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In the second round of the Belgian championship, Oostende lost to today's opponents Leuven in an away game with -9. They were leading at half-time and at the beginning of the final quarter they had +7, and then they came to a complete stop in the last quarter and lost that period with 16-32. and surprisingly, the Bears won. In the first round Oostende lost to Mons with 66-79 at home, and before that they lost at home in the Supercup to Antwerp, and in the pre-season they also mostly lost. The reason for the weaker pre-season and the start of the championship could be explained by the lack of four national team players during the whole summer, all important players, and a couple of also key ones who were plagued by injuries, like Gillet. The Belgian champions needed some time to get together. Gjergja also brought some new faces (Mwema) and the Champions League began...
For today's prediction the important fact is that they're together, in the right shape, and now they look like they did last season. In the Champions League they beat Avellin, Canarias, they tightly lost to Mega and then on Wednesday they beat Cibona. In Belgium, after being defeated by Leuven, they beat the strong Brussels at home with 17 points of difference (by half-time it was +15), Liege with 28 (21), Okapi with 23 (16), and they only had a hard time reaching points at home against Antwerp (+5). However, the Giants are extremely competitive this season, I daresay next to Oostende. In the last two rounds Willebroek, Oostende won in an away games with 22 points of difference (half-time +22), last Satuday they beat Mons in an away game with +10 (+9).
The win over Mons best paints the picture of their better shape they are now than they were at the start of the season, and definitely the motivational element of a revenge will be present today. Leuven solidily started out the championship, in the first four rounds they recorded three wins. But, realistically, the Bears don't have a bigger quality compared to last season when they ended at the very bottom, they don't have the width, and as the rounds go by, their shape is on the fall. They're on a six-game losing run, in the last three they lost with more than 15 points of difference, as much as they lost at home to Liege, in an away game against Okapi they fell with -18, they lost to Limburg in the last round also with -18 (Limburg were on a seven-league game losing run). In away games their record is 0-5. Last season, by the end of first half, they were losing in Oostende with 13 points of difference. Tonight, as the worst case scenario, I expect something similar. Oostende said they remember well the defeat in Leuven, their shape then and now can't be compared, and that they won't head light-headed into the game.