Euroleague Tips with Previews – Round 5 – Thursday

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Zalgiris – Valencia

First place Zalgiris Kaunas will look to remain atop the table when it hosts Valencia Basket on Thursday. Zalgiris picked apart Anadolu Efes Istanbul 89-73 in its last game with Nigel Hayes leading five Zalgiris scorers in double figures with 17 points. Valencia will look to bounce back from its first loss of the season in Round 3 at home against FC Barcelona. Its Round 4 game against Zenit St Petersburg was canceled. A Valencia victory would leave the two teams tied in first place.

Zalgiris has made its opponents’ lives miserable on defense while shooting efficiently on offense, which has proven to be a recipe for winning. The Lithuanian champs lead the league in three-point accuracy (41.7%) and are third in two-point shooting (57.9%). They have allowed the second-fewest points (6.98 ppg.) and the fewest rebounds (27.0 rpg.). The keys against Valencia remain taking good shots when they present themselves and playing tough defense, in particular on the guards to get the offense out of its comfort zone early.

 Valencia has allowed opponents to make 58.4% of two-point shots and will need to be tougher in the paint to lower that number. It also could use a bump in three-point shooting; its 31.9% is third-lowest in the league. Valencia can take pride in its excellent steals-to-turnover ratio as it has collected the fourth-most steals (7.3 spg.) and committed the fourth-fewest turnovers (2.33), which are great numbers to fall back on in a road game.

basketball prediction Tip: Under 153.5 at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 21/10/2020, 22:00 CET, subject to change)

Zenit – Milano

Zenit St Petersburg vs. AX Armani Exchange Milan, originally scheduled to be played on Thursday, October 22, has been suspended.

basketball prediction Tip: 
(Price correct at 21/10/2020, 22:00 CET, subject to change)

ALBA Berlin – Baskonia

ALBA Berlin vs. TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, originally scheduled to be played on Thursday, October 22, has been suspended. ALBA requested the suspension of the game due to local legislation imposing quarantine measures on the team, which leaves it without the minimum eight players on the Authorisation List fit to play.

basketball prediction Tip: 
(Price correct at 21/10/2020, 22:00 CET, subject to change)

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Panathinaikos – Fenerbahce

Panathinaikos looks for its first win since opening night. It registered a 97-89 overtime loss against FC Barcelona last Friday despite 24 points from Marcus Foster and a double-double by Dinos Mitoglou. Fenerbahce needs to bounce back after suffering back-to-back home defeats against CSKA Moscow, 77-78 in overtime, and FC Bayern Munich, 71-75, last week.

Panathinaikos did a lot of good things at Palau Blaugrana last week: it amassed 12 offensive rebounds and 22 assists with only 12 turnovers. The Greens need to be more efficient, as they made only 51.3% of their two-point shots and rank 17th in three-point shooting (29.4%). Panathinaikos needs to be more aggressive on defense in crunch time; it allowed 22 points in overtime against Barcelona last week. Panathinaikos has many talented scorers in its backcourt, but Panathinaikos must find a way to stop De Colo and 2019 MVP, center Jan Vesely. Mitoglou and Georgios Papagiannis are set to see playing time against the “Czech Jet.”

First of all, Fenerbahce needs to be focused for 40 minutes, as it paid a high price – consecutive losses – for its lack of concentration in crunch time. It needs to make the most out of its experience, as players such as Ali Muhammed, De Colo, Vesely and Leo Westermann have been in similar situations before. Fenerbahce must run its offense through De Colo and Jarrel Eddie and expect newcomers Dyshawn Pierre and Johnny Hamilton to step up. Being physical on defense is critical against a team with a lot of great scorers. Edgaras Ulanovas faces a critical matchup against Ioannis Papapetrou, too.

basketball prediction Tip: 1 (+4.0) at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 21/10/2020, 22:00 CET, subject to change)

Crvena Zvezda – CSKA Moscow

Zvezda looks for its second win of the season after downing TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 2. Last week, Zvezda suffered a 69-75 home loss against Zalgiris Kaunas despite 19 points from Jordan Loyd. CSKA had an up and down week; first, it bested Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 77-78 in an overtime thriller behind Will Clyburn’s late heroics, and then it lost at home to ALBA Berlin 88-93 despite 27 points from Mike James. Expect an intense and physical basketball battle at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall.

Loyd leads the EuroLeague in scoring (21.3 ppg.), but Zvezda ranks 15th in the category (74.0 ppg.), mainly because of its poor shooting percentages inside the arc (47.6%). Dejan Davidovac and Marko Jagodic-Kuridza have the tough mission of guarding Will Clyburn at small forward. At the same time, Zvezda relies on two good on-the-ball defenders in Branko Lazic and Langston Hall to try to stop James. Zvezda must prevent CSKA from running the floor by playing half-court offense, looking for Loyd and Corey Walden. A contribution from newcomer Emanuel Terry at power forward could also make a difference.

CSKA has a lot of offensive talent; Clyburn has been hot lately and is a nightmare mismatch at small forward, James remains a top-class scoring threat, while Toko Shengelia, Johannes Voigtmann and Nikola Milutinov can run the floor like guards. In order to run the floor and make the most out of that, however, CSKA needs defensive stops and rebounds. CSKA is allowing 85.5 points per game and opponents are getting 12.0 offensive rebounds on average. Locking down the defensive glass to run the floor is critical for CSKA against a physical squad like Zvezda.

basketball prediction Tip: 2 (-6.5) at 1.90 with bet365
(Price correct at 21/10/2020, 22:00 CET, subject to change)

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News Source: Euroleague.net
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