BETTING TIPS (XVI) SPAIN VS GREAT BRITAIN

Spain - Great Britain. Great Britain +18.5 (1.97)  Pinnacle Stake 3

Neither Juan Carlos Navarro nor Rudy Fernández will play tonight against Great Britain in Valladolid. Key sidelined players in Spanish backcourt. In addition to these absences, Serge Ibaka joined the team on Saturday so he´s not expected to play many minutes tonight.

Great Britain NT started their preparation for London 2012 Olympics more than three weeks ago. The 'brits' travelled to USA where they played several games against Russia, Lithuania and Nigeria (the last three teams to get a ticket to London). The results were quite disappointing as those teams had been working harder and earlier to get ready for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament played in Venezuela last week. In those games played in Texas, some key players as Rob Archibald or Pops Mensah Bonsu play few minutes or didn´t play at all like Luol Deng.

Great Britain played its first preparation game in Europe, on Saturday, facing France in Orleans. They lost 79-74 after enjoying a 20-point lead (43-25) at half-time. However, France´s NT reaction in the second half changed the game completely and the british team was overpowered in the last quarter. Despite the defeat, the brits were satisfied with their performances as they have gone a few steps forward so they are well on the way to London.

Spain, started working last week in Madrid and they will play their two first friendly games tonight in Valladolid and tomorrow (against France NT) in Madrid. Sergio Scariolo´s team has been working hard in this first stage. Regarding last summers preparation games, I expect all the players having many minutes today in these first friendlies. 

IMO the spread line is quite high and should be closer to 12-14 points if Great Britain´s frontcourt plays at its best stopping both Gasol brothers in the paint. With Fernández out of the game, Luol Deng should be even more important in offense tonight.

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Spain 78 - 74 Great Britain +2,91 Units


Everything went even better than expected as Great Britain played a very serious game in both sides and Spain struggled a little bit in offense (missing both Navarro and Rudy Fernández). 

Picks	40
Won	28		70,00%
Lost	11		27,50%
Void	1		2,50%
Stake	153,5
Profit	77,06
Yield	50,20%
Av. Odd	1,92575