By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
This week the Turkish teams have the advantage to win their games. Furthermore, Fenerbahce and Efes can make it by a big margin against Milan and Nizhny relatively. Also, Real Madrid has the chance to beat Panathinaikos by double digits.
The most accurate bet all this season is the over option in CSKA’s points. The Russians scored 99, 95, 95, 97, 88 and 99 points in their six home Euroleague games and they face Unicaja, the only team alongside Fenerbahce that troubled them most. However, the Spanish team is not in the best shape and it’s expected that they will be defeated without putting much of a fight. The line in CSKA’s points is low and that happens due to Unicaja’s defence. But of course Itoudis’ players can score around their average (95 points).
Milan comes from two defeats and a big win on the road vs Unicaja. Fenerbahce has the same record (1-2) but also has two home defeats and wants to “cover” these failures with road wins. The Turkish team is in better shape and it’s expected that they will win the game easily because they have a deeper roster and better chemistry than the Italians. Moreover, the line in Fenerbahce’s points is small. Milan doesn’t play good defence and it’s expected that the visitors will score more than 77,5 points.
During the regular season, both Niznhy and Efes beat each other on the road. And it seems that the Turkish team has again the advantage to win in Niznhy Novgorod. The Russians lost their two last games, lost their enthusiasm and Efes knows the way to win the game.
Panathinaikos has many injuries (Mavrokefalidis, Jankovic, Pappas, Bochoridis) and the biggest problem for Ivanovic is in the paint where there are only Batista, Gist and Fotsis. On the other hand, Real is on the top with three wins and in Madrid the team has the chance to prevail by double digits over the Greens.
The betting tips
CSKA-Unicaja CSKA Over 85,5 points
@William Hill 1,85
Milan(+3)-Fenerbahce 2
@Pinnacle 1,95
Milan-Fenerbahce Fenerbahce Over 77,5 points
@Ladbrokes 1,85
Real M.-Panathinaikos (+10,5) 1
@Coral 1,91
Niznhy(+1,5)-Efes 2
@Bet365 1,90