BASKETBALL - SUPERCOPA ACB
REAL MADRID v VALENCIA BASKET
Real Madrid now know their rivals for the Supercopa
Endesa 2014-15, which will be held on 26 and 27 of September in Vitoria. Pablo
Laso's men, who are the reigning champions, will meet Valencia tonight in the
semifinal at the Fernando Buesa Arena. If they make it through to the final,
they will play against the winner of the other semi between Laboral Kutxa and
Barcelona the day after.
Last head-2-head official games
Real Madrid – Pamesa Valencia : 105 – 110
Pamesa Valencia – Real Madrid : 75 – 82
Pamesa Valencia – Real Madrid : 88 – 79
Real Madrid – Pamesa Valencia : 87 – 84
Real Madrid this season looks like a very good team.
Although they lost 2 key players : Nikola
Mirotic, who went in NBA to Chicago Bulls and Tremmel Darden, who transferred
to Olympiakos, they brought very talented and experienced players in this
summer transfer period. Newcomers Andres Nocioni(Laboral Kutxa), Jonas
Maciulis(Panathinaikos), Gustavo Ayon(Atlanta Hawks), Facundo
Campazzo(Penarol), KC Rivers(Reno, D-League) along super players like Rudy Fernandez,
Felipe Reyes, Sergio Llull, Sergio Rodriguez, Ioannis Bouroussis… I could
mention whole roster… they just look like a dream team.
Sergio Llull and Jonas Maciulis spoke to the media ahead of
Real Madrid's Endesa Super Cup semi-final match against Valencia Basket.
"The team is really up for it and is looking forward to it, because it's
the first trophy of the season and our aim is to win it," the man from Menorca
said.
Maciulis: “We have a very good team and the group of players
we have is fantastic. I feel really comfortable here. This team has huge
challenges ahead of it and we're going to fight for every trophy and
championship that we take part in. Real Madrid is one of the major teams in
Europe and playing here is a dream for any player."
Preseason results
Palma Air Europa – Real Madrid : 76 – 82
Real Madrid – Pamesa Valencia : 58 – 80
Unicaja Malaga – Real Madrid : 87 – 83
Real Madrid – Estudiantes : 74 – 76
Cangrejeros de Santurce – Real Madrid : 83 – 103
Guerreros – Real Madrid : 67 – 79
Valencia made a great season last year, but they lost a few
important players : Justin Doellman, who transferred to Barcelona, Oliver
Lafayette, who transferred to Olympiakos and Ksistof Lavrinovic, but they have
a decent roster with players like Luke Harangody, Romain Sato, Kresimir Loncar,
Bojan Dubljevic and remain a dangerous team.
Preseason results
Valencia – Murcia : 80 – 52
Cajasol – Valencia : 89 – 95 OT
Unicaja – Valencia : 63 – 92
Real Madrid – Pamesa Valencia : 58 – 80
Valencia - Nizhny Novgorod : 65 – 77
Valencia – Zaragoza : 80 – 73
My prediction
I see Valencia giving everything to win this game, but will
be very difficult for them. I think if they want to have a chance in this game,
they must pay more attention for offence than defence.. it’s practically
impossible to stop Real’s shooting stars, all they can try to do is outscore
Real.. It’s the first official game for both teams, I think that the defences are
still not on top, both teams are playing offensively, especially Real and I
expect a game with a lot of points, as we saw in their last head-2-head games
and in preseason games.
- over 160.5 points - 1.90 | ✓
LABORAL KUTXA VITORIA v BARCELONA
Last head-2-head official games
Laboral Kutxa – Barcelona : 71-95
Barcelona – Laboral Kutxa : 92–87
Barcelona – Laboral Kutxa : 91-75
Barcelona – Laboral Kutxa : 86-97
Laboral Kutxa – Barcelona : 68-80
Laboral Kutxa Barcelona
: 76-72
Laboral has changed almost completely their roster for this
season. A lot of players walk away : Lamar Odom(NY Knicks), Nocioni(Real
Madrid), David Jelinek(Krasnie Krylia), Giuseppe Poeta (La Bruixa), Tibor
Pleiss(Barcelona), Hanga Adam, Leonardo Mainoldi and the enumeration can go
on.. Although they have a few interesting players : Heurtel, San Emeterio, Ryan
Gomes, Shengelia, Lamont Hamilton, Causeur, Tillie…
Preseason results
Gipuzkoa Basket 67-52 Laboral Kutxa Vitoria
CAI Zaragoza 64-63 Laboral Kutxa Vitoria
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria 66-69 Fiatc Joventut
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria 73-64 UCAM Murcia
Aguada 77-81 Caja Laboral Baskonia
Peñarol 79-78 Caja Laboral Baskonia
Barcelona is a super team, like every year, they are
title contenders in Liga Endesa and in Euroleague too. Important players who
left the team : Kostas Papanikolaou(Houston Rockets), Joey Dorsey(Houston
Rockets), Victor Sada(Andorra), Jacob Pullen(Liaoning) and Erazem Lorbek. New
players on board : Roger Grimau, Tibor Pleiss – who I think will be a very
important piece this year –, Tomas Satoransky, Justin Doelmann, Deshaun Thomas,
Marcus Eriksson, Milovan Draskovic.
Preseason results
FC Barcelona 71-65 FIATC Joventut
FC Barcelona 91-85 Baloncesto Seville
Asvel Villeurbanne 80-76 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona 93-57 Pau-Orthez
My prediction
Laboral changed a lot of players this summer, I don’t think
their defence is very homogeneous. Barca will be highly motivated to
play&win the final probably against Real Madrid. In the past years, Laboral
showed a very offensive playing style and if we look at Laboral Kutxa preseason
games we can see that they like to score and that they doesn't show decent
defensive play. Barcelona has super shooters, I expect high-scoring game. These
two teams played last year in this phase of Supercopa in game ended with 171
points : Laboral Kutxa – Barcelona : 73 – 98.
- over 154.5 points - 1.90 | ✓
