Euro League Basketball

[harke]

Jst wondering,isn't anyone interested in euro bb or i didn't find the post on it?

[Alleks777]

Re: Euro League Basketball

Panathinaikos vs. Zalgiris MATCH PREVIEW Panathinaikos will start what it hopes will be the long road to the Final Four in Berlin when it hosts Lithuanian champion Zalgiris Kaunas in both teams’ Euroleague opener on Wednesday night at the Athens Indoor Olympic Hall. The Greens look poised for a big year with a star-studded cast that is hungrier than ever after a tough season last year, in which the then-defending champs were eliminated in the Top 16. Zalgiris on the other hand spent the summer with high hopes, but has been forced back to earth after early season troubles have resulted in a coaching change and the team’s top scoring threat leaving. And that’s on top of injuries that have sidelined starting power forward Paulius Jankunas and budding guard Mantas Kalnietis. The latter, however, has returned to practice after suffering a broken arm last month and could suit up against Panathinaikos. One thing that the hosts’ coaching great Zeljko Obradovic will be sure to warn his players of is to beware the wounded Zalgiris. The team still features a host of top talents and an intimidating frontline that will be tough to deal with. Centers Loren Woods, Ratko Varda and Eurelijus Zukauskas give new head coach Gintaras Krapikas a rare mix of size, experience and depth. That trio plus power forwards Tomas Masiulis and Tadas Klimavicius could trouble the Green frontline led by Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Antonis Fotsis and Kostas Tsartsaris. Panathinaikos is expected to be without injured guard Vassilis Spanoulis, but still the hosts boast an impressive backcourt with Sarunas Jasikevicius, Drew Nicholas, Dusan Kecman and Nikos Hatzvirettas, plus rising star Stratas Peperoglou at small forward. Zalgiris newcomer Willie Deane will take up the challenge up penetrating the Panathinaikos defense, using veteran small forward Jonas Maciulis and Dainius Salenga and the less experienced Zygimantas Janavicius and Rolandas Alijevas to get the job done. A near-impeccable home record – Panathinaikos has not lost a Euroleague game at OAKA since January 2007, a run of 16 straight – and Zalgiris’s recent woes combine to make the hosts the clear favorite to start the season on the right foot. However a talented guard with some dangerous centers to feed in the paint and a hungry cast of role players looking for something to rally around could spell an upset for Zalgiris as the Euroleague season gets underway for these two classic sides. BETTING ANALYSIS It's true that Zalgiris had too many problems in last few weeks to be ready for this game. More of that I am pretty sure that soon more players will leave this team but at least for this match line already includes those "against-Zalgiris" negative factors. For many M.Brown departure is big loss but as for me Marcus this season will only earn money but will not score so many points. He is not in form and in his ages they only goal he can pursuit is to earn money. This year should be a boost for such players as Kalnietis, Maciulis, Janavicius and Klimavicius. This game in Euroleague for 2 of them will be a first one but don't expect Zalgiris to go on court without ambitions. Often it happens that in difficult moment young players gives a team needed boost but this not continue for long. So as for me 20 pts margin is fully expected by all sides bookmakers, punters and experts. Personally I expect 16-25 pts win for PAO but I really have no desire to put money on PAO handicap. Total line is more interesting for betting purposes. Zalgiris will meet seriuos problems in offense because their 3-point shooting ability is not so strong as last year especially now when Marcus left a team. P.Jankunas (best offensive player in preseason and first official games) is still injured and will not play. W.Dean will be defended by best defensive player in Euroleague Diamathidis. Klimavicius and Janavicius are too young to play in OAKA arena and score plenty of points, while older guys like Shalenga, T.Masiulis can't score points on regular basis even during BBL and LKL games. R.Varda is injured and will probably play limited minutes, Woods is out form and possible leader of team J.Maciulis is not feeling itself comfortable yet in the team especially taking into consideration that he also play with small injury... As you seeoffensively Zalgiris is not looking like a team capable of scoring 70+ points to PAO defense at least in my eyes, however in defense they are not looking like a team which allows 90-95 in each game. With big players like Woods, Zukauskas and Varda they are capable to defend paint zone. Guards will try to stop small players of greek club and I expect Zalgiris to stop PAO under 90 points. Pao also plays in low tempo with 155-160 posessions per game and their defense was looking solid in their first game. As for me more possible total range is about 147-155 points and that's why I think that under is best choice here.

Prediction: Panathinaikos 86 - 67 Zalgiris Pick: under 159.5 @ 1.86 CSKA - AJ Milano The defending champs begin their title defense on Wednesday when CSKA Moscow hosts Armani Jeans Milano at CSKA Universal Sports Hall in the Russian capital. CSKA has a fully reloaded roster for the new season, with much of last season’s squad back and a number of new faces joining. Meanwhile Milano unveils a roster drastically different than last season’s as it aims to take a step forward to challenge for a spot in the Top 16. The teams will be a little familiar with one another after meeting in a preseason game six weeks ago. CSKA was the victor that time 63-81 behind 13 points and 7 rebounds from Erazem Lorbek. David Hawkins paced Milano with 21. The visitors will need a big output from their backcourt to have a chance to challenge in Moscow, where CSKA has not lost a regular season Euroleague game in over two-and-a-half seasons, dating back to January 2006 – a streak of 16 straight wins. BETTING ANALYSIS There is no reason to talk about handicap because it depends only from CSKA motivation and level of play. If everything will go fine for them I don't see any problems to win by 15-20 pts or allow visitors to cut the lead down to 8-12 from 17 as it often happens when bench players step in for CSKA. Smodis will probably play too for Moscow team so I can't see any advantage where italians can compete with CSKA. As for total there some thoughts that this game should be high scoring. Both teams are defensive minded and according to stats both plays in low tempo however you never know what kind of offense CSKA will show. At the start of the season CSKA form is not yet at best standards but they scored 100+ in last Russian Superleague game. They have deep rotation of best players but CSKA has never been a show-type team they play only for result and honestly speaking I hate to analyze them because often they play in different way. Today I would give 81.5-64.5 line because should AJ Milano will have pretty much troubles with CSKA defense. AJ Milano does not have strong individual players who can create a shot for themselves so many attacks will be empty because CSKA defense is hard to crack with pick-and-rolls or 3-pointers bombing. I think that total could be lower than 148.5 but I don't think that it's a good bet. Maybe as a TV-Pick I would take under 148.5 but I would not be suprised with something like 85-66 for CSKA so it's better to stay away from betting on this match. Prediction: CSKA 79 - 64 AJ Milano Unicaja - Le mans Unicaja is great home team which likes to run fast breaks, shoot 3-pointers and dominate on the boards. If Le Mans will allow them to do control all this factors they will be smashed out of the court. Le Mans has some well known names like Bluthental, J.P.Batista and Spencer but they would not be playing for Le Mans if they would be top-material. All of them experience problems with their level of play and that's why Le Mans bought them this summer. Neither of them never were great defensive players and honestly speaking I was suprised with such low total in first official Le Mans games. But today they will meet much more seriuos opponent in Unicaja face. Bookmakers gave us 14.5 pts handicap for home team which is very close to possible outcome according to my expectations. But I feel than 81 points for Unicaja at home is too low total and if handicap would be an ideal one which should be 16.5 pts according to my estimations than we would have 83.5-84 pts line for Unicaja. Prediction: Unicaja 85 - 67 Le Mans Recommended Tv-Pick: Unicaja over 81 points or Over 147.5