betprepare.com

Krka and Hopsi played two matches this season. The first one was the Cup game in Maribor, where Krka won 97-79, while the defending champions won a few days in Polzela 85-76. Those two games have proven that Hopsi are a team that play against stronger teams the way they said before the tame, and that is as if they've got nothing to lose. Both games saw a domination of transition basketball and both teams scored over or around 60 points. On Saturday they went over 160, although the game was rather close. Today I expect less resistance from Hopsi. Krka should resolve this much earlier than in their last clash, which should affect the intensity of defense. Krka played a 155-point-game against Olimpija, 149 against the defensively focused Helios, 152 against Rogaška in regular time, and all those teams are more focused on defense than Hopsi. I expect the away team to once again reach 70ish points, which should be enough, along with a regular offensive performance by the home team, for this to go over the margin. Details

The margin set here may seem too high, but considering the style of these two teams, it can very much be surpassed. Ulm's style is well-known as they are a team with the second-best attack in the Bundesliga, a team that forces fast transitional basketball and a team that is not on that level. Braunschweig play a similar game, and play their best against unorganized defense and they avoid playing 5-on-5. It's no wonder if you consider the fact that their duo Swann-Florence control their game. They are the players that can create the advantage but are not too good in defense. For instance, they played a 163-point game against a defensively minded Fraknfurt, and a 189-points game against Bayreuth...In fact, all games against offensively minded team ended over this margin for today. The visitors are coming to Ulm without any pressure. They have avoided relegation and they can't reach the playoffs. In their first game against Ulm, both teams got 70-something shots and the game ended at 94-85 for Braunschweig. In last to seasons, all their games were around 160+ points. Details

A week ago, I thought Khimik's win against Azovmas was a safe bet. I was wrong. It turned out that Khimik played what was probably their worst match of the season. Coach Muiznieks apologized to the fans after the match, and said he was embarrassed. Obviously a series of 13 championship wins lulled the Juzni team to sleep. The result of the match against Azovmas didn't have any significance, and the defeat came as a gift for this prediction. Khimik are definitely more grounded now, and will take their first playoff match against Kyiv seriously. They need two wins, and I don't think the home team can allow any calculations, so they'll try to finish the job on Tuesday in Kyiv. Khimik are a different level than Kyiv, realistically. When they're playing with the right approach, they go to the end and try to win with the difference as big as possible. Kyiv's coming through to the playoffs should be respected, but they wouldn't be here if Khimik didn't defeat Politehnika and Goverla convincingly. The guests have a really narrow playing lineup, with basically 5-6 senior players who have experience in playing the first league, and they can hardly avoid the defeat against a fully motivated Khimik. Details

Palencia may not have been brilliant lately but they have won most of the games. The main reason for the not-so-great games was the fact that they couldn't get the first place and that they will have to look for promotion through playoffs. Now the playoffs are starting and there is no doubt Palencia will be at the top level in terms of motivation and quality. The first round is played with the best out of three system and there is no margin for errors. They are facing Rincon, a team they have beaten in both games this season. At the start of this year, Palencia struggled against the Malaga-based team but Rincon are not the same team anymore. In comparison to their last H2H, they lost all their best players. Last week, club's top scorer Guillen left Rincon and he was one of their most important players. Their important shooting guard and point guard Pozas and Diazas are not here as well, while their second top scorer and their best player at the moment Todorović is out with finger injury, although he is expected to be ready for the second leg. It's possible they lose another player as Unicaja have a Euroleague game against Milano and Rincon are their subsidiary club. Rincon's form is far from good as they lost last 5 out of 6 games, which coincided with the mentioned departures. They are facing the best defense in the league and they will definitely have tough task. Details

At first sight this margin seems extremely high but there are several reasons why I feel the home team will win this with a 20+ point lead. Koszalin and Kotwica already met twice before this season. The first match Koszalin won with a +21 point lead, the second with +32 at the end of February at home. The best impression on Kotwica team in that game was left by point guard Matthew Rosinski, right along center Terrel Parks. Those two are among the best players in the team, but will almost certainly not be playing today, as the management suspended them both and put them off the team, in a huge blow to an already thin roster of Kotwica. Suffice to say Rosinski averaged 16.4 points in the nine games played for Kotwice, so their best scorer, but also best assist provider with 4 on average. All season long Parks was the only real center and player that could tip the balance in the paint, averaging 11.8 points and 8.2 rebounds. Lately he spent 35 minutes on the court, while Rosinski played even more. This reduces Kotwica to 2-3 experienced players and a large number of completely inexperienced basketball players who cannot hold up a high intensity game for a prolonged period, in my opinion. Koszalin on the other hand are rising in form, coach Miličić set up the team the right way, they're doing great on defense and their motivation is the best possible, as they are at a 13-13 score, sharing the last playoff spot with Asseco. If Kotwica were in full strength, we could expect the home team to win with +15 or so, now the away team are in for a much worse evening. Details

There are three main reasons why I feel Antwerp will get a convincing win. The first is the difference in quality. Willebroek are a team completely reliant on offense and are the worst defensive team in the league, while they will also be without their best player Luke Loucks. He is the foundation of their transition. They can replace every player but him, according to their coach Peldic. In the last game against the Giants, he got 17 points and 9 assists and was the best player in their ranks. Their center De Zeeuw didn't play for the Giants and Antwerp are complete now. The second reason is motivation. Antwerp don't have much choice. The battle for the play-offs is at its peak with 7 rounds to go. The problem is that they lost last 3 out of 4 games and have a 15-14 score. They still hold the sixth spot, the last one for the play-offs but the seventh-placed Leuven are dangerously close, only a step behind. The third reasons is that Antwerp will not underestimate their hosts. Willebroek have surprised Oostende and Spirou which made other clubs very cautious. They are facing a bottom-of-the-table derby against Brussels on Sunday and that is a much more important game for them. One can see that from coach Peldic's statement that they have to go for the win in Brussels on Sunday. Details

Regardless of the fact that Tubingen always celebrated against Mitteldeutscher (MBC) in the last two seasons, and today's home team lost to Bayreuth with 24 points difference last weekend, MBC proved to be a decent team who surprised us a lot of times. However, Tubingen really need the points right now and I don't expect the home team to have an easy job. The guests are in the relegation zone. They're two wins behind Wurzburg (who won yesterday) and seven rounds before the end, they don't have time to calculate much. Tubingen tied two wins in a row for the first time in the season. After Trier, they celebrated on a tough away match in Frankfurt. It's noticeable that this team play with less pressure when on away matches, and that's how they got four out of their six wins. Tubingen are finally complete and you can see it on the results. Their quality is definitely above their current position, and with the right approach, they're capable of making life bitter to the MBC. Anyway, they lost with only 8 difference against Bayern recently, against Ulm 4, against Brose -2... MBC could win this, but I think the guests can keep it even until the very end. Besides the counter handicap, a decent option is the home team's under. Details

This is the clash of the best attacks in the Spanish second division. Burgos have an average of 80 points, Andorra of 85. They are very solid in defense as well but I don't think they will put much emphasis n it. In the first H2H this season, they played a 154-point game and the stakes were much higher then. They are playing for honor today as Burgos can't move from their third spot while Andorra secured their promotion a while ago. Burgos's coach will not admit it, but the most important thing for him at the moment is avoiding injuries and reaching the players with a complete squad. In last 10 rounds, the home team have an average of 84 points scored and 156-point games, while Andorra's style is well known. The team that plays the fastest basketball in the second division which particularly comes into fruition in away games where they see an average of 165 points per game. For instance, against the weakest attack in the league (Barcelona B), they allowed 80 points and played a 157-point game, against defensively-minded Rincon the total tally was 178, against Oviedo it was 173, against the best defense in the league Palencia it was 171. Details

In this game, the visitors should definitely be more motivated. The hosts from Melilla have to play this game and the season is over for them. They will end the regular season on 11th spot. Ourense could theoretically catch up with them but the hosts for today have a better H2H score. But neither the 11th or the 12th spot will bring them anything in terms of play-offs. Today they face Lleida against whom they suffered a convincing defeat by the end of last year. The Catalans won the game by 21 points, mostly due to Melilla's disastrous second period. Coach Alcoba is talking about low morale on account of them failing to fulfill their main goal, and they will probably be without their important shooting guard Narrosa and main PG Riera. Lleida beat strong Breogan in the last round and this kept them in the battle for the play-offs. They don't have too many options today, they have to go for the win and wait for Breaogan beat weakened Rincon at home. Even though they are not convincing in away games, they got all three of their away wins from last six away games. They've won last 3 out of 4, their form is on the up and coupled with the motivation, which Melilla are lacking, I think this is worth a moderate stake. Details

Frankfurt won the first H2H pretty convincingly but they no longer have their best shooter Rautinas or PG Robinson who scored a joint total of 50 points then. Frankfurt are faced with many injury problems and their offensive figures have been on the down lately. They have five defeats in away games while Würzburg got 3 relatively convincing wins at home. The home team have to look for the points. Tübingen have recently beaten Frankfurt and have come just a step away from Würzburg. The home team don't have much choice. They have to go for the win so that they don't sink into the relegation zone. After today's game, they have two home games until the end. Würzburg had 11 days to prepare while Frankfurt are in a much more difficult rhythm of games. On Wednesday, they had a very difficult game against Brose which means they only had 1 day to prepare. I expect the hosts to be very motivated here and capable of stopping the guests, while they also have many good options on the attack. Details

Goverla lost against Budivelnik by 21 points a few days ago and now they have to beat Khimik if they want to reach the play-offs. The problem for the home team is that Khimik have no mercy and play every game with 100% power and motivation. That was the case when they beat Politechnica by 44 points. Just like Goverla, they needed a win to secure the play-offs but Khimik didn't care. Realistically speaking, the only way for Goverla to win this is if the away team let them. The difference in quality is huge. The home team are without all foreigners and had to restock with second division players. Politechnica are better than Goverla at the moment, just like Ferro whom Khimik beat by 33 points away, even though Ferro had not been beaten at home until then. Romeo Travis was spared against Politechnica and it wasn't felt as the Latvian coach used other players and no starter got more than 22 minutes, while Paul Delaney, Jamal Shuler didn't start and Matt Gatens got only 7 minutes. Muižnieks makes many rotations in each game so it's possible the foreigners get more time today. They didn't calculate a few days ago so I don't think they will calculate today. The only team they beat by less than 28 points in last 6 rounds was Budivelnik. I think this bet is also worth taking for a larger margin, such as 17.5 as offered by Bet365. Details

The margin may appear to be very low at first glance, but there are several reasons why I think its actually too high. All has been said about the way Helios and Krka play. The Domzale team, led by coach Zmago Sagaind, are fully focused on defense, which an be seen in their matches against stronger teams. They opened the playoff with two victories, beating Zlatorog 70-55 at home, while they played 70-70 in regular time in Polzela last week, although the Hops are a very offensively oriented team. In the Cup semifinal this season they lost to Union Olimpija 57-59. Krka played against Szolnoki on Saturday. The Hungarians came to outrun their opponents, and practically play a run and gun game, but this 140 points margin was still not broken. Coach Džikić's ideas are well known, and after they almost lost at home to Rogaška, I believe he will push for a much more serious approach, meaning also more aggressive on defense. We can also add Helios and Krka played three matches last year, and never went over 137 points. According to Džikić the guest team will be missing Murić and Bečirović, with Hukić, Klobučar and Lapornik also struggling with minor issues. Details

Tarnobrzeg and Kotwica are the weakest two teams in Poland in terms of quality and they have a hard time handling all serious clubs. Because of that, they have many attacking problems when playing against teams like Koszaling or Asseco. Their game is characterized by fast temp and relatively weak defense. This especially becomes apparent when they play against each other. In last two seasons, they have played six times and have never gone under 159 points. In five games, they went over 163 points. They played a 187-point game this season and then a 172-point game in regular time, and Kotwica won by 99-95 after overtime. The only team Kotwica can compete against are actually Tarnobrzeg, as they don't have a real center in the team and Kotwica can penetrate their defense easily. Tarnobrzeg have an average of 160 points in home games and Kotwica have an average of 158 points for away games but the stats don't reveal too much as there are plenty of games in which those 2 teams are not competitive enough and stay in low figures. Details

In this match, the guest team from the capital are definitely more motivated. Kyiv still have a big chance to get to the playoffs. They have a 11-14 ratio on the tenth place. Politehnika are eighth with 12-13, and they play against the powerful Himik in the last round and will probably lose that match, which means ratio will be 12-14. Ninth Goverla have 11-13, and two more matches to play, against Budivelnik and Himik. They can hardly count on those points, it seems almost impossible and that's why Kyiv are still in. Especially because they have a better score against Politehnika. That means, Kyiv know that if they win today, they could easily get to the playoffs, and that's got to be a huge motive for them. They have an advantage over Kryvbas because of the more experienced national players. They can assemble the starting five from the proven seniors who had decent numbers alongside the Americans. They crushed Odesa in the last round with 40 points difference. Kryvbas could be the weakest team of the Ukrainian Superleague right now. They lost the last seven matches, and they'll probably be without their best player, Malcevski, today. Details

Both Bayern and Brose traveled to Ulm for the Cup final event with one goal - to win it. But both teams lost pretty convincingly yesterday, which gives us the right to doubt their motivation today. The games for the third place are those no one wants to do, and often don't seem like real games at all. It is difficult to expect that Bayern and Brose will play defense at the right level. We can expect a higher pace game with not as much physical effort. Brose have a championship game against Frankfurt in a few days, and Bayern have an Euroleague meeting with Maccabi. Brose played the semi final game 17 hours ago, Bayern finished their 14 hours ago. They didn't have much time to prepare, and playing two high-intensity games in such a short period of time is not easy. Alba and Ulm were extremely aggressive yesterday, so both Brose and Bayern struggled with scoring three pointers a lot. It is difficult to expect they will score 10 three pointers out of 45 attempts today combined. A less tough approach in defense should as a result have a much better efficiency percentage. Details

The only thing to expect in this game is a real basketball trench war. Barca have a 5-19 score and Ourense 7-17. The last two teams will get relegated and there will be no play-offs like last year so the only way for the home team to save themselves today is to win by at least 3 points and beat Huesca in the last round and hope Ourense lose the last game. This Oursense team has already beaten Barcelona this season by 61-59 and the away coach will put the emphasis on defense once again. In the last round, they limited Oviedo to 67 points, Rincon to 57.With 66 points per game on average, Barcelona have the worst attack in the league. Their game end in an average of 141.7 points and Ourense's in 142.5 points. Taking the importance into consideration, we definitely should not expect too many points here. Details

This is a game that has no meaning for either teams. Andorra have already secure the first place and the promotion to top flight and the away team are definitely going down. The atmosphere will be festive before and after the game and there is a huge celebration coming up so it's hard to expect a tight game with maximum intensity. I expect Andorra to impose their faster pace without too much trouble. Andorra won the first game against Navarra by 93-70. It was a game marked with high tempo and lots of turnovers. Navarra allow an average of 80 points per game, they have the worst defense in the league while Andorra have the best offense. The fact is that Navarra don't have a great offense, but Andorra have recently played games against teams with a much better defense which ended in 157 points (Barcelona B) and 178 points (Rincon). All in all, this should be more of an exhibition match than a real league match. Details

Asseco lost against Koszalin in the last round, even though they were up by 7 points 1 minute before the end. They reaffirmed their good form but they lost their concentration in the end. Today, they have no margin for error. Koszalin are just one step away and Slask have already won twice in the play-offs for spots 7-12. Only the first two spots lead into the main play-offs so they simply have to go with full force against the weak Kotwica. And they beat Kotwica away in late January by 12 points. Asseco took the 22-4 lead in the first period and just kept it going until the end. In that game, Kowtica's top scorers were Jordan callahand and Jessie Sapp who scored 35 points between them on that occasion, but they have left the club recently. Their power forward Karron Johnson has also left the club so it would be no surprise that Kotwica got one win in last 12 rounds - in overtime after Tarnobrzeg. Asseco have a 9-2 score at home and they've beaten the strongest teams in the league at home, like Trefl, Stelmet or Turow. They beat the solid Slask team by 12 points and Kotwica lost against the very same Slask by 20 points just a few days ago. Asseco have the best defense in the league and they have conceded 65.3 points in last 10 games. Kotwicw have scored 68.2 and allowed 82 in the same period. Details

Pepinster lost six games in a row, and only once scored more than 69 points during that time. The team's greatest problem is offense, and the only thing they can rely on is defense, especially in a big local derby against Liege, the best defensive team of the league. These are matches of special importance for Pepinster, but they've so far lost both matches against their great rival this season, the one in January ended 57-69 and the one midway through November last year ended with 62-79, Those scores make it clear that these derbies usually give us very aggressive basketball with a focus on defense, and we can expect the same today as well. Liege average 72.7 points in away games, and allow their opponents only 71. Recently they played a 135 point game vs Brussels, and it is common knowledge Brussels are defensively poor. The only way Pepinster can make up for the disparity in quality is by raising the intensity on defense, which is to be expected in this game. Details

Koszalin have failed to score over 67 points in last four games. They lost against Slask by 66-74, against Slupsk by 63-71, against Rosa 67-72 and they beat Stelmet by 66-64. These results are not surprising if you consider the fact they lost their top scorer Sek Henry due to doping test, that their solid shooter Oded Brandwein was suspended by the club due to some statements, and that they lost their offensively potent power forward Dragan Labović. They are going into this game with a new coach Igor Miličić, who didn't have much time for any major changes and is also facing an important game against Asseco. This is the second phase of the league in which the clubs that hold places 7-12 go into the play-offs and the 7th and 8th spot lead into the final play-offs. Koszalin currently have a 9-13 score and they would bet two steps behind the play-off spots in case they lose today. They are hosting Assecco, the team with the best defense in the Polish league who allow an average of under 70 points and have even reduced that tally to 66.1 points in last 10 rounds. In away games, they score an average of 67.5 points, and the average number of points in their last 10 games is 135. This is due to David Dedek's renowned defensive tactics that he will maintain today as well. Details