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Banchi can't count on a lot of efficient forwards this early in the season. Brooks is still out of his depth when it comes to European matches, Gentile is just starting do well, which made Kleiza the top scorer on the team. He played both Supercup games, recording 17 points. He did 22 minutes against Cremona and scored 13 points. The margin is now only 11,5. The reason for this is his last season, but he will get better offense-wise at Milano. Another reason for this bet is Melli, who is still far from his best performances, which will give Kleiza his 30 minutes in the game. Milano won't stand a chance if he's not efficient tonight. I think this margin is off by 2-3 points. Details

Although Fener are a justified favorite here, I believe this margin is too high. Milano's was one of the best defenses in Europe last season, and I believe we'll see it even better this season. The team are in great shape and can parry anyone, and I'm sure they can resist Fener as well. This is the second season Obradović is leading the team, and will surely improve their results this season, but this is not a team that runs down their opponents. Obradović is a coach famous for his preference for strong defenses and organized basketball, and that's what we're like to see here. Bianchi on the other had said that they need to control the tempo of the game in order to win, and they certainly win. Teams who can score 80+ points against Milan are few and far between, and Fenerbahce are still not among them. Details

Last season these teams played three matches which ended at 140 (with extra time), 149, and 105 points. The rosters may have changed but the coaches and focus have not. Nancy still base everything on defense, especially at home, where they are able to limit any team in the league to way under 170 points. Offensively speaking, they have some more power, but Nanterre have also improved on defense over last season. Judging from previous matches, this margin is close to right, but we need to look at the important matches. Nancy went over when trashing Bourg and Gravelies, while they played 154 with the very quick Nymburk, with a penalty finish and 89 points in the second half. In the Limoges match, similar to what I expect today, they played at 131 points, while the away match against the offensively focused Reims saw them at 145. The same goes for Nanterre, who scored 90 against the offensively focused Rouen, Chalon and Cholet who all have porous defenses, going way above this margin. We saw the outcome of matches against strong teams with good defense, in important games, such as against Limoges and Paris, where the outcomes were at 124 and 131 point. Both teams mostly stayed under in the preparation period matches, even when facing each other, where Nancy won 77-71. Compared to that match Nancy will have Pietrus, who makes Weisz's team much stronger defensively. Nancy are also eager to get payback for the three defeats they suffered last season, including the Cup one, so I expect them to be full out aggressive. The margin is too high by about 3-4 points in my opinion, due to effective blowout games, but this will not be the case today. I expect a tough game, and would not be surprised if it were to stay under 140 points. Details

This may seem like a high margin at first sight, but you'd be hard pressed to find more offensive oriented teams in the Belgian league than Okapi and Brussels. The home team proved that by beating Telekom 107-83 in the preseason and losing to Leicester 95-103, and by their first four league matches averaging 188, with them scoring 97.8 and allowing 90.3. In the last round Liege match, a more defensive team, they played 97-97 in regular time. Prior to that they beat Limburg 101-90 and Pepinster 97-92. The only match they played under 170 was against Leuven in the first round, and they have opposite styles. The away team lost their first round home match 89-99 against Antwerp, a team with a style similar to Okapi. After that they played a 160+ match in Liege. In the preseason Brussels went way over this margin (190+) against all run-and-gun teams, and even ended up above 170 against the tough Spirou. Okapi are simply a team with no real center who do great in a running match and have a very short rotation which reflects in poorer defensive intensity. Brussels on the other hand play the same way under coach Crevecoeur they did last season when they lost 98-110 and 92-114 at Aalst. Players may have changed, but they kept the same style of play. Details

Diamantidis is one of the best European point guards of all time. Just like all the greatest players, he's been doing great in the greatest of games. The meeting with Turow does not fall into that category, with Panathinaikos expected to win without any trouble. Diamantidis will not try his best in such a game, especially after missing the training sessions this week. This will be his chance to record some assists, and to score a few three pointers. He went over this margin only once in the first six Euroleague matches last season. Details

Under normal circumstances I would not go near a counter-handicap on Nyburk in the Czech league, it's a kind of a non+written rule. However, these are not regular circumstances. They played a physically very demanding match against Nancy less than 48 hours ago in France. They did fly home, but there is no direct flight Nancy - Nymburk, and it took some time. Syitavy also played two days ago, and spent themselves to get back in the game, but they played their last two matches at home, won both, and the adrenaline and euphoria will erase some of the fatigue. Nymburk are facing a VTB league match two days after this, and another Euro Cup match two days after that. In order for a team to beat someone by 27 points there needs to be a good motive, and I don't see it with worn out Nyburk. By comparison, they played a match of similar importance (meaning not too important) in the last round of last season against Svitavy, and only won it in extra time. This smells like routine as well, and in that case this margin is too high... Details

Monaco's win seems obvious if we consider the team quality and the ambition disparity (staying in the league for the home team, moving up a rank for the away crew), but the odds are declining and the handicap rising, so I see it as a 'good' bet, not a great one. However, an under on total points seems great. If we put aside some inevitable crazy stuff in the preparation period, Monaco are a team who played under in 8 of 10 matches at this margin before the league started. After that tehy played three more, against Roanne at 136, against first league Asvel at 157 and against Roanne at 154, so just a bit over. Angers went under this margin in 8 of 11 matches prior to the championship (friendlies and cup matches). In the league matches they played under against Hyeres and over against the super quick Saint-Quentin who play no defense at all. These two are rivals from the days they both played third league, so I expect a tough match. Three of the four they played stayed under - 151, 146 and 135 (in chronological order), and only the first one, played two years ago, ended at 156. Much has changed since, as Monaco had the second and Angers the fourth best defense in the league last season, and they base much of their game on defense this season as well. Details

Thing are pretty clear here. Karlovic has not lost a single service game in any of his 5 sets here, with only one of them ending in a tie-break. The surface is very fast in Vienna, as Ferrer said. This is the fourth head-to-head meeting between Ferrer and Karlovic, with all the previous three first sets decided in tie-break. Win your service games and wait for an opportunity - that will be Ferrer's tactics today. I don't think there will many of those opportunities for him, especially if Karlovic manages to keep his first service percentage high. The first set tie break is the expected outcome in this match. Any kind of first set over is a good choice. Details

Hypo decided to put all their efforts into training the young Austrain players instead of bringing the new signings on after losing almost every starting line-up player. New coach Kovacs says that the most important thing for the team at this point is winning the home games. They've not done well away so far, struggling with weak Dornbirn in the national championship away. That is a clear sign of what they are like currently. Krim underwent a lot of changes over the summer as well, but better-quality players joined their team. Their ambition is, on top of that, higher than than Hypo's, which means they should be able to win today. Besides, Bon said that the Austrians are the easiest opponent in the group, and Krim cannot afford to fail home. Details

Dimitrov's opening performance here did nothing to impress me. He is clearly struggling to adjust to these conditions, with Gabashvili managing to stay very close and the details deciding the outcome in the end. I expect Dimitorv to get his game to a higher level today, which is definitively necessary with this opponent being at least a level better than Gabashvili. Sock is doing great indoors, having advanced to quarter finals at his second indoors tournament this season. He beat Chardy yesterday without losing any of his service games, and with 84% of first services and 14 aces. The service is clearly his most powerful weapon. I think he will be a very tricky opponent for Dimitrov today. I decided on the first set over at 9.5 games because I expect them both to focus on their respective great services completely. The total games over (22.5) is an excellent choice as well. Details

It's a shame Bagnis had a crisis after the great performances at challengers before and during summer, as he was ripe to get into the Top 100 back then. However, I saw both his matches here in San Juan and I believe he is slowly getting back his routine, good performances. He is definitely not a player who deserves to be eliminated in the first or second round of challengers and I believe the two great matches he played so far in San Juan lifted his confidence. Although ranked under Gonzalez, he is stronger than the Colombian, who is primarily a worker, despite his physical abilities. He also did not repeat the challenger success of the last season this year, having lost his rhythm playing ATP tournaments, and is losing to players he beat last year. My impression is that Bagnis is a definite favorite here, as the Colombian beat Pella in two sets by playing great on break points while the match could have gone the other way too, and then even lost a set against Samper Montana. Bagnis is not behind Gonzalez in terms of quality, I'd even say he is more talented and better. Siding all of that next to the impressions from this tournament, I believe Bagnis is a favorite here. Details

Siniakova really played a lot of matches at this level lately, some through the qualifiers, some in the main draw. She also played two doubles matches here (both in 3 sets). She is not the kind of player that is used to this kind of rhythm at this level and this simply has to show on court today. She also got lucky with the draw here, although at Vesnina and Mladenovic don't seem like good draws at first sight. However, Vesnina has not won a match since the US Open and her shoulder is still an issu, while Mladenović won in the first round only due to her opponent's fatigue, while the match against Siniakova showed her true, awful form. Giorgi has proven she can and will play well indoors, both in Katowice (had a match point in the final) and in Linz (another match point in the final), and in the two matches she played here. She dissolved Tsurenko, and showed character against Pennetta both in the first and in the second set. Her confidence is sky high, and I believe she is even more of a favorite here than the bookmakers are making her. Details

Once again the bookmakers are putting too much faith in the Wildcats. A great second half against the Breakers is in no way enough for them to be this favored against the Hawks as well. There are many reasons, starting with their centers. Mat Knight played awfully against the Breakers, and it's clear that the Wildcats need more time to tune up. Nevill on the other hadn left the opposite impression and will also have a big advantage in height, giving the away team dominance under the rim. At the perimeter, Damian spoke about facing Ervin several times, but will more likely be guarding the excellent Carson, while Ervin will face Beal. The away team are ahead in those duels as well, since Carson is great in penetrations while Beal can hardly defend against Beal's speed. Home team's point guard, Damian Martin, failed in creating chances on offense, as expected, and the only position where the home team have any edge is at forward, where DeAndre Daniels is a class above Forman. Although Oscar can play defense well, DeAndre showed his quality and the Wildcats will expect him to score more. In closing, the Wildcats have not shown a team game nor do they prevail in quality. They lost Hire, an important player, who will be subbed for by Mathiang Muo, and have no alternative for DeAndre. Overall, I believe the Hawks will put up a stiff resistance and might even surprise. Details