By Lefteris Moutis/ info@eurohoops.net
Here are our betting picks for Round 9 of the EuroLeague regular season:
Zalgiris Kaunas – Anadolu Efes
The payoffs for this pair don’t do justice to Perasovic’s team, who are no worse than Zalgiris. The home team plays good basketball for their standards, but they lack the quality of the Turks, who are burning for a win so they don’t get left even further behind in the standings. The 2,02 for the away win is worth being included in our bets.
Brose Bamberg – Valencia
Both teams are coming off defeats in the derbies they played in their domestic leagues. On one hand, Bamberg lost relatively easily away to Bayern Munich, while Valencia couldn’t threaten Barcelona at the Palau Blaugrana in their second clash either (preceded by their encounter for EuroLeague). In the EuroLeague, the home team is coming off the “suicide” in Milan, while Valencia count four defeats in a row and want to put an end to this negative run.
The 2,60 on Erick Green being the game’s top scorer is worth it, as is the over 15,5 points at 1,75. Due to the lack of a quality center in Bamberg – and mainly a player with Pleiss’s features – the over 10,5 for the German (1,75), whom Valencia feeds a lot, is also worth it.
Olimpia Armani Milano – Olympiacos
Olympiacos are better than Armani and despite the quality of their opponent, they can get the win, the easy way or the hard way. Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s team recovered quickly from the slap in the face by Panathinaikos at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, making the 2-for-2 against Fenerbahce and Crvena Zvezda. The 1,45 for the away win can be a part of our betting, while the away win with a handicap (-3,5 at 1,75) has a good chance of being validated as well.
From the special bets for players, Jerrells pays well (3,50) to emerge as the top scorer of the game and for those that prefer big payoffs, he might be a good option.
Panathinaikos – Real Madrid
It’s pretty difficult for any team to get a win at the Olympic Sports Center Athens and Panathinaikos is the only team this season that still hasn’t been defeated at home. A full Real squad might have been the favorites against Panathinaikos, even away, but now the situation is in the Greens’ favor and we are going to go with the 1,52 for the home win on one of our bets.
Fenerbahce – Khimki Moscow
Khimki’s handicap in Turkey is pretty high (+8,5 at 1,75) against Fenerbahce and this is due to the Russian team’s consecutive defeats in the EuroLeague and the VTB. Despite this, Bartzokas’s team can react and fight for this game to the end. Fenerbahce are coming off a big away win in Moscow against CSKA and they don’t want to… throw this win away by losing at home for the second time (they lost to Olympiacos) in a week. Obradovic’s team will probably manage to get the win, but the game is a derby and Khimki’s +8,5 at 1,75 is of greater value.
Crvena Zvezda – Baskonia
Rochestie is in excellent form and against Baskonia in Belgrade, he can once again emerge as the game’s top scorer. The 3.00 payoff is satisfying and can be included in our bets. Zvezda’s guard plays a lot, while he attempts more than 10 shots per game. If he’s on a good night and shoots with good percentages, then he can get us a good payout since, in Baskonia, shots – and thus, scoring – are shared out and several players might come out ahead offensively.
Choices:
Armani – Olympiacos 2 / @1,45
Armani (+3,5) – Olympiacos 2 / @1,75
Panathinaikos – Real Madrid 1 / @1,52
Fenerbahce – Khimki (+8,5) 2 / @1,75
Zalgiris – Efes 2 / @2,02
Green top scorer / @2,60
Rochestie top scorer / @3,00