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Manresa definitely don't deserve to be bottom table as they are now. Their quality is better now, as well as their game. As most Spanish teams, they are doing much better home and I think the time has come for them to finally win and go up in the table. Their opponent are from the bottom part of the table, lead by a coach who was an apprentice of Manresa's coach. Manresa are a much better team since Tofu and White joined and they will prove it today. Details

Gran Canaria were badly defeated to Valencia in the last championship game, conceding 101 point, which is completely unacceptable for coach Aito. Despite allowing the team more freedom in offense and a faster-paced game, Aito builds his game around good defense. The visitors played a well-organized, controlled game and I'm sure we're in for a slow-paced game. Gran Canaria went over this margin in only three out of 11 home games (one-sided wins over Dijon and Cantu in Eurocup and over fast-paced Cajo early this season). On the other hand, the visitors conceded over this margin only twice in 12 games (Real and Estudiantes away). I expect a tough game and I find it difficult to believe either team will score over 80 points. Details

Betting on Valencia's away games makes absolutely no sense. They are doing horribly away but it's high time that changed. Perasovic clearly has the kind of team he wants, it's finally injury-free and the time has come for Valencia to start doing like they did last season. The last two home games, in which they scored over 100, respectfully, seems to be the start of a new period. They won't be as productive today since the home team play very slow-paced game, which was crucial in my choice of the bet. Valencia can respond to slow-paced game and their physical fitness is, much better than Bruesa's. In the two head-to-head games last season, Bruesa couldn't score 60 points. This season, Bruesa were well under at this margin against Joventut (60) and Barcelona (47), the two teams similar to Valencia quality-wise. And again, Valencia's road performances are not good, but the time has come for Perasovic to start the ascend towards the top of the table where his team belongs. Details

Hats off to CSKA who are impressive this season, even without Teodosić. But, nobody can come to Malaga and expect an easy ride. This is one of the most difficult courts in Europe, and the home team's coach even pointed that out today and invited the fans. Unicaja didn't lose at home with this handicap in over a year, and even though they lost to Real and Maccabi, those defeats were close. I expect the same today because Unicaja are one of the rare European teams who can match CSKA in strength, defense and rebounds. These two teams are pretty evened out, and I see this match on a hot court in Malaga, a match that doesn't matter to CSKA, as a home team's win. Details

Barcelona already secured top spot, Fenerbahce are the runner-up, but regardless of that, I don't think this will be an important game in either teams' minds. Fenerbahce still remember that defeat to Barcelona home and will be very motivated today to make it right and beat them for the first time this season. The fact home team don't have two top scorers to count on, which will make things much easier for Fenerbahce's defense. Oleson Goudelock will be given a lot more chance today. Fenerbahce finally have the game Obradovic wants them to play. I'm convinced it will be a close game, I even think Fenerbahce are much closer to winning. Details

Galatasaray are undefeated home this season, while Caja don't have a single win away. Every streak must come to its end and I think the time is right for it. Galatasaray are constantly struggling with unpaid salaries, the players are constantly threatening to leave and Aldemir finally did. It may seem his absence will make no difference, but he did prove to be a very important player in the first head to head game, finishing with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Without him, front court lost power and might struggle in rebounding as they face Begic and Iverson. Kutxa are getting better as time goes by, as was expected given all the talent on the team. After a few tight losses, they destroyed Olympiacos to prove they deserve my trust. The away games were a struggle for them so far, but I believe they have the game and the players that can give Galatasaray a hard time and I even believe they can record their first away win this season. Details

Sassari, quality-wise, are well below the rest of the teams in this group, but their fast game is what gives them hope they can stand up to their opponents. That is something we're going to see today because they know that they have no chance against the Russians. This is to our advantage because, while UNICS' defense can stop the Italians, it's hard to see how will that team keep away individuals such as Langford, White, Jerrels; all who've played in this hall and know what they're up against. UNICS have shown in the first head-to-head that they're one step above Sassari. Since then they've changed their coach, started playing faster and adapted to the team they have, and we've seen the result when they've crushed Real last week in an away game. If they managed to score 85 points against one of the best European teams, I don't see them staying below 80 in this one. Details

The logic to this pick is very simple - Limoges left almost all of their opponents in under at this margin home. Their performance is based on tough defense and physical game, which was very obvious in the first h2h match when they limited Malaga to 75 points. Limoges are even better and tougher home, which they will prove today. Unicaja play slow-paced basketball coach Plaza prefers this season. Bad news is, they can't count on their top scorer Vasileiadis today and that is bound make things ever more difficult. I expect a tough game based on the opponents' styles, but because of the stakes as well. Because of it, anything over 70 points seems excessive here. Details

Caja Laboral are a team for which we'we said a couple of time that they're going to grow as the season moves on. They have a lot of offense talent and current games are far from their limit. The last two defeats were tight, and now Begic is more in the game so we can expect further advancement. Caja can stand up to Olympiacos in the physical sense which is very important, especially now with Begic on the court where they will be almost completely equal in the rebound. In the first meeting i Pirei we had a draw, and now the advantage of the home court is on the side of the Spaniards, and lately they have been making great use of that. Caja are closer to a victory if you ask me, but if it doesn't come to that, I'm sure the defeat won't be convincing. Details

CSKA aren't as powerful offensively without Teodosic. Regardless of their great offense performances up till now, I think this margin is too high for a few reasons. First of all, Maccabbi are getting better after a bad period that was characterized by poorer defense performances. Now that Smith and Tyus are back, the defense is much tougher. The defense is the way Maccabi's coach plans to limit CSKA to 72 points today - or at least he would want it. I would be happy even with a few points more, but I don't think CSKA will record 80 in this away game. Details

A tip that is based on stats, but on a lot of common sense as well. Everyone knows how important defense is in Repesa's game style. It's also quite clear that Cedevita now play top-level defense, with all five players trying their best. Ukic and Ramljak are of course, the best ones.Two of them didn't play the first head-to-head game when Cedevita left Unicaja in under at this margin despite losing convincingly. Cedevita played a total of 14 official games this season and never once conceded more than 80 points, not even to CSKA or Maccabi. Unicaja played 5 unders at this margin in the last 7 games, winning convincingly sometimes with only 70 or so points scored. I'm sure Cedevita are capable of playing very good defense to leave Unicaja under this margin. Details

Real are without Fernandez, they struggled in the first h2h, Zalgiris are playing home at the packed Arena and they have been doing great, but Real are at an entirely different level. They have far better players in each position. Real beat them this season already, despite doing badly in that game. Their top players had horrible three point percentages, while Zalgiris ended with three point efficiency of 50%. All that in spite, Zalgiris never got close to threatening Real's lead. The team from Madrid are now much better, with almost no chance of that poor shooting efficiency to happen again. This will end with a double-digit point difference for sure. Real failed in Istanbul and that was enough. They now meet a less tougher opponent that won each of their last h2h games by 20 or more point. I expect the same to happen today. Details

Although it seems pointless, I'm sure of it. Oly are in a never better shape. Valencia are miles away from an ideal form, and they also lost their first play and best player. I see it differently. Valencia had a tough fixture in the first part of the season, Perasovic himself admitted to that and added that he's satisfied with his team and that they're just going to face real games. If anything, what Valencia have offered us so far is great defense, and we'll get some of it today as well. Oly are very predictive when it comes to offense, and they depend on Spanoulis, and Peras know how to defend that. Valencia are a team who can physically stand up to Olympiacos, and Lojeski's and Printezis's absence is nothing Oly can make up for. I see this as a close game and a lot closer to 60-something points on each side than the 80 host points. Details

All due respect to Efes and their performances following Krstic' injury, but I think it's high time they recorded a first defeat. UNICS didn't meet the expectations in the first part of the season, which resulted in the sacking of their coach. Pashutin, who knows what he's in for here, is in my opinion going to take UNICS to a higher level. His team have immense individual quality, only haven't been displaying it yet. This is an extremely important game and Efes, on my opinion, reached their full potential. UNICS' quality will be too much for them to handle. Details

Although Real seem to be a run and gun offensive machine at first glance, regularly scoring 90-100 points, the truth is that the key to their game is defense. Their transition game starts there and makes the difference. Today this will be particularly important, as unlike Sassari or Nizhny, Efes will certainly not accept the chase, and this is one game Ivković will want to slow down as much as possible. Real played a similar away game vs Uniks, and showed they can adapt to that as well. With Krstić gone, Efes are much weaker on the offense and until their Serbian center returns it's unlikely they will go over 80 points against anyone. The rest of the team are primarily workers and they'll try to keep up through defense as long as they can today, but they cannot take care of Real's defense, at least not in such a way to score more than 75. Staying at 60ish is a much more realistic estimate for them. Details

A bet that always makes sense against Zvezda. Zvezda's been playing a fantastic defense this season, and they left almost all of their opponents under 70 points. We can expect the same here, they defeated Laboral last year easily, leaving them under 63 points. Laboral are an interesting team with lots of offensive talent, but they'll need some time to work together as a team. Zvezda are in top form already, as confirmed against Galatasaray, Valencia and Oly, who are all better than Laboral, and they couldn't score even 70 against Radonjić's team. I don't see how Laboral can get to 80. 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

Barca are dominating the beginning of the season, while Fener is struggling quite a bit. The last defeat against Panathinaikos was a disgrace, just like the 60 points which they received until halftime. That resulted with a total mobilization and Obradovic surely pressed the gas on trainings as well as in the quarantine in which they are allegedly since the defeat in Athens. Such a team will today enter the court maxed out, and in Obradovic's basketball that means bloody knee defense. Although Barca is very strong offense-wise and have a lot of solutions, today they will meet an opponent which won't be able to give them space to breathe. Fener are aggressive and they have a coach who will know how to stop the opponent's offense. Barca are not a team who would rush a round and I expect a true war and a very hard match. The bet could be somewhat less because of a possible penalty finale. Details

All due respect to the defending champions but this margin is not realistic. Maccabi are vulnerable this early in the season, like we saw in their last meeting with Hapoel when they lost by 30 points. They meet a team that are not as good but Cedevita play much better, Euroleague level defense. They have great defenders (Gordic, Ukic and Ramljak) who are very successful at preventing the opponents from scoring. Maccabi are a better-quality team, there's not doubt about it, but the fact remains that no team managed to score 80 points against Cedevita. The Croatian team might not win today but they will play aggressive defense throughout the game and I don't think Maccabi can go well over 80 points here. Details

Zalgiris have been doing far better than expected this season but I don't think they will struggle with UNICS today. As expected, ever since Pedoulakis took over, the visitors turned into a team that make it very difficult for the opponenta to score, even as little as 70 points. Pedoulakis insists on slow-pace basketball with tough defense, which UNICS have no problem catering to what with all the psychically powerful players on the team. Their defense will now face a unpredictable team that managed to beat Efes after scoring some crazy attempts that normally don't turn out the best way. UNICS can deal with Zalgiris' defense, with back court that is capable of handling much tougher defenses at their disposal. Zalgiris have been doing better than anyone dared to hope for, but the time has come for someone to put them in their place and that place is nowhere near UNICS quality-wise. Details