Βy Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The predictions on the weekend games last week were almost perfect (4/5) and we will try to keep it up in the Euroleague, even though it’s getting harder.
Barcelona will try to secure the home advantage in the playoffs and the victory over Zalgiris is more than self-evident for the Catalans. The quality difference between the two teams is big, so we believe that Barcelona will prevail by more than 7 points over the Lithuanians.
In the regualr season Efes was among the teams with the best defense in the Euroleague. However, in the Top 16 that changed a lot. The Turkish team allows 85,8 points per game during the last month. In addition, Olympiacos will try to score a lot in the transition. So, the game will have more possessions than is expected. The line is too low and we will bet on Over.
In the second Greek-Turkish battle, Panathinaikos is the obvious favorite to beat Galatasaray but the handicap is tricky. In any case the Greens celebrated only two away wins in the Euroleague this season. They have the advantage but never again scored on road more than 79 points, so we bet on under.
CSKA is back to the big scores and Nizhny has the worst defense in the Top 16 alongside with Milano. The obvious choice to bet on the over but we want to eliminate the chances of losing because Nizhny will not score so many points. So, we believe that CSKA will score more than 87 points as does in the majority of its games.
The total points of a team is a complicated bet, but we will give one more tip on that. Crvena Zvezda is a competitive team and can score more than 72 points against Alba. The Serbians score more lately (84,3 ppg in their last three games) and can make it in Berlin.
The betting tips
Zalgiris(+6,5)-Barcelona 2
@SBO Bet 1,91
Alba-Crvena Zvezda Crvena Zvezda Over 72,5 points
@Unibet 1,91
Olympiacos–Efes Over 147,5 points
@Coral 1,91
Nizhny-CSKA CSKA Over 87,5 points
@Ladbrokes 1,85
Galatasarasy-Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Under 79,5 points
@William Hill 1,85