By Lefteris Moutis / moutis@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos wants to get the road win at Belgrade and defense will be the key in their effort. Eurohoops analyzes today’s games from the betting point of view.
Fenerbahce–Galatasaray
Fenerbahce hosts Galatasaray for the third time this year and wants to achieve again the obvious: to get a comfortable win against their arch-rival (the points difference in the previous games was 16 and 18 points). Onm the other hand Fenerbahce has more pressure to win as they fight for the home court advantage, while Galatasaray will play mainly for their pride. Our tip is to bet on the over (@OPAP 1,75). The limit is 160.5 points and Galatasaray has the second worst defense in the Euroleague.
The hosts want to continue their winning streak, which is the largest since the beginning of the season. Only the Serbs and CSKA have won six consecutive games in this year’s Euroleague. Panathinaikos goes to Belgrade victorious over Barcelona and that’s a major boost to the team’s confidence. Still the safest bet is the under (@ Bet365 1,71). The two teams play in the fewest possible possessions and although the points limit is very low (149 points), they may score a lot less. Five of the last eight games of Crvena Zvezda and four of the last six games of Panathinaikos finished with a lowest point total that the limit.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv – Unics Kazan
Maccabi has just one win in the last ten games and Unics Kazan a victory in the last four games. So both have their issues. Unics seems to be better as a unit, but if Langford is not hot, like it happened in the last game, then anything can happen. Both groups are not efficient in defense (Maccabi lets its opponents score 84.5 points and the same number for Unics is 81.5) So the limit of 158.5 points (@Stoiximan 1,70) is very low.
The picks
Fenerbahce-Galatasaray Over 160.5 points
Red Star-Panathinaikos Under 149 points
Maccabi Tel-Aviv Unics Over 158,5 points