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Although I really do not like to play the spread in the Philippine league, this time I simply must go for it. The number of points limit is too high and does not have any value, while the Texters' win by 7 points is a great bet. Express exchanged players right before this game. They sent away Cortez, Sena and Isip, and in turn they got Taulava and Yeo. A truly hilarious move by Express' management, which will harm the team in the long run. None of the newly signed players is a game-winner, quite the contrary. Earlier this season Taulava played in the lower ranks and Yeo was merely an extra. On the other side, Cortez and Osip gave some good performances. Express are now a rather limited team, catastrophic in defense and trying to make up for that in the offense. They realistically lack ability for that as, except Canaleta and Graham, most of the team is below average. Their opponents, Texters, on the other hand, had four players selected for the national team at the recent championships. There is some obvious weariness in the defense as they don't seem to give their best at all. However, great progress in the offense is clearly visible, which is very important for this match. While Mitchell can because of his height outperform Graham, Reyes is one of the better defenders in the league and can stop Canaleta. Texters are much stronger in all positions and cannot afford a defeat in this game. That's why I expect their first good show in this conference and a really convincing victory, with a much bigger points difference than the bookmakers' offers. Their last head to head matches are not relevant because it was the now gone Cortez who played brilliantly and kept Express in the game. Details

With all credit to young Borna, this is a level of tennis he hasn't experienced yet in his career. Regardless of Murray's aversion to clay, the Briton has arrived to Umag already on Sunday to prepare for this tie. This means we have a motivated world number 3 against a 16-year-old boy. Coric has undoubtedly a nice career ahead of him, but the difference between juniors' and men's tennis is enormous, even more so when we have a player of Murray's quality. In my opinion, winning two games per set would be a success for the Croatian player. Simply put, I don't think he's ready for this level yet, and Murray will win as convincingly as possible. Noone is keen on staying on the court longer than necessary. Intensity, stroke power, physique - these are at much higher level in men, especially with a player like Murray, so taking the under here seems a good bet. Details

I think the bookmakers focused on the name a bit too hard, and not on the state in which the Boston club is when it comes to this game. True, the Patriots are the Patriots, Brady is Brady, and even though he is the quarterback for almost half the team, I think he might be in problems tonight. Despite winning, Brady and his team didn't return from Buffalo with a smile on their faces because they lost their running back Shane Vereen, while catcher Danny Amendola has a groin injury and will probably not play tonight.
Veeren had 14 carries for 101 rushing yards, while Amendola caught 10 balls in 104 yards which means the Patriots offense will miss them tonight, especially considering that Rob Gronkowski is injured, Aaron Hernandez is in prison, and Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd who were Brady's favorite targets last seasons are also missing. The Patriots also had only two days to prepare for the match, and it will be interesting to see the rookie catcher Kenbrell Thompkins who caught only four of the 14 balls thrown at him on Sunday (42 yards). One of the disadvantages in the bet is the away team quarterback who lost two balls in the first round, and Brady usually turns those kind of gifts in points, but the Jets, especially their coach Rex Ryan, are always highly motivated against the Patriots and and I don't doubt they'll play smartly. Details

Atletico-MG keep dancing on the edge and putting in an extra effort only when someone gets dangerously close, as is the case now that they've dropped below the line that will separate four teams from the rest of the league this December. Therefore, a win is an imperative today, and the key factors should be the home turf and absent players in the visiting team. The bookmakers are aware of this and the home team win odds are down, but there is another option that is worth a shot and judging by Atletico's results even better than a home team win in this case. This alternative is to bet on them to score more than one goal, irrespective of the final outcome. It is one year today since they last won 1-0 at home, which is the only result that goes in favor of betting on a win compared to the said alternative, while they played 2-2 no less than three times just in the last five games. In any case, the "Roosters" typically score more than one goal at home, as they've managed to do this in 23 out of 26 home games since the end of the last year.

There is probably no team in Brazil with one player standing apart and above his teammates like Coritiba with Alex. He did not even travel for this away match, even though he is not injured. The club doesn't want to risk another injury for him, as he is more needed for the next match where the winning odds and imperative are greater than today. These teams are both good at home, which supports the prediction - and this is confirmed by their h2h - as the visitors always came back empty-handed in recent seasons. Other than Alex, several more players will be missing today in all lines, including defensive midfielder Junior Urso and the important defensive pair Leandro Almeida and Victor Ferraz. Because of this, the Coritiba defense will feature three players with only eight matches played in total between them.

In the last home game, Ronaldinho scored twice from free kicks, and he should have plenty of chances today since the referee for this match is Bezerra, who is ranked second by the number of fouls. The odds at 1.88 seem high, and they shouldn't be much higher than the ones for the home team win, while the only absent player for Atletico is Tardelli. Details

This may be a strange decision, to pick Slovenia after two defeats and against Italy who are on 5-0. This is the situation, Slovenians are in a situation that this might be a key game for them, with this win thy are very close to the quarterfinals. I will not talk about FIBA conspiracies here, about an unwritten rule that the host has to play in the final rounds because of the profit, but it should be kept in mind. Two and a half days of rest were really good for Slovenia, I am not so sure how the Italy will respond to the rest, have they been thrown out of the rhythm. Besides, Italy is, from a practically home team atmosphere in Koper, coming to full Stozice, a completely different atmosphere. We have an example of a game in Koper before Eurobasket, Slovenia won in a less competitive match. I am mentioning this because Slovenia created a big difference in the second quarter in which they played agressively, the Italians were unable to setup an offense. This is the Slovenia I expect to see today, maximally agressive, fast and eager to win. They have strong players in defense in positions 2 and 3, exactly where the Italians are the strongest offensively. All this combined makes me take this pick. Details

The Greeks are in a worst kind of position prior to the game with Spain. They can still decide their own faith and even have a small chance if they lose today's game. By most experts these are the two strongest teams. The Greek team is made in such a way that they won't be able to stand up to the Spaniards and Trinchieri prepared three centres to terorise Marca. They won't stop him but they can surely wear him out. They have a problem with defending and that only puts them in a position of the underdog. A tough game is expected and the Spaniards need the win. They dominated with their defense against weaker teams especially playing offense. The Greek wide line can defend against their attacks and they have some tough players to defend against Gasol. They are even stronger on the position of power forward. In a controlled game with less total points this handicap seems too big. The Greeks have showed that they should never be written off, both in club and national games. Trinchieri is to put all his best on court and thinks it is worth the stake. Details

Marc Gasol will play 32-35 minutes today, there is no question about it. He is a phenmenal asset to Spain's defense which has been dominant here, only because of him. By reading the statement from the Greek coach Trinchierio, one can see his fear of Spain's transition and his desire to control the game, and we can assume that the Greeks will sacrifice offensive rebounds in order to get back into defense more quickly. I won't waste many words on Gasol's rebounds, as he's been unstoppable in the NBA. He has averaged 8.5 rebounds on this tournament, but this average can be deceiving. He had 6 and 8 rebounds in 21 minutes against Poland and Georgia, respectively, 11 rebounds in 34 minutes against Croatia, 10 rebounds in 31 minutes against Czech Republic, and he only "flopped" against Slovenia with 7 rebounds, somewhat due to 6 rebounds from Claver, who has averaged 3.5 rebounds here. This is one of the reasons for this pick, Claver is not a typical number four, he isn't so prone to rebounds and this leaves a lot to Gasol. This bet is available at Nordic. Details

Barys and SKA have so far displayed the best offensive game in the league. The home team has a 15-4 goal difference in the first two rounds, and the visiting team 16-6. It's not surprising. Barys has been well known for their offensive game style for years now, which is lead by their North-American trio - Boyd-Dawes-Bochenski. They have already acquired 13 points together. A big plus for the home team is good co-operation between other offensive trios, the second and the third one, made up by the best Kazakh players. It's not very likely that they will give up on their offensive game style, and SKA in that respect very similar to them, and their offense is better than their defense. Last year, for instance, in their two head-to-head championship games, they scored 10 and 9 goals. Barys scored 5 goals home, and 3 away. Details