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I like Petzschner and watch his matches each chance I get but sadly, he is just a shadow of his former self now. Injuries that have destroyed him are unfortunately not something he left in the past. He failed to tie wins this season. He came here after the European indoors tournaments, struggled with Delic, stayed closet to Dustov but lost focus and power in the third set. His style is about the net game, frequent backhand drop shots and low shots. That does not really work in Indian Wells, one of the slowest hard court surfaces where the balls bounce high. Clay specialists are always doing well here and I believe Cecchinato will do well too. He made it through to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires main draw and lost to Bagnis and Nieminin closely. I think he is much better then Petzschner who decided to use protected ranking to try and make it into main draw. Given his indoors performances where his game works much better since it requires less energy, I don't think hell do well here. I'm afraid this is his final season, while his opponent is set to race for the Top 100. That's a success for a 22-year-old. I expected the Italian to be favorite to some extent and these odds are, therefore, a pleasant surprise. Details

Lokomotiv returned from Germny with minimum advantage, although I think it could've been a lot more convincing. The Russians dominated in the first half, but later they fell and allowed Brose to come back into the game in front of the full hall; they even took the +5 lead. In the end quality was crucial and Lokomotiv won. Today Brose won't have the fans behind them to raise them in difficult times and I think Lokomotiv will score a double-digit win. All 17 wins so far in the competition speak of their quality and that they're one of the main favorites to win the trophy. If they want to reach it, they don't have the right to fail today. This season only Buducnost covered this margin in Krasnodar in Eurocup, but it was an unimportant math when Lokomotiv practically already secured the first place in the group. Krasiyaka, Valencia and a number of other good teams have been convincingly beaten and I think a similar destiny awaits Brose. The Germans can press the defense, but I think they will have great problems with the best defense in the competition. Lokomotiv has a very mobile frontcourt and they can reach easy points from their defense, which will make the offense easy. I see this match as a one-way street. Simon believes this can be a convincing win, and I expect them to confirm that on the court. Details

Avtodor are a completely offense-oriented and fast-paced team but I think this margin is far too high. First of all, this is the quarterfinals, two games are to be played and who ever loses today will be in a very tough situation ahead of the second-leg match. If we take a look at Eurochallenge stats only, Trabzon have two overs in 12 games, one was the insignificant defeat to Jenisej, the other one to Cluj early in the season, before Markovic took over. Him taking over saw Trabzon improve their game greatly, they are playing home today and I believe they will bring the pace down a bit. Avtodor have only one over in 12 games (in regulation time). Three over times account for other overs but if take a look at regulation time only, they games are finishing at an average of 163.7 points, which is 11 points under this margin. Trabzon are at 163.7 points when two last games are taken into consideration and I think it's very clear this margin is set too high, especially given the importance of this game. VTB league is a whole other thing but if we take it into consideration as well, Avtodor's tough away games (Himki, UNICS, Lokomotiv) finished under this margin. Avtodor also had a long trip ahead of this game, Rodinov said the team are tired, which could also result in slower pace. Details

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I usually wait for the confirmation on whether questionable players are out or not but I think that wouldn't change much today. The Clippers are without their top scorer Griffin (22.5 points per game) who was recently joined by Jamal Crawford recently (16.4). Coach Rivers said that Crawford is to return after Griffin, which is why assume neither will play today. To make things even worse, their point guard Paul (18.5 points, 10.1 assists) suffered a blow to the knee and even though it seemed it's not bad at first, he might be sidelined today too. I think he has a 50-50 chance of playing. I don't think the Clippers will use their key player while injured 19 games ahead of the playoffs. I believe there is no need to explain just how big the difference in quality between Rivers and him. The other three players who are top scorers will be greatly missed too. Even tough they are bottom table in the West, the Wolves can beat anyone and I wouldn't be surprised if they win this game. Still, as conservative as I am, I will go with the handicap, which I think is almost a gift from the bookies. Details