By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
In a marathon of 14 games, it’s difficult to make out the games in which the stars of the Euroleague are not going to be that good. But it’s easy to “guess” the games in which they will have extra motivation to play better in order for you to be the beneficiaries in the fantasy challenge.
Giannis Bourousis, for example, is having an amazing season, but his record night was against Olympiacos in Vitoria, when he scored 44 points! He would be an excellent choice this week in the fantasy challenge, but his will play against Olympiacos tired because of his two trips back and forth to Athens due to his father-in-law death. So, it’s better to save credits and go for Ante Tomic whose choice is safer, as soon as he’s extremely steady.
Something similar (if to a lesser extent) about motivation applies to James Gist as well, who has a special motivation to prove to Malaga how wrong they were to let him go and transfer to Panathinaikos in Christmas 2012.
Repesa is no longer on the team’s bench, but Gist will certainly have that special motivation. Other than that, Gist is the ideal choice because of Panathinaikos’s next two consecutive home games. The American has 17,6 evaluation points in this year’s home games of the “greens” and only 7,8 away from OAKA! So, against Malaga and Crvena Zvezda in the next two rounds, he can make the difference.
Before we move on with the analysis of the rest of our suggestions, let’s take a look at what happened last week. Eurohoops.net team picked up 179,4 points, mostly thanks to Shved and Delaney who offered a total of 81,4 points! Nonetheless, this week Khimki is tested on Barcelona’s home court, one of the toughest in the Euroleague. It won’t be as easy for Shved to score 18+, so we better take advantage of his credits and invest elsewhere.
Something similar applies to Quincy Miller as well, a player who is no longer undervalued and whose mission against the athletic Fenerbahce is not easy. So, we thank him for his points and the 28 credits as we decide to turn to other players. The last one to depart from the team is Joel Freeland, who didn’t perform according to our expectations in the first round of the Top 16. With 182,9 credits available, we choose to bring Tomic back to the team and acquire Gist.
The player who will round off the roster will be one who has been accustomed to the top spots of the backcourt. Vassilis Spanoulis is paying for his “poor” regular period and with a 28,9 price tag he’s an ideal option, as he looks in good shape in Olympiacos’s last games. And the game with Laboral is ideal for the captain of the Piraeus team to shine.
Eurohoopsnet team
Point Guards
Milos Teodosic 68,7 credits (+0,3)
Nick Calathes 60,6 credits (-5,7)
Shooting Guards/Small Forwards
Nando De Colo 95,9 credits (-1,5)
Malcolm Delaney 90,1 credits (+9)
Bogdan Bogdanovic 46,1 credits (+3,3)
Vassilis Spanoulis 28,9 credits
Power Forwards/Centers
Ante Tomic 82,6 credits
Miro Bilan 73 credits (-1,7)
Jan Vesely 70 credits (-0,9)
James Gist 54,8 credits