Euroleague
Euroleague Top-16. No Picks for Today
After almost a month of break Euroleague renews with Week 1 of Top-16 stage. We have 3 games tonight but unfortunately bookies did a good job and I don't see positions where I would like to be a part of the game.
Unics - Fenerbahce Ulker
Unics added B.Nachbar to their roster but he will need some time to adapt to new team and get form after long break in his career. Ulker without important R.Ukic but with quite good and reliable roster. I think that Unics right now is very close to Ulker level and they should be favorite on home court (exactly what we see in the line) but Unics is not a team to follow with -5 against such team as Ulker. I mean that they can win this match but can they win it by 6 points with confidence? I really doubt about this.
I feel that we will see hard match where both teams will exchange leads several times but with R.Ukic Ulker might miss floor general and man to go in deciding minutes. And this is the reason why I avoid to bet on Ulker. If line on Ulker would be +7.5 this would be a bet.
Montepaschi - Bilbao
Montepaschi is not that good defensively as they usually were in previous Euroleague seasons. But it does not mean that they can defend. They can but not always this defense works. Bilbao is the team which can use this into their advantage. They dangerous team offensively but also can struggle against good defense. For me it is not easy to predict Bilbao total because there are so different and unpredictable. I see this match from 145 up to 176 points :)) Let's see if this range is right. As for the bets on total quite easy to decide for me that it is better to skip the match.
As for the outcome I lean to Montepaschi -7.5 but only because they are more experienced team and they will take care about margin against direct competitor. If you need my prediction to decide about this game here it is:
Montepaschi 84 - 75 Bilbao
Olympiacos - CSKA
Yes. CSKA these days is much better team than Olympiacos and this is new reality we have to accept. CSKA should be in a favorite skin in Pireus and I would bet on them in case bookies would set us at 1.90-1.90 line or close to it. Unfortunately they did not and I see no reason to back CSKA in Greece with such huge handicap. Don't forget that Olympiacos added forward Dorsey and point guard Law (pictured) and this is good news because roration was weak points of Olympiacos but let's see how they will perform in new team. No value in side bets for me for sure.
As for the total this is another hard puzzle. CSKA has very good offensive game but if Olympiacos will find a way to stop them CSKA will show their defense too and we might see 145 points game easily. But if offense will prevail this match can go to 160 points easily too.
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