EUROPE: Euroleague Top 16 - Multiple Privew

Tonight, we have a few interesting matches from Euroleague Top 16, and Johnny is paying attention to some of them that could bring us some profit ... so take a look at what it is ...

Partizan NIS – Bayern Munich

Belgrade’s “Kombank Arena” will host the team of Bayern in this stage of Euroleague, led by Svetislav Pesic, once an avowed fan of Partizan, who subsequently led the Red Star and had anthology duels against Partizan (and defeats). I expect a fierce welcome for this coach in Belgrade, where Bayern comes as a slight favourite, although Partizan wants to revenge for that defeat in Munich.. Let's see what we can expect here...

In the first match Partizan was defeated by Bayern Munich with 65:71, and after that match there was much criticism of the referees, especially in the last part of the match, which Bayern won with 19:9 and thus came to its victory. So Partizan still believes that they can achieve another victory in the Top 16 phase, a victory that would not mean much in the fight for the top four positions (because it is a lost battle), but it would mean a lot to their self-confidence before the decisive match in ABA league. Partizan is still without Westermann and Milosavljevic, who will not return during this season, while the performance of their best shooter Bogdanovic is also very questionable, since he was hurt in the previous round against Real Madrid and missed the ABA league match against Radnicki (Partizan won with 14 points difference). Coach Vujosevic said that Bogdan will not play if he is not completely ready (there is a chance that he will skip this match, because he is more needed in the fight for the Final Four of ABA league).

Partizan will have great support from his fans (we expect around 15.000 fans), and it can only help further. They need to improve the offensive part of the game, because they are the worst team in the Top 16 phase with 67.9 points per game, although they have Bogdanovic and Kinsey as the first and third scorers of this phase (Lauvergne is the first jumper of the EuroLeague).

Bayern has managed to win the first duel against Partizan, although they were not in their best series before that. Bayern has celebrated because they had several advantages, like home field, little help from the referees, and because there was a little bit confusion in the ranks of Partizan, although Bayern played without Nihad Djedovic, an important link in the attack of the German’s team. But Djedovic should be back in the team now, but a lot of attack will go through Delyney who is the leader of this team, and Thompson and Bryant, who were the unsolved mystery for the inner line of Partizan in the first match. It would be a good thing for them if Bogdanovic did not play, but it means that Kinsey and Pavlovic will be an even greater threat to Bayern’s defence.

The question is how they will get around with the fans in Arena, who knows how to enter nervousness and panic in the ranks especially at the beginning of the match. For Partizan the victory is not that important, so they can play a lot more relaxed, which can be dangerous for the guests. They are statistically better than Partizan in all categories, but it does not have to mean anything.

Partizan was close to a victory in the first duel, and now they will have a home-field advantage. We think that the hosts reach a victory in this phase, even without Bogdanovic, because this is a real opportunity for them. Low stake on home win...

Pick: Partizan

Odds: 2.35

Zalgiris vs CSKA Moscow

Two great rivals will be played at Zalgiris arena. Anyway, in the past decade CSKA is much stronger than Zalgiris who was dominant back in 80's. Tonight CSKA will be clear favourite as Zalgiris doesn't have decent roster, doesn't play decent basketball and they enter in this clah without service of team captain Paulius Jankunas. Interesting thing is that referee will be Ryzhyk Boris from Ukraine... :)

Anyway, CSKA needs a win here despite that they have overall score 7-1. They are still behind Real Madrid who's got the same record and Maccabi is 6-2 so CSKA of course doesn't want to lose their positions and they think only about being first place and getting weaker opponent in the next stage of the competition.

This is their biggest chance as there's no team which would want to waste points against Zalgiris. Easy win by Russian team is what I expect tonight.

Tip: CSKA -9.5

Odds: 1.91

Barcelona vs Fenerbahce

This will be the fourth time these two teams will meet this season. The score is 2-1 in favor of Barcelona. When they met it's allways a highscoring affair. Both games in Istanbul ended around 150 points and the one in Barcelona was around 170 points. I expect a similar scenario tonight.

Fenerbahce isn't really great in their defensive line and relies on their offense ability where they are pretty good. Barcelona can play in both directions but considering a fact that they are pretty much safe at the top of the group and in pretty good form they probably will not force a defense on their court.

I believe Barcelona have a much more confidence and should not have problem to score over 80 points in this match. In the past Barcelona went 5/6 times over 80 points at home court against Fenerbahce...

Tip: Barcelona Over 80.5

Odds: 1.82

More statistical details about this matches you can find here