Home-field advantage rests on just one game but look for the Greek outfit Olympiacos to sneak past their Moscow rivals.
Group F is getting tense in the final stages, with three playoff places already decided. Two teams will face off on Friday with the chance to win home-field advantage in the playoffs. CSKA Moscow are in the driving seat and know a victory at home against Olympiacos Piraeus will confirm their home-court playoff games.
CSKA have been in good form, leading the Top 16 in scoring, averaging 88.6 points per game and they looked certainties to finish in the top two just a few weeks ago. However, Olympiacos boast the best defence in the Top 16, allowing just 71.7 points per game and they also know that a victory gives them the tie-break advantage over Moscow. It’s a pretty tough one to call, they are fairly evenly matched but in sports, a top ranked defence usually comes out on top. Back the Greek side to win at 18/5 and better still, take them at 2/1 to be winning at half-time too, they’ll grind down CSKA early and squeeze out a close victory.
The other game on Friday night is a bit of a dead rubber. Two eliminated sides face off as Zalgaris Kaunas welcome Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade. It’s a game of pride but both teams have something to take from this year, with Zalgaris having their best-ever outing and Zvezda’s Boban Marjanovic currently sitting as the performance index rating leader with 25.5. They’ll both want to go out on a high, but go for Zalgaris to impress for a few moments longer by winning at 1/2. It’s also worthwhile looking at both sides to score plenty of points, they’ll want to put on a bit of a show so take both to combine for over 149.5 points at 9/10.
