BETTING TIPS (XXXVII) EUROBASKET 2013 QUALIFIERS

Bosnia & Herzegovina - Latvia. Over 165 Points (1,88) Pinnacle. Stake 2


Bosnia and Latvia will clash this afternoon in Sarajevo. Both teams, together with Georgia will fight for the two first spots of Group D for Eurobasket 2013 Qualifiers. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina handed the national team reins to veteran tactician Aleksandar (Axa) Petrovic in February. The 52-year-old Croatian coach, the older brother of the late Drazen Petrovic, replaced Sabit Hadzic at the helm. 

Named 2010-11 Eurocup Coach of the Year with Cedevita Zagreb, Axa Petrovic will try to impose his run&gun offense style with Bosnia NT. He made a big revolution in his roster not naming such experienced players as Bajramovic, Varda, Jazvin, Ikonic, Nesovic, Milosevic, Vasiljevic or Domercant.

Zack Wright (188-G-85), Josip Naletilic (195-G-89), Nihad Djedovic (196-F-90), Nemanja Mitrovic (195-G), Ante Masic (200-F-85), Dalibor Persic (193-G-85), Mirza Teletovic (206-F-85), Edin Bavcic (210-F/C-84), Elmedin Kikanovic (211-C-88), Nedzad Sinanovic (221-C-83), Jozo Brkic (211-F/C-86) and Armin Avdibegovic (188-PG-84) are the men that will represent Bosnia this summer.

Undoubtedly, Mirza Teletovic is be the go-to player, helped by Djedovic and Wright. The american CG who gained bosnian citizenship this year (recently signed by BC Spartak Saint Petersbourg), will make his debut with Bosnia NT and play a lot of minutes as PG Nemanja Gordic is sidelined. Sinanovic and Kikanovic will lead the frontcourt.


Montenegro and Latvia will play today and tomorrow a couple of friendly matches in Zlatibor. These will be the first prep games for Montenegro this summer, looking for Eurobasket 2013 qualification, starting next month. 

Latvia, on the other hand, keeps on relying on the group of talented youngsters that started working with HC Bagatskis  two years ago. The Latvian side will try to play its attractive offensive style led by their new fresh talents as both Bertans´brothers, Richards Kuksis and Janis Strelnieks. They have a lot of sharp shooters beyond the arc.

IMO the line should be around 170 points. I think we´ll watch quite an attractive game with both teams running and moving the ball quite fast.

Montenegro - Israel. Over 155,5 Points (1,93) Pinnacle. Stake 2

Montenegro will host Israel NT this evening in Podgorica. Both teams will try to cause a major upset to Serbia in Group A of Eurobasket 2013 Qualifiers. 


The Balkan team has begun a new age after last year´s failure. They headed for EuroBasket 2011 with high expectations and departed Lithuania having failed to live up to them. HC Dejan Radonjic left the team in October and was replaced by Luka Pavicevic.

Pavicevic, well-known by his great work in Alba Berlin, has bet on a fresher style on offense, trying to move the ball much better than last year. This change has been tested during last weeks in their friendly games. Coach Pavicevic has taken advantage of his new CG “addition”. Taylor Rochestie (got Montenegrin citizenship this year) has speed up the tempo and has added better shooting pct beyond the arc. 

In contrast to those interesting backcourt additions, neither Pekovic nor Vucevic are available for the team in this early stage of preparation. So it´s time for promising Bojan Dubljevic to lead Montenegro´s frontcourt together with Dragicevic and Milko Bjelica. It will also be so interesting to watch talented youngster PG Nikola Ivanovic with the NT.



The big news regarding Israel´s NT roster is that Casspi, Eliyahu and Halperin joined the team two weeks ago and all of them will be available in these Eurobasket 2013 qualifiers. Coach Arik Shivek has been playing a faster basketball this summer relying on a wide backcourt with Alex Tyus, Guy Pnini or Yogev Oyahon. I expect quite a fast and offensive style today with all their best weapons available.

IMO the line is too short as both teams are playing different styles than two years ago. The line should be over 158-159 points.
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Bosnia 87-84 Latvia & Montenegro 75-69 Israel -0.24 Units

Horrible shooting from both teams in Podgorica and Montenegro made a stunning comeback to defeat Israel in the last quarter. In Sarajevo Bosnia struggled to win Latvia in a very interesting offensive game as we expected.

Picks	97
Won	67		69,07%
Lost	28		28,87%
Void	2		2,06%
Stake	321
Profit	142,535
Yield	44,40%
Av. Odd	1,922639

BETTING TIPS (XXXVI) EUROBASKET 2013 QUALIFIERS: ICELAND - SERBIA

Welcome back mates!

Eurobasket 2013 Qualification Round starts in one hour and a half and this is my first pick for this competition:

Iceland - Serbia. Iceland +30.5 (1,90) NordicBet. Stake 2

(Value Bet till +28 Several Bookies) 

Iceland's last EuroBasket Division B campaign was in 2009. Flash forward three years and the stakes are now considerably higher for Iceland. Starting tonight, the national team is not embarking on a campaign to earn promotion, but to secure a place in the 24-team EuroBasket 2013. 

The Division A and B system is now defunct and everyone is given a fair chance of earning a ticket to the big stage. Such a great prize for Iceland NT that will have, once again, Jon Stefansson as the go-to player, helped by Pavel Ermolinskij and the youngster Haukur Palsson.

Serbia travelled to Iceland without Nenad Krstic and Zoran Erceg. Dusan Ivkovic took the following squad to Reykjavik: Miloš Teodosić, Milenko Tepić, Aleksandar Rašić, Ivan Paunić, Nemanja Bjelica, Duško Savanović, Marko Kešelj, Milan Mačvan, Dejan Musli, Nemanja Nedović, Vladimir Štimac and Vladimir Lučić.

Except Vladimir Stimac, there won´t be big Cs avalaible for Ivkovic tonight. I think that Serbia will outscore Iceland but they will rotate all players. The handicap is too high regarding the long trip to Reykjavik and the big game on saturday against Montenegro for Ivkovic´s squad. 
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Iceland 78-91 Serbia +1,8 Units

Ivkovic gave chances to all the youngsters and Serbia, quite relaxed, didn´t give their best on deffense. Iceland, led by Stefansson and Ermolinskij played really well moving the ball and finding open shots. Easy Profit !

Picks	95
Won	66		69,47%
Lost	27		28,42%
Void	2		2,11%
Stake	317
Profit	142,775
Yield	45,04%
Av. Odd	1,923011

BETTING TIPS (XXXIV) CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT: SWEDEN - JORDAN

Sweden - Jordan. Sweden -10,5 (1,83) Bet365. Stake 5

Despite the start of Jordan National Team preparations for Cyprus friendly tournament (Aug 3-5) and William Jones cup (Taiwan, Aug 18-26) last week, Jordan NT head coach Thomas Baldwin did'nt appear in trainings and the technical manager Murad Barakat has taken over now. Speculations are talking about a possible resignation from Baldwin due to unknown reasons...

Big names like Osama Daghles, Zaid Abbas, Mousa Awadi, Mohammad Hadrab, Enver Soobzokov and Islam Abbas will also be missed while Youngsters Ahmad Al Dwairi (210-C-93), Moh. Shaher, Majdi Al-Ghazawi (183-PG-93) and Hani El-Faraj will be lead by the experienced guard Wesam Al-Sous (183-PG-83), who lately finished his ban period.

So Murad Barakat  has flewn to Nicosia to take part in Cyprus International Tournament. Cyprus, Norway, Sweden and Jordan will face each from Friday until Sunday at Tassos Papadopoulos Hall in Nicosia. Sweden is preparing for the Eurobasket 2013 Qualifications in August & September while Jordan is working on a Plan for the young generation and Cyprus tourney will be it's first Milestone. (via Omar Shafaamri & Mohammed Malas)

Sweden will be the first opponent for Jordan. Detroit Pistons Star Jonas Jerebko joined his team this week and will be the true leader on offense. Together with Anton Gaddefors, recent Bobcats draft pick Taylor, experienced C Joakim Kjellbom, Carl Engstrom, Thomas Massampa and Erik Rush they should be serious contenteders for qualifying to Slovenian 2013 Eurobasket.

IMO Sweden will smash this unexperienced Jordan NT and should win this friendly game by 20 or more points.
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Sweden 83-65 Jordan +4,15 Units

Everything happened as expected except such a last poor quarter from the swedish squad. Sweden started strong leading the game by 19 points but got relaxed at the end of the second quarter. After HT they led by 28 points but Jordan managed to cut down the difference with the swedish subs on court. Both Jerebko and Kjellbom scored 12 points.

Picks	91
Won	65		71,43%
Lost	25		27,47%
Void	1		1,10%
Stake	308
Profit	145,975
Yield	47,39%
Av. Odd	1,924934

BETTING TIPS (XXX) INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY GAMES: AUSTRIA - ISRAEL

After winning Aerosvit Cup in Ukraine last week, Israel NT will play another international tournament in Austria this weekend. They will be facing Austria, Portugal and Germany in Oberwart.


The big news regarding Israel´s NT roster is that Casspi, Eliyahu and Halperin joined the team this week and all of them are expected to play today. Coach Arik Shivek released  Nissim, Rothbart and Kokia for this austrian tournament. Alex Tyus, Guy Pnini and Yogev Oyahon were the true leaders of the team in Aerosvit Cup. I expect quite a fast and offensive style with all their best weapons available.


Germany trashed Austria on Wednesday (40-68) in a friendly match. Austria NT really struggled in offense and they really need to step up for Eurobasket 2013 qualifiers. 


IMO Israel should win quite comfortably today by 20 or more points.


Austria - Israel. Israel -12 (1,97) Stake 5. Pinnacle
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Austria 70-95 Israel +4,85 Units


Israel woke up a bit late after a horrible first quarter (29-18). Since then, they smashed Austria as expected.

Picks 77 Won 53 68,83% Lost 23 29,87% Void 1 1,30% Stake 267 Profit 120,4 Yield 45,09% Av. Odd 1,928052

BETTING TIPS (XXIII) INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Montenegro - Latvia. Over 148.5 points (1,95) Stake 3 Pinnacle


Montenegro - Latvia. Latvia +9.5 points (1,95) Stake 3 Pinnacle

Montenegro and Latvia will play today and tomorrow a couple of friendly matches in Zlatibor. These will be the first prep games for Montenegro this summer, looking for Eurobasket 2013 qualification, starting next month. 

The Balkan team will begin a new age after last year´s failure. They headed for EuroBasket 2011 with high expectations and departed Lithuania having failed to live up to them. HC Dejan Radonjic left the team in October and was replaced by Luka Pavicevic.

Pavicevic, well-known by his great work in Alba Berlin, will look for a fresher style in offense, trying to move the ball much better than last year. For sure, he will take advantage of his new CGS “additions”. Either Taylor Rochestie or Brion Rush (both of them got Montenegrin citizenship this year) will give more speed and better shooting beyond the arc than Omar Cook. 

In contrast to those interesting backcourt additions, neither Pekovic nor Vucevic will be available for the team in this early stage of preparation. So it´s time for promising Bojan Dubljevic to lead Montenegro´s frontcourt together with Dragicevic and Bjelica. It will also be so interesting to watch talented youngster PG Nikola Ivanovic with the NT.

Latvia, on the other hand, keeps on relying on the group of talented youngsters that started working with HC Bagatskis  two years ago. The Latvian side will try to play its attractive run&gun style led by their new fresh talents as both Bertans´brothers and Janis Strelnieks.

Today, SF Richards Kuksis shouldn´t be available after an injury against Cyprus on Saturday. 

The Latvian side smashed Cyprus last weekend in a couple of friendlies and they will head to Serbia next week to play against Dusan Ivkovic´s NT.

Great Britain - USA. Over 173 points (1,95) Stake 4 Pinnacle

“This is a massive opportunity for British basketball to get some oxygen, to breathe life into the sport in this country,” said Chris Mitchell, who calls Britain's games for BBC Radio. “Team USA being here is arguably the biggest-ever game this country has hosted. It's arguably bigger than any game they'll play at the Olympics, because they'll only face USA if they get through their group and perhaps meet them in the quarterfinals. So this, this week, it's almost the climax to the history of British basketball. It's huge.”

This is the perfect definition of what should happen tonight in Manchester. British Basketball needs to become more popular and I think we´ll watch quite an attractive and high-scoring game. Team USA, as well, should improve their offensive performance after their sloppy game against Brazil on Monday so the line should be closer to 180 points.
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Montenegro 92-74 Latvia & Great Britain 78-118 USA +3,65 Units

Picks	55
Won	38		69,09%
Lost	16		29,09%
Void	1		1,82%
Stake	206,5
Profit	97,395
Yield	47,16%
Av. Odd	1,933636

BETTING TIPS (XXII) AEROSVIT CUP 2012 & U20 EUROPEAN MEN CHAMPIONSHIP

This is my first pick for the second day of Aerosvit Cup played in Ukraine. Israel will play Romania in Yuzhni trying to give minutes to all their players, still waiting Halerpin, Casspi and Eliyahu to join the team. With a lot of experienced bakcourt players in FIBA Basketball (Pnini, Limonad, Nissim, Naimy, Mekel together with Alex Tyus), the israelis will try to play fast and find their shooters. 


Romania, on the other hand, should step up after their last horrible offensive performance against Ukraine. The romanian were overpowered by a young ukrainian team yesterday and I think they will improve their stats led by Vlad Moldoveanu.


IMO the line should be around 147-148 points.

Israel - Romania. Over 144.5 points (1.98) Pinnacle. Stake 3
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Israel 76-65 Romania -3 units.


Sloppy offensive performance by Israel NT. Missing too many open shots and slowing down the pace in the second half. However it was close ;)

(LIVE BETTING PICKS) Italy - Latvia. Italy +18,5 (2.00) Unibet Stake 5 
(Bet placed at the beginning of the 3rdQ with 40-62 and Latvian ball)


(LIVE BETTING PICKS) Italy - Latvia. Italy +22,5 (2.00) Unibet Stake 5 
(Bet placed in the middle of the 3rdQ with 42-66)
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Italy 78-94 Latvia +10 Units



Great Profit with these Live Betting Picks. Italy woke up in the last quarter, making up the score and reducing the deficit to 11 points, though they finally lost by 16. 
Stay Tuned to Twitter for My Live Betting Picks !

Picks	52
Won	36		69,23%
Lost	15		28,85%
Void	1		1,92%
Stake	196,5
Profit	93,745
Yield	47,71%
Av. Odd	1,932692

BETTING TIPS (XVIII): FRANCE VS BELARUS & SPAIN VS TUNISIA

These are my picks for tonight´s friendly games. I have to hurry and I won´t be able to explain them as I´d like...

France - Belarus. France -22.5 points (2.00) Pinnacle. Stake 3

After their disappointing loss against Belgium yesterday, where they were outrebounded, France must step up tonight. Parker will see more action and french frontcourt should overpower their rivals. They will face Belarus NT, which have arrived in France without their top Cs (Veremeenko & Parakhouski). They will rely in long-range shots of their backcourt players, specially, PGs Kudryavtsev and naturalized american CG Dante Stiggers.

Andrei Krivonos named this roster for this trip to France: Nikolai Alekseev, George Kondrusiewicz, Korshuk Denis, Alexander Kudryavtsev, Lashkevich Alexey, Nikita Meshcheryakov, Meshcheryakov Yegor, Alexander Pugstovar, Dante Stiggers, Alex Trostinetsky, Pavel Ulyanka & Charikov Sergey. 

Spain - Tunisia. Spain -28.5 points (1.85) Unibet. Stake 3

Spain will be hosting tonight Afrobasket 2011 Champions in Salamanca. After their two first games vs Great Britain and France, Scariolo´s squad will face an easier test against Tunisia. The north-african roster will not count with Salah Mejrim, its best center and player. Without his rebounding and intimidation skills in the paint, Tunisia will have poor weapons to stop both Gasol´s brothers and Ibaka. IMO Spain should smash Tunisia and the spread should be between 35-40 points.
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France 84-64 Belarus & Spain 95-56 Tunisia -0,45 Units

Picks	46
Won	31		67,39%
Lost	14		30,43%
Void	1		2,17%
Stake	172,5
Profit	76,425
Yield	44,30%
Av. Odd	1,928696

EBI Basketball Rules Summit panel makes broad recommendations

The Euroleague Basketball Institute's groundbreaking Basketball Rules Summit concluded yesterday in Barcelona with an expert panel of professionals in the sport making a series of recommendations to change and interpret rules in ways that make the game more exciting for fans of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and the Eurocup.

The spirited two-day debate among 13 of the top coaches, players, referees, team and league executives, media, television and marketing experts reached a consensus on proposals to improve a range of game situations that respected the summit's goal in making the competitions cleaner, fairer and more exciting.

Among the proposals were several intended to give players more freedom of movement, such as widening the court itself and relaxing the interpretation of travelling rules, as well as more consistent application by the referees of the existing rules.

Other recommendations aim to speed up the game by shortening the time spent on existing procedures such as free throws, substitutions and timeouts.

Still other proposals are designed to enhance fairness through an increased use of instant replay in limited situations and using jump balls instead of the alternate possession arrow to resolve in-game instances of a held ball.

Finally, the group of experts urged generally a policy of interpreting certain rules, without changing them, in a way that offensive players have more freedom to move unimpeded, thereby promoting a more free-flowing and rhythmic game. 

The summit proposals that involve interpretations of existing rules will be discussed further with Turkish Airlines Euroleague Head Coaches in their annual meeting with Euroleague Basketball this week with an eye toward implementing them for the 2012-13 season. The proposals that involve rule changes will be consulted with the clubs in the Euroleague Commercial Assets General Assembly later this week, and, if approved, will subsequently be discussed with FIBA and ULEB.

"The summit panel has produced many strong ideas to make our game more spectacular, clean and fair," said Euroleague Basketball President and CEO Jordi Bertomeu. "We had a variety of truly devoted basketball professionals who see the game from different viewpoints, and their debate enlightened everyone in the room. What was paramount in this process was always keeping uppermost in our minds the fans and their need to enjoy our competitions even more. Now we have a roadmap to help that happen in the near future, and now it's time to share it with FIBA World and other governing bodies."


The Basketball Rules Summit panel consisted of former Euroleague-winning coaches Zeljko Obradovic and Ettore Messina; coaching legend Aito Garcia Reneses;  former Euroleague MVP Theo Papaloukas; Adriatic League president Rado Lorbek; Saski Baskonia club president Josean Querejeta; KK Cibona Zagreb adviser for sports and communication director Mihovil Nakic; Euroleague Basketball’s Director of Referees, Costas Rigas; veteran referee Luigi Lamonica; marketing executive Glenn Chin of Most Prolific; television producer and analyst Flavio Tranquillo; and Euroleague.net/Euroleague.TV editorial director Frank Lawlor. 


(Via Euroleague.net)

The chances of Triumph Lyubertsy to play VTB United League 2012-2013, close to 100 percent

VTB United League keeps on innovating, developing and increasing the number of teams in its fourth regular season. Founded in 2008 and sponsored by VTB Bank it will feature a total of 20 teams next season. There will be a lot of expectations in 2012-13 VTB League as, for the first time, it will directly affect the distribution of the European Cup licenses.


2012/13 season will be particularly important from an organizational point of view as Russian PBL and VTB League will merge into this new tournament. Leaded by Sergei Ivanov and Andrey Shirokov,  VTB President and CEO,  they have got the support of the Euroleague. Thanks to their efforts in the future of the tournament,  the competition will move forward  to conquer new markets.


Triumph Lyubertsy , most likely, will be the nineteenth contender in next VTB League season. 
Now the question is which club will get the twentieth spot?


18 out of 20 participants of VTB United League, are already known: 


Russia: CSKA Moscow, Khimki, UNICS Kazan, Lokomotiv Kuban, Spartak Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnye Krylia, Enisey Krasnoyarsk.


Lithuania: Zalgiris Kaunas, Lietuvos Rytas.
Ukraine:  Azovmash Mariupol, Budivelnyk.
Latvia: VEF Riga.
Belarus: Minsk 2006.
Kazakhstan: BC Astana.
Poland:  Asecco Prokom.
Czech Republic: Basketball Nymburk.
Estonia: Kalev Kramo.


More than ten teams have requested for the two vacancies for next season. Which ones and how - directly or through qualifications - get into the tournament will be determined no later than mid-July. Meanwhile, league continues to receive and consider bids from all corners.


These are the main contenders for the two remaining spots:


Russia: Triumph Lyubertsy 
Ukraine: Donetsk, Dnipro and BC Kiev
Poland: Prokom Trefl Sopot and Zielona Gora
Lithuania: Siauliai and Neptunas
Sweden: Norrköping Dolphins.


It is almost impossible to predict which team will accompany Triumph as new members for next season. Apparently, as in previous seasons, the lucky club will be determined by qualifications and terms of a system which (along with a calendar of the main stage) will be approved by the Board of VTB League in July. That will be held  even after Turkish Airlines Euroleague Draw. 


In my opinion, BC Donetsk has many options to clinch twentieth voucher as it´s the most powerful team among the last contenders. However, LKL clubs (Siauliai and Neptunas) are working hard to get another spot in the competition.  For the following seasons, it would be quite interesting to see representatives of new countries as BC Armia of Tbilisi. The Georgian club is seriously improving  and growing as they shew this past season at FIBA Eurochallenge.


There are high expectactions in the future of this VTB United League Competition and these are the best news for Basketball fans in Europe.

Eurobasket 2013: Ivkovic Announces Serbian Preliminary Roster

Dusan Ivkovic, Serbian basketball NT head coach, has released this morning a list of 24 players for Eurobasket 2013 qualifying round:


PG: Milos Teodosic, Stefan Markovic and Milenko Tepic.
SG: Aleksandar Rasic, Ivan Paunic, Danilo Andjusic, Nemanja Jaramaz and Nemanja Nedovic.
SF: Marko Keselj, Mladen Jeremic, Andreja Milutinovic, Nemanja Bjelica and Vladimir Lucic.
PF: Novica Velickovic, Dusko Savanovic, Zoran Erceg, Milan Macvan and Dragan Labovic.
C: Nenad Krstic, Kosta Perovic, Milovan Rakovic, Miroslav Raduljica, Dejan Musli and Mile Ilic.


Together with the team leaders (Teodosic, Krstic, Velickovic), Ivkovic has invited the most promising serbian players such as Mladen Jeremic, Andreja Milutinovic, Dejan Musli, Nemanja Nedovic, Danilo Andjusic or Nemanja Jaramaz


"I'll make my first cut on the 25th of June and the final one on the 4th of July" reported the veteran head coach.


Serbia will face Israel, Montenegro, Estonia, the Slovak Republic and Iceland in Qualification Round Group A. Their first game will be on 14 August against Iceland.


(via FIBA Europe)