Basketball, 7 September, 2014

FIBA WORLD CUP – Round of 16

NEW ZEELAND v LITHUANIA    

In the first match of Round 16, New Zeeland will play against Lithuania. New Zeeland (2-3) finished fourth in group C below USA, Turkey, Dominican Republic and above Ukraine & Finland. Lithuania(4-1) finished first in a group where they started as favourites, but their dominance wasn’t the expected one… they surprinsigly lost against an ambitious and interesting Australian national team and they secured the top place of the group in the last game against Lithuania after a sensational fourth quarter. Three days ago, in the last game of the group phase New Zeeland won against Finland in the decisive game for the last qualifying spot.

Probable line-ups

New Zeeland : Penney(11.8Pts, 5.0Reb) – T.Webster(5.2Pts) – Vukona(6.8Pts, 6.8Reb) – Abercrombie(7.6Pts, 3.4Reb) – Loe(4.2Pts, 3.0Reb) 

Lithuania: Juskevicius(8.6Pts) – Seibutis(8.8Pts, 2.8AS) – Maciulis(7.0 Pts) – Motiejunas(10.4Pts, 3.8Reb) – Valanciunas(11.2Pts, 6.8Reb)

Sincerely, I didn’t know very much about the national team of New Zeeland and I didn’t follow live their games at this World Cup. Lithuania has a great team with interesting players all around the court… their big weakness from my point of view is the point guard position, where they lost their star, Kalnietis, few days before the tournament kick-off. Seibutis, a player with huge experience is trying to replace his role… Maciulis is a team-player, who can score from outside and has an important role in defence… Motiejunas & Valanciunas, two NBA players are leading the team under the basket with points and rebounds… They have great players on the bench, who can turn around any game, like Pocius(5.6Pts) and forwards Lavrinovic brothers(8.2/4.3Pts) and Jankunas(6.4Pts).. I think and I hope my Lithuanians’ will win this game probably by 6-10 points difference...We can try few bets on players :

• Motiejunas over 10.5 points – 2.00   | ✖
• Valanciunas over 12.5 points – 1.85  | ✓
• Seibutis over 2.5 assists – 1.85  | ✓

SERBIA v GREECE    

In the second match of Round 16, disappointing Serbia will play against the unbeaten Greece. Serbia (2-3) finished fourth in a tough group below Spain, Brazil and France recording two wins against weaker teams like Iran and Egypt. On the other hand, Greece(5-0) is unbeaten till now, finished on top of group B above dangerous teams like Argentina, Croatia, Senegal, Puerto Rico, Philippinesis.

Three days ago, in the last game of the group phase, Serbia lost against Gold medal contenders–Spain(73-89), but they played really good. Greece won (79-71) the decisive match for the top spot of the group in a game played until the last seconds against Argentina.

Probable line-ups

Serbia : Teodosic (10.4Pts, 4.2AS) – Markovic (4.2Pts, 3.2AS) – Bjelica(12.6Pts,6.8Reb) – Krstic(4.7Pts) – Raduljica(14.2Pts, 4.8Reb) 

Greece: Zisis(8.6Pts, 4.6AS) – Calathes(10.8Pts, 2.4AS) – Papanikolaou(7.6 Pts, 3.4Reb) – Printezis(11.6Pts, 3.6Reb) – Bourousis(12.0Pts,10.0Reb)

Greece is the favourite of this game, maybe they are better in every position, but the Serbians are a fighter nation, they will run and fight for every ball until last seconds, they have in their roster top players like Teodosic, Bogdanovic, Bjelica, they have to make a big game tonight ! Greece left at home top players with huge experience at this level (Diamantidis, Spanoulis, Schortsianidis), but they’re playing really good, are dominating every team under the basket with Bourousis, Printezis and Kaimakoglou and they have very good bench players(Kaimakoglou, Antetokounmpo, Vasileiadis, Sloukas) who can contribute with crucial points anytime. Serbia has a very good trio as I wrote above, but they have in Raduljica a very good Center player, who is scoring a lot of points and drawn fouls. I expect a hard battle for the qualification spot, the greek teams has a very aggressive and massive defence, it will be difficult for the serbians to score easy points. I think we will see a great tactical match and these players will be on top :

• Bogdanovic over 9.5 points – 1.85    | ✓ 
• Zisis over 3.5 assists – 1.85  | ✖
• Teodosic over 4.5 assists – 2.20   | ✓

TURKEY v AUSTRALIA

It’s a hard game to bet on players… everybody expect Australia to win this game, but I think we will see a great, equaled game, which can go either way, so I think we can assist to a surprise here, so I find value on Turkey win tonight – 2.40   | ✓ 

BRAZIL v ARGENTINA    

In the last match of the day, Brazil will play against Argentina. Everybody expected to see this game in the final of the Football World Cup two months ago, but the hosts disappointed their fans. Brazil has a great team at this BASKETBALL World Cup, finished second in group A with only one lose against the favourite, Spain. On the other hand, Argetina(2-3) finished third, because they lost against Greece and Croatia.

Three days ago, in the last game of the group phase, Brazil demolished Egypt(128-65), while Argentina lost against Greece (71-79) in a very tight game.  

Probable line-ups

Brazil : Huertas(8.8Pts, 3.6AS) – Barbosa (13.6Pts) – Garcia (8.2Pts) – Splitter (8.0Pts, 5.8Reb) – Nene(6.8Pts, 4.2Reb) 

Argentina: Prigioni(9.0Pts, 4.4AS) – Campazzo(8.8Pts, 5.0AS) – Nocioni (9.8 Pts, 5.2Reb) – Herrmann(9.8Pts, 5.4Reb) – Scola(21.6Pts,8.8Reb)

Brazil, with a very good point guard, who is playing very well for Barcelona and for his national team, too, Huertas, will have a very interesting match-up against the experienced Prigioni. Barbosa, Phoenix Suns’ shooting guard, is the leader of the team, a player, who is assuming a lot of shots. They have a big three under the basket, all of them NBA players, including the last year champion Thiago Splitter, the Wizards’ old guy Nene and the Cleveland’s Center player, Varejao(8.2Pts, 7.6Reb). Argentina came to this World Cup without their best player, the last year NBA champion, Manu Ginobili. Therefore, the best player of the squad is Indiana’s power forward, Luis Scola, who is really on fire, being one of the best scorers of the tournament. If Argentina wants to get something from this game, the starters assisted by the important bench players(Laprovittola, Gutierrez, Safar, Mata) have to play a big game tonight.  

I expect a tough Latin American battle… the key of the game for each team will be to annihilate the opposite team’s big guys. We can try few bets on players :

• Prigioni over 4.5 assists – 1.85  | ✖
• Nocioni over 10.5 points – 1.85  | ✖
• Barbosa over 12.5 points – 1.85  | ✖
• Splitter over 5.5 rebounds – 1.85  | ✓