Euroleague Basketball Predictions
Enjoy every single game preview of this season’s 34-round regular season and our expert Euroleague predictions.
Our EuroLeague basketball tips appear under each mini game preview.
ALBA Berlin – Zenit
As in the past, ALBA Berlin moves the ball well on offence and shares the ball well, just like in the past. There are a lot of assists for this team. Power forward Sikma makes 4.0 of them every game. Sikma helps ALBA play better when he’s on the court. He could perhaps find open shots for shooters like Lo and Blatt, or feed Lammers and Koumadje off the high post. Until now, Zenit hasn’t had any point guards. Loyd and Baron have been playing outside of their natural roles. It could help ALBA get easy points off of turnovers if they put a lot of pressure on them.
Zenit doesn’t have Napier, Frankamp, or Ponitka with them anymore, so it doesn’t work. As of right now, Kulagin is the team’s main choice to start at number 1. Against Baskonia last week, Baron and Loyd scored 47 points together, but only 20 in a loss to Real Madrid. Keep Sikma out of the game is also important. Zenit can use Poythress to get rough with Sikma and make him have problems at the other end of the court with his explosiveness and quickness. This is how it works: There aren’t many teams that are better at defence than Zenit. They allow just 73.4 points a night, and they have to use that strength in each match.
Tip: 1 (+5.5) at 1.86 with bet365
Monaco – Zalgiris
When the two teams met two months ago in Kaunas, Monaco came back late in the game to win 98-107. First game for the team with coach Sasa Obradovic on the bench. Monaco’s offence worked well with its new manager. They are scoring 88.2 points per game and making 56.1 percent of their two-point shots under Obradovic. It’s because Monaco is moving the ball better. The team averages 16.9 assists per game. In fact, this is what Monaco needs to keep doing against Zalgiris, too.
The two teams met in December, and Zalgiris scored 95 points in the first half alone. They only scored more than 78 points once in their last 11 games. If Zalgiris wants to get its inside game going, it needs to figure out how to do it. It’s the only team that doesn’t make more than half of its two-point shots. Zalgiris makes 17.0 two-pointers per game, which is the worst in the league (49.4 percent ). With the return of Lauvergne, the team needs to use its big men more often, put them in better positions to score, and so on. This will give the offence a much-needed level of stability.
Tip: Over 156.5 at 1.90 with bet365
Olympiacos – Efes
Olympiacos was forced to some recent losses, but is still one of the best defensive teams in the league, giving up just 73.6 points per game. Against the Reds, opponents are having a hard time making two-point shots inside the arc. On average, they make just 49.8% of two-point shots against the Reds. Olympiacos needs to keep good scorers like Dunston and Pleiss from getting into the paint so they can’t score as many points as possible. Preventing Larkin and Micic from controlling the game’s pace could be very important, and Olympiacos relies on Walkup and Sloukas to set the right pace. This means that Olympiacos is last when it comes to offensive rebounds (8.9 orpg.). Another way to stop Efes from running the floor could be to make the offensive glass more powerful.
Anadolu Efes will rely on Larkin’s great shape to help them win their Round 26 game against Olympiacos. A big double-round week for Larkin saw him score 22.5 points per game and dish out 8.5 assists per game to help Efes win two games in a row. It should also be important for Efes to stop Vezenkov, which can turn to power forwards Moerman and Singleton to fight back against him. In the last two games, Efes went 30-for-62 (48.4%) from three-point range. Larkin, Beaubois, Micic, and Simon will all be ready to shoot from the outside of the arc when the game starts.
Tip: 2 at 2.10 with bet365
Maccabi – CSKA Moscow
The Israeli champions had won three games in a row before they lost to Bayern Munich, where they only scored 52 points in the game. There were only 6.3 turnovers and 10 three-pointers per game in Maccabi’s three wins. They made 47.6 percent of those shots. In Munich, Maccabi made 14 mistakes and shot 3 for 18 from the three-point line, but they still won the game. COVID-19 rules also meant that Coach Sfairopoulos and some of his staff were not with the team. A good thing for Maccabi to have going for them this week is that the team doesn’t get many steals and allows opponents to shoot 38.2 percent from three-point range, which is third best in the league. If Maccabi can cut down on turnovers and make it threes, a win in Tel Aviv could be in the works.
On Sunday, CSKA lost a triple-overtime game to UNICS Kazan in the VTB United League. Hackett and Kurbanov both played more than 40 minutes in that game. To stop Maccabi, CSKA will need to have a lot of different players, as well as some fresh legs, to slow down its starting backcourt of Wilbekin and Evans. Grigonis, Shved, Lundberg, and Hackett make up the backcourt for the visitors. If the visitors get strong production out of that rotation, they could win on the road.
Tip: 1 (+3.5) at 1.90 with bet365
Milan – Baskonia
Milan boasts the strongest scoring defence in the league, allowing 70.1 points per game, and will need to match that effort against a potentially dangerous Baskonia team. Milan held Baskonia to 64 points in their first meeting this season, mostly due to Baskonia’s 4-for-26 three-point shooting. Milan, on the other hand, let up 17 offensive rebounds and did not win the turnover fight, which it typically does. To safeguard its home court, Milan will have to do a better job of keeping Baskonia off the offensive boards and taking care of the ball this time.
Math appears to be rather simple. When Baskonia does not win the rebounding battle, it is winless, but Milan is unbeaten when it ends games with more rebounds than the opponent. Baskonia is one of the strongest rebounding teams in the league, coming in fourth with 34.7 per game with a double-digit offensive rebounding average (10.0 oreb.). However, Baskonia must first take possession of the defensive glass. If it can accomplish that and prevent Milan from earning second chances, it will have a far better chance of winning at Mediolanum Forum.
Tip: Milan Over 78.5 at 1.80 with bet365
(All prices correct at 10/02/2022, 08:50 CET, subject to change)
News Source: Euroleague.net
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