Euroleague Tips with Previews – Round 14 – 17/12/2019

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Zenit – Maccabi

Zenit will seek its second straight win at home when it hosts red-hot, yet short-handed Maccabi. Zenit lost in Munich last week, but bested LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in its last home game and will look to give its fans another thrill. Maccabi stunned CSKA Moscow last week despite missing three starters and could be without them again this week; Nate Wolters and Omri Casspi are certainly sidelined and Tarik Black’s participation remains in doubt. Zenit swingman Mateusz also sat out last week with a concussion.

Maccabi has been the better rebounding team this season (36.6 rpg.), but if Tarik Black cannot play Zenit will have a significant size advantage in the paint – especially when Othello Hunter gets a breather. Zenit leads the league in offensive rebounds (12.0 orpg.) and if it crashed the boards aggressively on Tuesday and can convert missed shots into second-chance points at a high rate, it will be in a promising position.

With as many as four key rotation players sidelines, the key for Maccabi relies in Coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos getting maximum production from his reserves. Yovel Zoosman and Quincy Acy have become fixtures in the starting lineup and Tyler Dorsey, Elijah Bryant and Angelo Caloiaro are being asked to do more than before. Maccabi has been firing on all cylinders at both ends, but there is less margin for error now than ever before.

Omri Casspi, John Dibartolomeo, Tarik Black and Nate Wolters are still injured and won’t travel to Russia for the game.

basketball prediction Tip: Under 157.5 at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 17/11/2019, 10:25 CET, could have changed)

Zalgiris – Anadolu Efes

Two teams in opposite situations meet in Round 14 when Zalgiris Kaunas (3-10) welcomes leader Anadolu Efes Istanbul (11-2) on Tuesday. Zalgiris is currently riding a seven-game losing streak, including last week at home against Valencia Basket, 82-86. Efes has won as many games in a row, most recently taking the Istanbul derby at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, 73-81. It doesn’t look like the perfect game for Zalgiris to try to get out from the losing trend and even more so now that Efes has registered Adrien Moerman, who suffered an injury over the summer and could finally make his debut this season in Kaunas. Bryant Dunston remains sidelined for Efes while Marius Grigonis is out for Zalgiris.

Zalgiris is going through its toughest period in the last seasons. Having lost seven straight games, the team needs a win and it needs it now. However, despite playing at home, Efes is probably the opponent that Coach Saras Jasikevicius would least want to see. Zalgiris is still missing one of its biggest contributors this season in Marius Grigonis. Efes has the fifth-best offense in the league, so Zalgiris will have to work hard on defense, especially in trying to slow down the best two-point shooting team in the league (59.5%).

Efes is on a roll and lands in Kaunas full of confidence. As if that was not enough, Adrien Moerman comes back to the team after a long injury and appears ready to contribute from the start, trying to pick up where he left off last season. The visitors will try to capitalize on the fact that Zalgiris seems a bit lost at the moment, as the difference in global PIR average says it all: 76.0 against 103.4 (the best in the league).

basketball prediction Tip: 1 (+5.0) at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 17/11/2019, 10:25 CET, could have changed)

Real – Milano

Second-place Real (10-3) looks to extend its eight-game winning streak, the best so far this EuroLeague season, against a Milan (7-6) team that been going in the opposite direction, with four straight losses. One of the many challenges for the visitors is Real’s inside dominance, with better two-point accuracy (54.3% to 46.8%) and blocks (3.9 to 2.7) than Milan. A player at any of the five positions can star for Real, or several can come together, a fact that requires any team hoping to stop that streak — especially in the Spanish capital — to play just as balanced across the board.

At times it seems that Real can do no wrong, but the hosts will have to guard against just letting the good times roll. Milan has much of the balance needed to challenge Real, particularly with inside hustlers Arturas Gudaitis and Kaleb Tarczewski and the most accurate three-point shooters in the league. Depth and size are Real’s advantages, with big men Walter Tavares, Jordan Mickey and Anthony Randolph able to dominate as a trio that few teams can match.

As stated, Milan has to get the most out of its entire lineup to break through on Real’s home floor. Expect head coach Ettore Messina to draw out Real’s defenders by using forward Luis Scola as a three-point threat, but otherwise try to challenge the hosts inside and from mid-range, especially early in the game, to set up the long game and maybe wrong-foot the hosts with foul trouble. On the defensive end, Milan doesn’t need tactics as much as fire in its belly and a willingness to scrap and battle for everything. Even that might not be enough in Madrid, but it would help Milan in the long term.

basketball prediction Tip: Over 165.5 at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 17/11/2019, 10:25 CET, could have changed)

Panathinaikos – Fenerbahce

Panathinaikos (8-5) hosts its former legendary head coach, Zeljko Obradovic, with the goal of putting more space between itself and his current team, Fenerbahce (5-8), as the halfway point of the regular season approaches. Offense is the glaring difference here. Panathinaikos ranks first with 89.1 points per game, 11.8 points better than 12th-ranked Fenerbahce. Panathinaikos boss Rick Pitino wants better effort than his team’s 34.1 average in rebounds shows, but that’s still 5.0 more than Fenerbahce’s league-worst 29.3 per game.

It’s hard to win without rebounding, but since Panathinaikos gives up a league-high 12.9 offensive boards, Fenerbahce has a chance to correct its imbalance in order to steal a win at OAKA. Centers Joffrey Lauvergne and Ahmet Duverioglu will want to make rebounds their priority, but they will need help from all positions. The fact that Calathes, a point guard, gets more rebounds than any Fenerbahce player shows the importance of team rebounding. But it also proves, as Pitino has said, that the Greens are vulnerable on this point.

The Greens cannot rest on their scoring disparity against a wounded lion like Fenerbahce, whose three-point accuracy has jumped from 36.1% in the first nine games (74 for 205) to 48.3% over the last four (43 for 89). Outgunning the visitors might be better done by limiting Nando De Colo, the league’s third-best scorer, to less than his 19.7-point average, and keeping Sloukas from going off. Since the injury to Jan Vesely, Fenerbahce’s insiders haven’t won a game by themselves, so locking down the perimeter would improve the chances of a Panathinaikos victory.

basketball prediction Tip: 1 (-6.5) at 2.10 with bet365
(Price correct at 17/11/2019, 10:25 CET, could have changed)

Barcelona – Villeurbanne

Barcelona bounced back from its first home loss this season with back-to-back victories. ASVEL snapped its four-game losing streak with a brilliant home win against AX Armani Exchange Milan and now looks for its second road victory at Palau Blaugrana. Nikola Mirotic (19.6 ppg., 6.8 rpg.) has led Barcelona until now, along with Cory Higgins (12.3 ppg., 47.6% 3FG) and Brandon Davies (9.5 ppg.). Tonye Jekiri (10.4 ppg.) has been ASVEL’s top scorer until now, followed by David Lighty (9.6 ppg.) and Livio Jean-Charles (9.2 ppg.).

Barcelona has averaged 85.5 points so far but has done even better in its last two games (100.0 ppg.). Despite its severe point guard problems, Barcelona is averaging 18.8 assists, which speaks wonders about the team’s ability to share the ball. The team has a size advantage in the paint with Davies, Ante Tomic and Oriola, so slowing Jekiri or getting him into foul trouble will be one of the biggest keys, as well as playing at a high rhythm.

ASVEL has struggled against three-point shooters, allowing opponents to make 40.1% of their attempts from downtown, which is particularly dangerous against such a talented team as Barcelona. Even though Jekiri ranks second in rebounds, ASVEL is 16th overall (21.4 rpg.). Jordan Taylor and Lighty led ASVEL’s offense against Milan last week and must take another step forward to lead the French champs in such a tough road game.

basketball prediction Tip: 1 (-14.5) at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 17/11/2019, 10:25 CET, could have changed)

Valencia – Baskonia

It will be an all-Spanish affair on Tuesday night when Valencia Basket and KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz square off for Round 14 in the first game of a two-round week. After a slow start, Valencia has managed to win four of its last six games, including the last one on the road at Zalgiris, 82-86, and will try to defend its home court against a domestic opponent. Baskonia had a similar trend in the last weeks, winning three of its last five games including the last one, also on the road, at Crvena Zvezda, 64-72, and now will host a well-known foe hoping to stay on the right track. Valencia will have to try to capitalize on the backcourt problems of Baskonia, which is missing Jayson Granger and Patricio Garino while Luca Vildoza is plagued by shoulder problems. For Valencia, Guillem Vives missed its last domestic game and will be a game-time decision.

It seems a balanced match-up on paper: Valencia scores more points than the visitors, but also allows more on the other end. The hosts will have to make the La Fonteta factor count against a team that they know well and will certainly pay attention to those rebounds, since that’s the place where it looks like Baskonia could hurt the most. Valencia has better percentages from all ranges so the hosts will have to try to run the ball (16.9 apg.) and try to create the situations for open shots that make those shooting numbers possible.

Baskonia arrives in Valencia with backcourt problems, but they have been there for a while and so far the team seems to have found a way to get through that. In Valencia, the visitors will meet a team they know well, but entering the game, the hosts seem to be a nudge above Baskonia in almost all aspects of the game. The visitors will have to try to look for Shengelia and Nik Stauskas for those points that could hurt the fourth-weakest defense in the league. If shots go in fairly easy and Baskonia plays its trademark defense, it could be onto something on Tuesday night.

basketball prediction Tip: Over 161.5 at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 17/11/2019, 10:25 CET, could have changed)

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News Source: Euroleague.net
Basketball tips: Livetipster


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