Panathinaikos vs. ZalgirisMATCH PREVIEWPanathinaikos will start what it hopes will be the long road to the Final Four in Berlin when it hosts Lithuanian champion Zalgiris Kaunas in both teams’ Euroleague opener on Wednesday night at the Athens Indoor Olympic Hall. The Greens look poised for a big year with a star-studded cast that is hungrier than ever after a tough season last year, in which the then-defending champs were eliminated in the Top 16. Zalgiris on the other hand spent the summer with high hopes, but has been forced back to earth after early season troubles have resulted in a coaching change and the team’s top scoring threat leaving.
And that’s on top of injuries that have sidelined starting power forward Paulius Jankunas and budding guard Mantas Kalnietis. The latter, however, has returned to practice after suffering a broken arm last month and could suit up against Panathinaikos. One thing that the hosts’ coaching great Zeljko Obradovic will be sure to warn his players of is to beware the wounded Zalgiris. The team still features a host of top talents and an intimidating frontline that will be tough to deal with. Centers Loren Woods, Ratko Varda and Eurelijus Zukauskas give new head coach Gintaras Krapikas a rare mix of size, experience and depth. That trio plus power forwards Tomas Masiulis and Tadas Klimavicius could trouble the Green frontline led by Mike Batiste, Nikola Pekovic, Antonis Fotsis and Kostas Tsartsaris. Panathinaikos is expected to be without injured guard Vassilis Spanoulis, but still the hosts boast an impressive backcourt with Sarunas Jasikevicius, Drew Nicholas, Dusan Kecman and Nikos Hatzvirettas, plus rising star Stratas Peperoglou at small forward. Zalgiris newcomer Willie Deane will take up the challenge up penetrating the Panathinaikos defense, using veteran small forward Jonas Maciulis and Dainius Salenga and the less experienced Zygimantas Janavicius and Rolandas Alijevas to get the job done. A near-impeccable home record – Panathinaikos has not lost a Euroleague game at OAKA since January 2007, a run of 16 straight – and Zalgiris’s recent woes combine to make the hosts the clear favorite to start the season on the right foot. However a talented guard with some dangerous centers to feed in the paint and a hungry cast of role players looking for something to rally around could spell an upset for Zalgiris as the Euroleague season gets underway for these two classic sides.
BETTING ANALYSIS 
It's true that Zalgiris had too many problems in last few weeks to be ready for this game. More of that I am pretty sure that soon more players will leave this team but at least for this match line already includes those "against-Zalgiris" negative factors. For many M.Brown departure is big loss but as for me Marcus this season will only earn money but will not score so many points. He is not in form and in his ages they only goal he can pursuit is to earn money. This year should be a boost for such players as Kalnietis, Maciulis, Janavicius and Klimavicius. This game in Euroleague for 2 of them will be a first one but don't expect Zalgiris to go on court without ambitions. Often it happens that in difficult moment young players gives a team needed boost but this not continue for long. So as for me 20 pts margin is fully expected by all sides bookmakers, punters and experts. Personally I expect 16-25 pts win for PAO but I really have no desire to put money on PAO handicap.
Total line is more interesting for betting purposes. Zalgiris will meet seriuos problems in offense because their 3-point shooting ability is not so strong as last year especially now when Marcus left a team. P.Jankunas (best offensive player in preseason and first official games) is still injured and will not play. W.Dean will be defended by best defensive player in Euroleague Diamathidis. Klimavicius and Janavicius are too young to play in OAKA arena and score plenty of points, while older guys like Shalenga, T.Masiulis can't score points on regular basis even during BBL and LKL games. R.Varda is injured and will probably play limited minutes, Woods is out form and possible leader of team J.Maciulis is not feeling itself comfortable yet in the team especially taking into consideration that he also play with small injury... As you seeoffensively Zalgiris is not looking like a team capable of scoring 70+ points to PAO defense at least in my eyes, however in defense they are not looking like a team which allows 90-95 in each game. With big players like Woods, Zukauskas and Varda they are capable to defend paint zone. Guards will try to stop small players of greek club and I expect Zalgiris to stop PAO under 90 points.
Pao also plays in low tempo with 155-160 posessions per game and their defense was looking solid in their first game. As for me more possible total range is about 147-155 points and that's why I think that under is best choice here.
Prediction: Panathinaikos 86 - 67 Zalgiris Pick: under 159.5 @ 1.86 PinnacleSports 
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