By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The betting column is doing great in 2015 both in the domestic leagues and the Euroleague games. On the last weekend we had 4/5 tips after one more 4/5 right tips in the Euroleague.
The great Spanish battle, between Real Madrid and Barcelona is nice to watch but not to gamble on the winner. The only sure thing is that both will try to score a lot and conquer by controlling the tempo. None of them has point guards cable to play low tempo basketball and we think that they score will be again a lot. It’s weird that the line is low (159,5 points). In any case, in the last 10 “clasicos” only twice Real and Barcelona didn’t score more than 160 points.
Unicaja has nine straight losses in the Euroleague and is obvious that is in bad shape. The home game against Nizhny will be hard but they are not expected to score more than 79,5 points. Unicaja plays low tempo basketball (only Olympiacos has less possessions in its games) and the last time that scored more than 79 points was on 21th November in its last victory! Moreover, in total of 15 Euroleague games, Unicaja scored more than 79 points only three times.
Panathinaikos has a huge problem on road this season. The Greens have only one win (vs Turow) in seven games and against Alba the game will be tough. It’s hard to predict the winner but we will rely on the bad offense of Panathinaikos’ abroad. Dusko Ivanovic’ players scored more than 75 points only twice (in the win vs Turow and against Barcelona when they scored 76 points). So, we bet on Under 75,5 points.
Galatasaray has huge ups and downs though its improvement. On the other hand Maccabi is in great shape. After the defeat at Athens, the Israelis have celebrated nine straight wins showing that they can make it also in Istanbul. The handicap is small (+3,5 points) and we bet on Maccabi.
Efes comes from the big win against Olympiacos, has great confidence and the game against Milan is perfect for Ivkovic’ players. The Turkish team relies on its stability defensively and the Italians have always problems when they face a team which controls the tempo and plays hard defense.
The betting tips
Galatasaray(+3,5)-Maccabi 2
@Bet365 1,90
Real-Barcelona Over 158,5 points
@Unibet 1,91
Alba-Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Under 75,5 points
@William Hill 1,85
Unicaja-Nizhny Unicaja Under 79,5 points
@Ladbrokes 1,85
Milan(+1,5)-Efes 2
@Coral 1,91