughout. 3. The core question of the episode is how to evaluate Fenerbahce's collapse, Olympiacos's dominance, and Valencia's rise, and what those positions mean for the playoffs. 4. Fenerbahce has lost multiple games in a row and is now potentially facing a fifth-place finish after being expected to contend for the top four. 5. Mazzola quotes an EuroInsider interview in which coach Iasi Kevicius told Eric McCollum the team needed 'one who fucking throws the ball in the basket,' arguing De Colo's absence exposes exactly this gap. 6. Ole Di Melli's injury worsened the crisis; his return improved the Real Madrid game defensively, but Fenerbahce's scoring problems remain without De Colo. 7. Mazzola argues De Colo will likely return only at the start of the playoffs, and that the current period — where Fenerbahce can train in the Turkish league — is the right time to absorb the loss. 8. Olympiacos under Barzocas has posted five-season records of 19-9, 24-10, 22-12, 24-10, and 25-12, including three first-place finishes. 9. Both hosts agree that in a neutral final they would root for Olympiacos, with Mazzola saying it would be 'romantically perfect' if Barzocas won the Euroleague title and then left. 10. Mazzola argues that despite the extraordinary process, failing to win the Euroleague title would still make the cycle 'a minimum failure' by professional sports standards. 11. The possibility of Olympiacos winning the Euroleague final at the Panathinaikos home arena (Oaka) is mentioned as a scenario that would add 'a thread of seasoning' to the victory. 12. Valencia is highlighted as the season's positive surprise, having been in the top four all season despite being picked only by Mazzola as an outside dark horse. 13. The hosts discuss coach Ergin Ataman's body language during the Valencia game, arguing he transmitted excessive nervousness to Panathinaikos players, with multiple players visibly complaining after every foul call. 14. A complex four-way standings tiebreak scenario is outlined for the final week involving Real Madrid, Fenerbahce, Valencia, and Apoel, which could place Fenerbahce fifth. 15. Trey Lyles's fourth-quarter performance for Real Madrid — described as 'musical' turnaround jumpers against Devon Hall — is compared to Glenn Rice for stylistic cleanliness. 16. Mazzagaglia jokes that Dash and Dixan detergent brands should sign Lyles for an advertising campaign about whitening, given the 'clean' quality of his shot. 17. Esonja's athleticism is compared to a young Tracy McGrady, which prompts Mazzola to say just hearing both names in the same sentence made him shiver. 18. The episode is a fast-paced analytical conversation with insider humor, recurring bits, and Italian basketball culture references including Spanish coaching staff discussed from a padel game in Valencia. 19. Euroleague basketball fans following the 2025-26 standings, Italian-language basketball analysts, and listeners familiar with Fenerbahce, Olympiacos, or Valencia will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who do not follow Euroleague basketball or who need context for the standings scenarios will find the episode difficult to follow without background knowledge.

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