EuroBasket 2013 - Knockout stage

[Alfie White]

Serbia - Spain (3.4 - 1.3) Slovenia - France (2 - 1.72) Croatia - Ukraine (1.2 - 4.25) Lithuania - Italy (1.5 - 2.5) I had to open the topic this early because I don't think these odds on Lithuania will last long. Lithuania has two lost games up till now on the tournament. One against Serbia (I give credit to this loss in fact that Lithuania might underestimated the team of Dusan Ivkovic and the fact that Serbian boys came into the match showing teeth and playing amazing basketball) and other to Bosnia and Herzegovina, when I think they were playing with cruise-control - that game wasn't too important for them and it looked to me that they've played as much as they needed to. What can you say about Italian team. They had easy group (if you compare it to other groups)Russia, Turkey, Finland, Greece, Sweden... I don't know which of these teams performed more terrible at certain stages of the tournament so I won't bother much typing about it. Their victory against Spain seems to me was "dictated" by the Spaniards as they wanted to avoid Lithuania in the brackets as they hope to have better chances reaching finals against Serbia, France and Slovenia. Anyhow Italy made a big success coming this far into the tournament, but they will have to stop here, as I think Lithuanian side will manage to dominate the game from the start to the end without any problems. Italy will get dominated in the paint and I simply can't see them wining or making any kind of problems in this one. End of the road for them. Lithuania straight win @ 1.5 Lithuania -4.5 @ 1.86 Lithuania HT/FT @ 1.86 (b365)

[Alfie White]

Re: EuroBasket 2013 - Knockout stage Can the Serbian boys rise today and beat the most favoured team in this competition? Europe trembles before Dusan Ivkovic and his young team which makes no calculations in the tournament, as their tonight's opponents did against Italy in the last match. Main problem for Serbia that Stefan Markovic (starting PG) has sore back and won't be able to play tonight, while Nemanja Nedovic has ankle problems but it seems he will be able to play through it. Main weapon of Serbian team is their magnificent defense against better rated teams (they've allowed 56 points against Lithuania, 65 against France) as it seems that boys get special dose of motivation when it comes to playing important matches. One more thing has to be said, Serbia has to play as a team since that is the only way they can defeat Spanish fellas. Let's focus on a key stats for this match: - Rebounds, Spain 312 (228 D, 84 O), Serbia 299 (202 D, 97 O); - Steals, Spain 58, Serbia 37; - Field Goal %, Spain 44.4%, Serbia 46%; - Free Throw %, Spain 72.1%, Serbia 63.5%; - Turnovers, Spain 98, Serbia 102; So as we can see from these stats, this match will be very very tight and couple of baskets will decide the winner. Spain might have the best defence up till now, but they meet against another great defensive team. It will be very exciting match, as you simply can't point in any direction and say "this team has advantage here" because they are very evenly matched. I know one thing for sure, Serbian boys won't go down without a fight and I can see why Spain have their fears. After all, when you stop Lithuania and France (Tony Parker), you are not to be underestimated, even if you have by a full year youngest team with 9 debuts for the national team. Serbia will have motivation in that fact, while Spain has to live up to their favourite status. Bet365 gives 1.8 on +7.5 AH on Serbia, I will take it and enjoy the show.