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Rincon will once again suffer the consequences of being Unicaja's farm team. Since Unicaja play CSKA in Euorleague today and don't have a few important players at their disposal (Suarez, Stefansson, Marković), coach Plaza plans to take a few of Rincon's players. We don't have the names of those players but Mou Soluade and Kenan Karahodzic are probably the duo joining Unicaja today. The two of them are very important for Rincon, with Soluade averaging 10.2 points and 2.4 assists and Karahodzic adding 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds. Soluade spends more time in the game than any other Rincon's players while Karahodzic plays 21 minute per game. It's quite possible that the two of them aren't the only ones to join Unicaja today, given all the absences and the fact Soluade and Karahodzic were part of Unicaja's team even when the Euroleague contender had all the player at their disposal. Rincon have not won a single game so far, getting close in Valladolid when Soluade and Karahidzic finished with 30 points combined (the whole team scored 64). Huesca won one out of the first 4 games but their opponents were tough - 4 out of the 5 prime candidates for promotion. Good thing is, they are getting better each next round as proved in their win over Coruna. Huesca don't have to deal with absences after having two weeks to prepare for this game. Details

This margin is the consequence of the last match PAO played in the Euroleague, against Fener, but that is a game one definitely should not abide by. Against Fener PAO managed to score 60 points by halftime in an otherworldly shooting performance where everyone made any shot they took , regardless of the position. The second half was more realistic, and is closer to what I expect here. Milano were mentioned and picked several times this season, they're a team with many physically powerful players, capable of playing excellent defense. They've proven this in all three matches they played this season, where none of the opposing teams (Bayern, Barca, Fener) went over this margin, and all were offensively stronger than Panathinaikos. I see this margin as 5-6 points too high, as we're certainly not going to witness another insane performance by PAO. This will most likely be a close match where they'll struggle to get over 70 points. Details

The Spanish futsal first league have had a really tough week. After an active weekend, they had the Copa del Rei on the menu for Tuesday/Wednesday, with the better teams even travelling to distant destinations. This includes these two teams as well. Today's away team took the bus to Western Spain against Saintiago de Compostela. After a very hard match (5-5), the outcome was decided with a penalty shootout, they went back to Navarra and the very next day took another long trip, this time to face Levante in Valencia.
The club webpage says the team managed to hold just a recuperation training and had massage treatments, and that those are obviously not the best way to prepare such an important match.
Both teams are both playoff contenders and Cup of Spain contenders as Levante are at eight spot closely followed by Navarra, so the stakes are high.
Levante played away in Sevilla against a Real Betis, team big in name but small in quality. Levante coach Jose Escrich spread around the play time, obviously focusing on the coming match.
All this points to fatigue playing a big role on both sides. On the other hand, both teams base their game on defense. As this is an important match and both teams will start with more caution, I'll go for halftime under, cause I think these two won't score more than 2 goals in the first half. Details

To suggest which team will win today is very tough, but we seem to be in for a very offense-oriented game at the packed stadium in Rotterdam. That is both coach's style and football philosophy and there is no reason for them to change it in the head-to-head game. Both teams have slightly ailing midfield and offense, but that might not be too important since the defenses aren't very convincing on either team and both will always want to score that extra goal.
Total number of goals in Excelsior's five home games was 3 or more, with the other two ending at 2 goals. Utrecht are even more efficient that way, with their four out of their five home games ending at more than 3, and one ending with two goals. Total number of goals was never under 4 in their last five championship games. 3 or more were scored in three out of Excelsior's last four. Utrecht and Excelsior last met in 2012 and 2011 - Utrecht won 3-2 twice and Excelsior 3-1 once.
Those are the arguments for the bet but we'll opt for the more cautions three-goals over. In case three are scored, the bet is void. Details

Though both teams are in a good situation after the first three rounds, this should be a battle for every point, as both teams are primarily defense based, proven by their results this season. Set aside the Neptunas matches, as well as the ones Zvezda played with Vizura, as those were matches against very quick teams and have nothing in common with what we'll see today. Of the remaining seven games, the only one Zvezda went over 152 in was the demolition of Cibona and against Budućnost on Sunday, when the game was decided shortly before the final minutes. The rest of the matches have much bigger merit here, and they were all under 144. Zvezda welcomed Galatasaray and Valencia here in matches at 144 and 139. Olympiacos on the other hand had only two matches where they conceded above 68, and went over this margin against Panathinaikos in the Cup when they scored a heap in the finish, vs Neptunas, and against Kolossos in the Greek league. At home they played 63-57 against Kutxa, and at Valencia, in a match similar to the one expected here, the total was 140 points. Their new coach Sferopoulos is pushing for a full focus on defense, just like he did with Panionios, demanding full concentration and patient offense, aware of the dangers of Zvezda on the counterattack. He will try to lower the pace of the match as much as possible, and Olympiacos are definitely capable of limiting Zvezda to a low score. This game should be decided in 70 or less points, the margin on offer is definitely too high. Details

As the new team in the league Silkeborg have held their own in duels with teams equal to themselves, but their results against the top teams of the Danish league are revealing a quality disparity. Randers 21-40, Team Esbjerg 21-32,Mitjylland 19-28, and their only performance worth mentioning was a 23-25 loss against Viborg. TT Holstebro are at least equal to the ones mentioned above, they have a very deep rotation with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish national team members in almost all positions. They have two exceptionally good middle backs in Kristina Kristiansen and Laerke Moller. Along with the best Danish left winger Norgaard, those players can dictate a fierce pace throughout 60 minutes. If we were to compare rosters, suffice to say Holstebro have Dragojević as a reserve, who was one of the two most efficient Silkeborg players last season. The entire Silkeborg concept revolves around two players: experienced Jette Hansen, who battled Holstebro for two seasons in Vejen, and young and talented Dornoville de la Cour, with the two of them totaling 105 of the teams 206 goals this season. The two of them cannot match Holstebro's capacity, and will easily shut them down. We also have a preseason match of these teams ending with a 38-19 win for Holstebro. Given it was a preseason match and there were rotations involved, the real difference is less than 20 goals, but the current form, results, and the individual and team quality Holstebro have, all this points to at least +10 as a very realistic option. Details