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Both teams had a bad season onset

Both teams started the season on the wrong leg, and a win is crucial to both. Buducnost have experience on their side, especially on the center and playmaker positions, which could prove the key for beating the home team

PAOK, after  a disappointing defeat in a Cup match against Aris woke up, and in the national championship opening match beat Kolossos in an peculiar match. After the last season we have gotten used to seeing PAOK play few points games on their home court, and such was their performance against Aris. But against Kolossos they accepted the away teams fast pace, and in a shooting spree match we saw them score 88. Still, their defense oriented coach Markopoulos was not satisfied after the match:

- We made too many errors on the defense. As against Aris we were too soft.  We were troubled by the score, since we couldn’t afford two defeats in the season onset and that reflected on our gameplay-

The offense was remarkably efficient, considering the team are still without Payne who is injured, but he was appropriately substituted by the highly experienced Charalampidis, who scored 26 points. The young center Bogris who had a double-double contributed, and playmaker Cooper earned his pay. Bogris spoke highly of him:

- He is great to play with. He is lightning fast, knows his basketball, and his assists are great-

Still,  Cooper is a young player and on his first season in Europe, so his oscillations in gameplay are understandable, e.g. against Aris where he was appalling. He will have a tough job on the defense today since he is to guard the experienced Capin, which will make an interesting duel. Coach Markpoulos highly respects their opponents as could be seen from his statement announcing the match: 

- Buducnost progressed in bounds and leaps in organizing their gameplay these last few years. They are a versatile team, with an abundance of great players, and will definitely give us a run for our money. Although the differences between our budget and the rest of the teams in the group are great we do not intend on being the onlookers, we plan to get some results-Markopoulos said.

Buducnost did not start the season on the right leg, they lost two away matches, against Krka and MTZ, and won their only victory against Zadar at home. With a lot of new players on the team, it is logical that they lack some cohesion.
 
Their biggest name this season, the MVP of last season in the ABA league, Aleksandar Capin is still not in top shape, and he is expected to give a big contribution in this match. The second acquisition, Nigeria’s center player Jaleel Akindele, also hasn’t earned his pay yet. Buducnost have high ambitions for the season, they hope to better their last season’s Eurocup results, and this match is important for their confidence.

-We have another tough match in store for us, again an tough away match. PAOK are highly experienced,  and we know them well, and we are aware of how dangerous they can be on their home court. We must learn our lesson from the MZT match; especially form our poor gameplay in the first half. We wish to impose our own pace and that means feisty basketball with a lot of running- Buducnost coach Igor Jovovic said and added:

-There is no big pressure for the match, the Eurocup has only started, but we wish to win. In this competition, the aggregate score comes in to play a lot, and we have to be mindful of it-

He has no problems with the roster for this match since all his players are fit and ready for the tough away match and all are aware that a win in this match can mean a lot later on.

And a win is a highly plausible scenario, since Buducnost are superior to both teams PAOK played this season. Especially on the defense, a watermark of the team in the last several seasons, and in the Aris match it was proven beyond all doubt that pitted against a tough, defensively oriented team , PAOK tend to flop. Cooper is still not up to such challenges, and that impairs the other 23 year old in the team, Bogris. On the other hand, Buducnost has terrific, experienced players on these positions who will definitely not succumb to the atmosphere in Solun, and the away team are closer to winning than the odds would have it.
 

PAOK had problems since the season started. First, they were kicked out of the Cup by Aris, and then they barely managed to celebrate against the mediocre Kolossos. The team changed the players on the key positions, - the play Cooper and the center Bogris definitely cannot make up for Hatcher and Papadopoulos who were brilliant last year. Today will be an especially hard game for them because Buducnost have great and experienced Capin and Akindele on those same positions. All the other players from Buducnost are experienced as well. They achieved a great success last year in the Eurocup, and managed to get to the quarterfinals. The way there was full of away games where they played very well against the opponents such as Banvit, Bilbao, Budivelnyk and Charerloi. The team that has had a great defense for years will do the same here on the verge of fault.The problems PAOK had with that kind of game could easily be seen against Aris at the season start, when they had no solutions in offense. Buducnost have some quality solutions on all of the positions in the team, and they're favorites here, in my opinion. They're lot more experienced team with a better quality and players who know each other's game. For me, it would be hard to imagine them coming back from Solun empty handed. Since I expect a rough game and guests winning, the best tip seems to be the home team under points, but the bets on guests handicap are good, as well, as is the clear win for the guests.