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U-18 Men European Championship: Day 1 Picks |
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Written by Alleks
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
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 Greece - Spain
Greece is playing at home and this factor could be deciding here. I am not sure about sold out arenas but I think that greek public will never leave their home country team without support. But that's not all. Greece won 11 friendlies in a row including tournament held in Mannheim, Germany in March. Where Greece (U-18) won against Spain 80:66. Spain coach was not very optimistic about his roster because he must deal with problems on center positions where they don't have tall guys. Against Greece with 4-5 players over 2.04m it would be hard to compensate height troubles.
Also Group B is very solid so every point counts here and I rate Greece chances to win at home as much better. Personally I expect Greece to win by 5-12 points.
Pick: Greece to win @ 1.65 Unibet Turkey - Bulgary
Just some quick facts to describe this selection.
1. Oct 2007. Turkey (u18) vs Bulgary (u18) 88:67 (+21). July 2008. Turkey won again 95-69 (+26).
2. Turkey goal is to win all 3 games in group stage and fight for semifinal. They have very talented roster to achieve this goal according to team previews in the press. Bulgary goal is to avoid relegation.
So I will go with Turkey handicap because expect another blowout by 14-22 points. Pick: Turkey (-9.5) @ 1.85 Local. Best online offer Bwin (-11.5)
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