BETTING TIPS (XIV): FIBA OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT: QUARTER FINALS PICKS

Two Victories away from Glory! That´s the distance to London 2012 Olympic Games for the last eight contenders in Venezuela´s Qualifying Tournament. Welcome to the Knock Out Stage!

Russia vs Angola. Russia -10.5 HT (1.90) Unibet Stake 2

Russia vs Angola. Over 143.5 points (1.98) Pinnacle Stake 3

Russia vs Angola. Over 72 points 1st Half (1.90) Unibet Stake 2

Russia faces Angola expecting to win comfortably and trying to close the game before HT. I expect the best Russian defensive pressure stealing many balls and running the court since the very beginning of the game. Russian size and physical strength (though wihout injured Mozgov) will be key against low-sized Angola´s frontcourt. 

Which Angola performance we´ll see? The amazing one vs FYROM or the rubbish show against New Zealand? I think they´ll try to improve their long range shooting and play fast offensive transitions to get "easy" baskets. I think we´ll have a higher score than expected as Russia will break the game soon and Angola won´t be able to deffend properly.

Greece vs Nigeria. Greece -15 (1.97) Pinnacle Stake 4

Greece vs Nigeria. Greece -7.5 HT (1.86) Bet365 Stake 3

LIVEBETTING PICK Greece -3.5 HT (1.83) Bet365 Stake 5

As we predicted on Sunday, the Greek squad, led by  Head Coach Ilias Zouros, have come to Caracas with high confidence after their succesful preparation. Hellas offensive performances have been brilliant against Jordan and Puerto Rico. They are shooting the ball incredibly well from downtown, outrebounding every team and moving the ball to perfection. Olympiakos´Big Three: Vassilis Spanoulis, Papanikolau and Printezis, together with Bouroussis are On Fire. 

Nobody thought this young Nigerian NT would get through the Quarter Finals but Lithuania tanked yesterday and helped them to win and qualify to this KO round. Despite Ayo Bakare´s team improvement they didn´t deserve this big prize, but they got it anyway. Based on the inspiration of Aminu, Skin and Obasohan they will try to be in the game as long as possible. I don´t think that will happen as Greece will start strong and don´t allow them to score any easy hoops. Greece should smash them if they keep on playing as they have done these weeks.

FYR Macedonia vs Dominican Republic Over 152.5 points (1.95) Pinnacle Stake 4

This should be the closest game of the QF series. Both teams will try to make history getting through the semifinals. McCalebb will lead FYROM hopes, one more time, and he should control the tempo of the game. Neither Coronado nor Fortuna will be able to stop him so I expect a fast and open game with a lot of possessions and long-range shots. On the other hand, Dominican Republic´s frontcourt will dominate the paint with Horford & Martínez. Both centers should overpower Macedonian centers in the paint but they will struggle, as well, defending Pero Antic´s open shots. 

The offensive production of some players as Francisco García (who should be stepping up his numbers in this game) & Eulis Báez, in the Dominican side, and Vlado Ilievski and Stojanovski´s brothers, in the Balkan side, would make this game a high-scoring one if they are inspired beyond the arc. IMO, the line will be closer or over to 160 points.

Lithuania - Puerto Rico Under 169 points (2.00) Pinnacle Stake 4

IMO Quite A High Line for a Quarter Final´s K.O. Game.

Both Lithuania and Puerto Rico NT have performed very good offensive games in this Tournament. Specially both frontcourts have been quite dominant and effective, thanks to the excellent direction of PGS Sarunas Jasikevicius and JJ Barea. 

However, both defensive performances have been horrible allowing lots of open shots and easy baskets. Today, in a Do or Die Situation, I Do Think that we´ll see a much better Lithuanian deffensive play. They will be more aggressive and should physically overpower their opponents. It will be a very interesting game to test Jonas Valanciunas´ skills vs experienced Santiago and PJ Ramos while in the backcourt battle, Jasikevicius could slow down the tempo of the game to stop Arroyo&Barea frantic style. 

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+13,27 Units Won Today !

Things happened as we expected except Nigeria´s stunning win against Greece in the second half. I don´t know if I´ll be able to post something for tomorrow´s semifinals. I will try, I swear :) Stay Tuned to @TradingBaskets

Picks	33
Won	22		66,67%
Lost	10		30,30%
Void	1		3,03%
Stake	127,5
Profit	58,85
Yield	46,16%
Av. Odd	1,925758