Although Brose Baskets are a dominant side in the German Bundesliga with all 13 wins from the first 13 matches, they are suffering hard in Euroleague, where they only have 2 wins and 6 losses but that is nothing unusual for them as they`re used to being in the rock bottom of the elite European competition since the quality gap between the level Euroleague and German basketball is just huge. Out of those 2 wins, one was a huge upset as they managed to beat Olympiacos at home by double digits but that win isn`t much of a surprise for me as Olympiacos is being really toothless on the road this year, but Brose Baskets is definitely playing great at home, fighting till the end and it could be said they were extremely unlucky in the match against Lottomatica when they conceded a triple in the last second of the game to lose it by 1. They will certainly play their usual up-tempo game here as well and attempt to say goodbye from EL in front of their fans in a honorable manner.
They want the first spot
Real Madrid is playing decent this season but I am getting an impression they are not playing up to their potential, even though they`re sitting at the top of the ACB table with an impressive 9-2 record, while they also have a chance to take the first place in the EL group before the top 16 phase. They played quite well in their last EL match crushing Roma by 22 points at home, while their solid defense doesn`t always work too well on the road. Messina has got plenty of great players at his disposition such are Reyes, Garbajosa, Velickovic, Prigioni, Tomic, Fischer, Llull… and I am quite positive they are one of the main F4 contenders this season in EL.
Way too low of a total
The first clash between these two sides played in Madrid ended with a narrow win for Real and a total of 164 points scored. There was an overtime, but even if we`d exclude the points scored in OT they still scored more points than the total set for today. The thing is, Brose Baskets plays quite fast-paced basketball at home and since both teams don`t have any major motives, I`d rather expect to see one easy-going game that will be nice to watch instead of some slow and crappy struggle on the floor. Real indeed needs to win in order to keep their chances for the first place but I don`t think they will play too slow since their opponent will be inferior at all positions and will attempt to rely on a good atmosphere created by the home fans and their fighting spirit, so an intense and a high-scoring match could be on the cards. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Over 143
Odd: 1.96
Bookie: Pinnacle
pirou Charleroi are currently on 5th place in theire group with slim chances to advance further beside theire win in last round against Bamberg 75:61.That is not disaster for them since they were outsiders together with Germans and for them great success is that they qualify for Euroleague group stages and to play with very good teams like Olympiacos, Real Madrid and Unicaha. They show good performance especially in home games where they were able to beat very good Unicaja 79:74 but also to destroy giants Real Madrid with 67:49.
In fight for 1st place in group
Olympiacos beside theire loss from Unicaja in last round are still leaders on the table with same points as Real Madrid and Unicaja.In a fight for 1st place in the group they need to bounce back today against weaker opponent but very good in home games.They already beat them at home but not that convinsing 86:78 when were set as 18 points favorites.Today handicap is much lower but home court is proven as big advantage for Belgians and I don’t expect easy game for guests.They are unpredictable team that can win against best and loose against worst teams like Bamberg.They are also weaker in away games.
Total points are set little low for this game
Olympiacos should win this game but I don’t like odds on them and also handicap is not that low for away game.Charleroi already made positive while Olympiacos negative surprises and both teams will be motivated to win for different reasons.Olympiacos is fighting for 1st place and to bounce back from last round defeat from Unicaja, while Charleroi will try to beat another giant in last game in front of theire fans and will fight for 4th place until they have smallest chance. In such game I will take over mostly because Olympiacos is offensive team and often goes over 150 in theire games while Charelroi mostly adapt to the opponents and play high scoring games with offensive teams and low scoring games with defensive teams.This line is little lower then what other bookmakers offer and I will try to benefeat from that.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Over 150.5
Odd: 1.88
Bookie: Betway
Unicaja Malaga is a pretty mediocre side, both for the Spanish and the EL standards. They’ve got a good home court, and that’s where they record the most of their wins and this season they only beat Brose Baskets on the road. Last week, they’ve been losing to Real Madrid for the most of the match just to defeat them in the end thanks to some terrific 3-point shooting, primarily by Uros Tripkovic, and some quality performances by their centers Archibald and Freeland, and guard Blakney, who was rated as the biggest threat by Oly’s coach Ivkovic. However, they met Real again last weekend in the ACB and got blown out on the road by 16 points. Most likely they’ll again be without Printezis, and I believe they don’t have enough quality to match a side like Olympiacos.
They want to go through
According to the opinion of many experts, Olympiacos is one of the main EL title candidates this season and with 3 rounds to go in the regular season, they only need 1 more win in order to secure top 16. Coach Ivkovic has arrived to Piraeus with huge ambitions and the team’s progress in their play compared to the previous season is obvious, they’re playing quality ball in the offense but also dedicate a lot more of their attention to the defense having some really disciplined players on their roster, and Teodosic stuck out as one of their true team leaders. It can be said they’re a mix of youth and experience as they’ve got a few really terrific veterans such are Papaloukas, Nesterovic and Nielsen, while the younger generation is led primarily by Keselj and Teodosic. There are also some excellent players out there such are Spanoulis, Halperin and Bourousis, so there’s no dilemma they’ve got some deep coverage at all positions.
Away win
The odds are almost even here, which is out of mind in my opinion. As you probably remember, the Greek side demolished Unicaja by 27 in Piraeus and even though the home court means a lot to the Malaga fellows, they’re simply a limited squad that will hardly manage to keep it up against the super-quality Oly’s players, who will not only have an advantage on the floor, but also on the bench, which is deeper and their coach has got a lot more quality and knowledge. I think the Greek red-whites will be trying to establish control, and Ivkovic will know how to stop some quick Unicaja’s play and their key players, so I believe this will be quite an easy match for the visitors, who will be very motivated and will want to ensure top 16 already today, which is a goal I think they will accomplish. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Olympiacos -1
Odd: 1.90
Bookie: Bet365
Prokom is somehow still in the race for a top 16 stop in one quite equal group where only Maccabi has so far stuck out as the main contender for the first spot. Prokom has invested a lot into their squad but it wasn`t paying off at the start of the season as they were winless after the first 5 EL rounds, and some things had to be changed urgently if they wanted to justify the A license they received from the EL board. They sacked Bobby Brown and the level of their play became much higher suddenly. After a sluggish game against Khimki at home, they managed to sneak the win even though their play was far from being impressive, so after Brown had left, they faced Caja Laboral on the road and were total underdogs in that clash. But, they played really mature and disciplined throughout the entire game, and eventually recorded a nice win, so finally things began to look better for them and I believe I`ve seen a bit more room for the improvement around this team.
Failed to play their game
Zalgiris disappointed their fans last week when they managed to lose an already won game, as they had Maccabi in their hands being up by 8 mid-way throughout the 4th quarter but eventually started making some really silly turnovers that allowed the visitors to win. However, they played yet another really solid game and are in total contention for a top 16 spot, but in order to get very near qualifying, they`re gonna have to for the win in this game. Their characteristic shooting pretty-much didn`t exist against Maccabi (who is playing some really tough defense) last week but I think they`re very soon gonna get back to that and shoot from all angles in Poland today.
A huge battle
This is a must-win game for Prokom and due to that fact, the hosts will be trying to play a really focused game with as few mistakes as they can possibly make. But, they are not that good of a squad and I am quite sure they will not be able to play concentrated on both ends of the floor throughout the entire game and even though their original plan will be to stop Zalgiris with a solid defense, I`m quite positive this one will turn into a run and gun game, and Zalgiris will be trying to rely on their terrific outside shooting and look for the players that are hot that night, while Prokom will be under bigger pressure and that is the only reason I can`t take the hosts here, even though I believe they`re closer to the win. I will rather try with the over, and such a low total is set only due to the fact they had quite a low-scoring affair the first time they met but this time around I expect a much bigger battle, close game till the end and overall an open and faster game with both teams scoring at least 70-75 points each. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Over 145.5
Odd: 1.88
Bookie: Expekt
Power Electronics Valencia is placed in 12th spot (3W – 6L) in Spanish ACB. They are also paced in 5th spot (2W – 4L) in ULEB Euroleague. Manuel Hussein was resigned two weeks ago. He started the season as head coach and it was expected good roll after they were able to beat Caja Laboral in the first semi-final of the Supercup at Vitoria early in the season, but they had a lot of injury problems and important men couldn’t help in the bad start of the season.
Svetislav Pesic replaced Manuel Hussein and the team has managed 3 victories in a row. One of those was at OAKA against Giant Panathinaikos. Power Electronics Valencia has good players and they will totally recover men as De Colo (he played excellent game style in Athens), Jeremy Richardson and even James Augustine.
Rakocevic returns to Valencia
Efes Pilsen is placed in 2nd position (6W – 1L) in Turkish League. They are also placed in 2nd spot (4W – 2L) in the ULEB Euroleague. Velimir Perasovic, an old friend of Spanish Basketball, drives Efes Pilsen’s destiny. He has a talented group of players where the most important names are Nikola Vujcic, Bostjan Nachbar and Igor Rakovic. By the way Igor Rakocevic returns to Valencia. He played in old Pamesa Valencia one season and after that he signed for Real Madrid and this fact never liked to Valencia’s supporters, so I think he will be received with hostile manners.
Velimir Perasovic has started quite well the season and the team seems quite improving respect previous years. They are an strong team at home where they have managed their 4 victories in this Euroleague, but they count their away matches as losses.
Svetislav Pesic
Power Electronics Valencia must win this match if they will not capable of beating Efes Pilsen, Valencia Basket will be almost out of the competition because they will have to visit tough courts as Milano and Moscow.
Svetislav Pesic landed to Valencia two weeks ago and everything changed. Players are quite happy with the Serbian Coach. Nando De Colo has said that Pesic gives more importance to little details, so they have started to tell that Pesic is their man.
Power Electronics has managed two important victories in a row at two difficult courts in Europe. They were able to beat Panathinaikos at OAKA and they also won Lagun Aro San Sebastian at Donosti. Obviously, Lagun Aro hasn’t the same level, but Valencia’s bad run was very worrying and the Serbian master has changed it.
Efes Pilsen is usually having two different faces in Europe. They are a strong team at home and that fact is showed in the Stats. They have won 4 out of 4 games played at Sinam Erdem Arena, but they are usually showing weak performances away from Istambul.
I think this can be a good opportunity to bet on Power Electronics Valencia covering the spread. They used to be a tough team at home and with Pesic as coach they are going to improve a lot in the next matches. Even I can see they are going to play at full strength fighting to equal the average between these two teams. Tomorrow will be a complicated night for Efes Pilsen.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Valencia -3.5
Odd: 1.90
Bookie: Bet365
I`ve already written about Caja Laboral a few times this season showing much admiration for this side as I really believe they are a good team and one of the main candidates for the EL F4. They`ve got a few really solid players in the likes of Teletovic, Logan, Huertas, and their two probably the best players in my eyes are San Emeterio and center Barac, who is playing better and better and was just awarded as the MVP of the last round when they beat Menorca by double digits in the Spanish ACB league, where coach Ivanovic`s side is topping the tables with 8 wins in the first 9 games. They`ve still not caught the right form in Europe but are playing much better each week and after 4 consecutive losses in EL, I expect them to record a comfortable win against a team that is no better than their previous rival in the ACB – Menorca.
Rich but with no brains
Unfortunately, Prokom is a team that is quite clueless in the most elite European basketball competition. Despite the fact they spent too much money in buying the EL “A” license, they still don`t play up to the standards of this competition nor they have good players to do it. There are very few players worth mentioning in this squad, maybe one of their best players is veteran center Varda, who bailed them out last week with surprising three-pointers against EL qualifier Khimki, but other than that, their Americans are just too wild and too unorganized, and the coach does not seem to be putting it all together all too well. They`ve recorded the only probable win in EL, and I don`t think they will win any other game till the end of the regular season, because as I said their quality really isn`t at the level of Euroleague.
Caja to demolish Prokom early
Caja Laboral is actually a very good home team and the fact they`ve been a lot more focused on ACB league than EL is probably the only reason why they have been underperformed in EL so far. I expect them to repeat a game similar to the one against Maccabi in the first round, when they led by 20 points after the 1st quarter when the match was already resolved, and this will be their bounce-back match as they slowly need to shift their priorities towards Europe and start recording wins. I see no chance for Prokom and in a hot home atmosphere Caja will do nothing but fill the visitors` basket with triples, jumpers, frustrate them in defense and demolish on the fast-breaks. I see them leading by double-digits at HT so that will be my bet this time as they might relax a bit later on and Prokom might lose this one by around 15 at the end, so the spread for HT on the hosts is a lot better option in my opinion. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Caja Laboral -8 HT
Odd: 1.91
Bookie: 10bet
Khimki is an average team, but they don`t have enough quality for the EL standards and it is no surprise they have come from the qualifiers. Also written about them a few times this season, and I think their weakest link is coach Scariolo, who most often seems very clueless in their European games, making the wrong subs and setting the wrong tactics on the court. They have got only 2 players worth mentioning – Langford and Kelati. Kelati has just come back to the team from a long-term injury against Riga in their regional league,and was quite cold from the field so his form is still not at the desired level, and it`s not expected he will be much of a threat in this game. Langford loves to hold the ball and takes most of this team`s shots. Other than him, there are also a few decent shooters like Planinic or Lopez, and the power forward/centers Loncar, Savrasenko and Eze are indeed nothing to be afraid of, and especially the two centers are mainly good in defense, and lack offensive qualities. So in short, there is no team chemistry and they even managed to lose to poor Prokom last week, and I doubt they will manage to qualify to top 16 in EL as they will need like a huge streak of wins in Europe, and they are incapable of achieving that in my eyes.
A major change
There has been one huge and possibly a crucial change in Partizan`s roster during the past weekend as their previous PG Lafayette has been fired and the new PG is Curtis Jerrels, a player who is much more of a PG, much more athletic and agile, and it is very probable he plays at this match on Wednesday as he traveled with the team and even though he only had a few practices with his new team, it is expected for him to play. His arrival is very important as Partizan had suffered on this position previously but miraculously won their games at home in Pionir, and rarely won away – they didn`t even manage to win against Radnicki in the NLB league on the road the past weekend. The reinforcement might not be visible immediately but no matter how little Jerrels has been with the squad, he can`t play worse than Lafayette which only means Partizan will be more dangerous. I believe they will put up a strong performance in Russia.
Partizan could easily win
The bookies have set such a high spread probably expecting the visitors to be without a PG but the latest news state Jerrels will play and that will ignite the guests and help them have the advantage over Khimki. The Russians are really an average team relying only on a few good individuals. Their home gym isn`t a tough place to play, the fans are weak there and I don`t see Partizan having problems to control this game and eventually create a chance to win the game. I see absolutely no major reasons for Khimki to be favored much in this matchup and I am going for the visitors to cover this huge spread for high stakes. The game starts a bit earlier than usual. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Partizan +8.5
Odd: 1.90
Bookie: Nordicbet
Partizan is quickly improving and after managing to defeat super-strong Caja Laboral last week in EL at home, they then managed to crush their arch-rivals Crvena Zvezda in the local NLB league by 31 points, and their point guard Lafayette has finally started clicking, being the MVP of the match, hitting shots, and dishing assists, exactly what everybody expected from him so far. It`s true his rivals were not that tough but still, it`s obvious the team is improving as a whole, and even though they`re much weaker than they were last year, they are always playing above their capabilities in Europe and it will be no different this time as well, especially because they know this is a crucial match for their future in the group.
Good form
Zalgiris is definitely the most in-form side of this group, and they`re literally playing super-confident in each match, especially at their home court in Kaunas. They just defeated another EL representative Lietuvos Rytas in the Lithuanian derby over the past weekend by 25 points at home, which just proves how good they`re playing right now. They recorded expected results in EL so far, except for one of the biggest upsets from the last week`s round, when they defeated Caja Laboral on the road showing a very brave approach, and their coach Petrovic and the players announced that they won`t fear the Belgrade atmosphere and that they will be going for the win and try to stay focused the entire game, which is a very hard task to do for any team over there.
Will Zalgiris handle Pionir hell?
The first match between these two this season was at the Euroleague opener and it ended with Zalgiris winning it by 11 and Partizan not being able to do much. The thing is, Partizan wasn`t even close to be complete back then, while now they brought all their new players together, and started playing much better as a team. The atmosphere in their home gym will be really hard on the visitors, and I still remember the last year when Partizan needed to win by 23 points against another Lithuanian side Lietuvos Rytas at home in order to be better in the mutual clashes against them in case of a tie-breaker in the standings, and they crushed them by 30 in a memorable atmosphere. Zalgiris is stronger than that Lietuvos, while Partizan is weaker than they were last season. Still, they are always using the energy they`re getting from their fans in the best way possible, plus they`re improving each day and are looking quite decent as a team. I think on neutral court the chances would be 50-50% as both teams are quite equal matchup-wise, while in Pionir such small spread should be covered by the home team with no problem, and I expect maybe even a double-digit win for Partizan. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Partizan -3.5
Odd: 1.96
Bookie: Pinnacle
Spirou Basket Charleroi is placed in the rock bottom of the group B of the Euroleague (1W – 4L). They are sharing group with three giants of Europe. Olympiakos, Real Madrid and Unicaja Malaga are playing this first stage of Euroleague with the little outsider Charleroi.
Charleroi managed its qualification by the preliminary round and they were capable of beating tough teams as Unics Kazan and Alba Berlin. They were too strong at home in those preliminary rounds and supported by their hot fanatics they managed a great success obtaining the ticket for the glory.
Spirou Charleroi has a group of experienced players who are playing plenty of dignity and they are managing close scores in this tournament against rather tough opponents. After 5 matches they have only won one but it was against Real Madrid at home. That was a huge victory and well deserved because they have been doing good games as the close defeat which they suffered in Pireaus against the Giant Greek, Olympiakos (86 – 78).
Unstable
Unicaja Malaga is placed in the third spot of the group B of the Euroleague (3W – 2L). They have made a regular transition in Euroleague so far. They have beaten teams which they should and they have lost against Olympiakos and Real Madrid away from home.
However they are being a very unstable team at domestic competition. They haven’t found the right way to work fine in Spanish ACB. They have placed in 8th spot in ACB and their balance (5W – 3L) is fine, but their game style is being awful and disappointing. They won their last game against Menorca basket away from home avoiding a conceding basket in the last second (57 – 58).
They will have the absence of their star, Terrel Mcyntire who is injured and Roderick Blakney has been signed to replace the American Star in playmaker spot.
Aito Garcia Reneses, the great coach with huge knowledge of European Basketball, has failed in Malaga since he arrived to Martin Carpena’s Club. He has gotten poor the squad and he wasted great players as Carlos Cabezas. He prepares the games from the defense and when the team concedes easy points, they suffer too much and they usually have problems with worse teams.
Sweet Revenge
This pick is only due to good feelings. The opening odds on Charleroi win were better than current ones, but I liked them since I saw early in the week. I was reading a lot about Belgian team although I watched them in the first match of the group which they played in Malaga. In that match Charleroi was leading the match during three quarters and they struggled in the last quarter thanks to Guillem Rubio and Berni Rodriguez’s performance.
Unicaja Malaga has lost power since they were Spanish ACB Champions four years ago when they had players like Jorge Garbajosa and Carlos Cabezas who were World Champions in 2006. That team was an amazing group of players who Sergio Scariolo drove to the glory. The current team is not same and they have problems to their game style.
On the other hand, Charleroi has marked this date in their calendar because Joseph Gomis (playmaker) and Daniel Santiago (center) are former Unicaja’s player and they were dismissed form Andalusian team. They are claiming revenge on Thursday and they will highly motivate to beat the Spanish side.
Reviewing the last three Unicaja’s score, they are having plenty of problems to score easily and they have managed three low scoring games:
Unicaja Malaga – Asefa Estudiantes (53 – 64).
Brose Baskets – Unicaja Malaga (64 – 69).
Menorca Basket – Unicaja Malaga (57 – 58).
I think Charleroi can have a lot of chances to beat them with a low scoring game. Charleroi beat Real Madrid at home (67 – 49) and I think they will plain the same match against Andalusian side. So, in front of their hot supporters Charleroi has at least 50 % of chances to manage a victory against unstable Unicaja Malaga which will try to defend strong and takes advantage of Berni Rodriguez’s good moment.
Joel Freeland (center) and Robert Archibald (center) are slightly injured. It seems they will play on Thursday but they will have hard work against Daniel Santiago and Andre Riddick.
I think it’s a good chance to invest a low stake in the spread of Charleroi side expecting a low scoring game.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: Charleroi +1.5
Odd: 2.00
Bookie: Bet365
To be honest, Khimki shocked me last week when they managed to overcome the constant deficit they had against Caja Laboral at home and win the match at the end, but the truth is Caja Laboral played much below their capabilities and were also quite poor in the paint, and Khimki`s height prevailed. Planinic and Langford are pretty-much the only 2 guys along with Lopez, who can play consistently good on this squad so it can be said Khimki is a very limited team, which is no surprise as they came to EL from the qualifiers, The best proof of how average they are is their loss to Spartak St.Petersburg in the domestic championship so I think that their coach`s Scariolo`s days on their bench are soon to be over.
A good team
Maccabi once again proved they are a good team no matter the fact they`ve undergone a few key changes since the previous seasons, but it could be said they`ve kept the necessary quality in their squad and are looking better in each next game they play together. They improved on the coaching position as I believe Blatt is a much better coach than Gershon, while they finally have a dominant center in the character of `Baby Shaq` Sofo, who is their main foundation under the basket. They`ve got a few good guards like Pargo and Perkins, while Eidson, Blu and Hendrix are also all players that Khimki will keep an eye on in this game.
Khimki shouldn`t be favorites here
From everything seen so far, I can freely claim that Maccabi is at least one class better team than Khimki. The Russians don`t have enough quality and depth in their squad to be even participating in this competition, as they only got a few quality players, out of which one (Kelati) is still sidelined. I don`t think they will have a big advantage in the paint as the visitors have Sofo in their squad, so if Khimki doesn`t manage to get him in foul trouble early, I don`t see how they will win this game. Maccabi has a better team overall, they`re more athletic and better shooters, probably even better defenders, so all in all, Khimki will have a very hard time today and knowing their home court advantage doesn`t mean much, an away win here is my only choice for some valuable odds. Good luck.
———————————————————————————————-
Prediction:
Tip: 2
Odd: 2.33
Bookie: Pinnacle
Recent Comments