EUROPE: Euroleague

Real Madrid - Panathinaikos

Real Madrid will play their second game in a row in home after a big win in El Clasico against Barcelona (92-65) and this win boosted their confidence more. The last 2 matches totals ended with unders just because the opponents were not able to score enough points. But it's desining result watching how Barcelona looks at the moment and after the lost to Olympiacos at home yesterday and Gran Canaria who this season faking the numbers of purchased tickets by the fans just to invite more people watch the game. Meanwhiile Panathinaikos comes after 3 unders in a row but these results also desining because they played against defensive minded teams or at least teams who are struggling this season on the offense. 76-67 win against Darussafaka, 69-81 against Fenerbahce (disaster match from the field goals) and lost 76-68 on the road against Khimki where the halftime result was 48-44. Now they will play as a clear underdogs in the double week so I'm pretty sure that this game will could be on their second plan and the priorities will win against Milano at home on friday.

Both teams are capable to score and both teams should play without pressure as their priorities should be on the second matches in this week. Over 163.5 @1.90 Bet365 is my call

betblog.com/picks/476498-real-madrid-panathinaikos

The following injuries have been confirmed by Turkish Airlines EuroLeague clubs prior to the start of Round 13:



Anadolu Efes Istanbul: [Yigitcan Saybir is out long-term with a broken finger.

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica: Nikola Ivanovic and Aleksa Ilic will miss Round 13 with knee injuries.

Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul: Kartal Ozmizrak is not available for Round 13. Muhammed Baygul's participation will be a game-time decision.

FC Bayern Munich:Devin Booker will miss Round 13 with an ankle injury, as will Braydon Hobbs, who is sick.

Fenerbahce Istanbul: Tyler Ennis is out long-term with a broken tibia.

Herbalife Gran Canaria: Clevin Hannah is sidelined until early January with a broken right hand. Luke Nelson remains sidelined with injury.

Khimki Moscow Region: Alexey Shved is out of action until late December with a broken finger. Anthony Gill is sidelined with a back injury through Round 13, at least.

KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz:Patricio Garino remains out until early January with a knee injury. Tadas Sedekerski remains out with a back injury.

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv: Jeremy Pargo remains sidelined with a back injury.

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens: Ioannis Papapetrou remains sidelined with a wrist injury.

Real Madrid: Felipe Reyes has a head injury and is questionable to lay in Round 13. Facundo Campazzo missed a domestic game with a muscle injury and is a game-time decision for Round 13. Ognjen Kuzmic is due to return.

Zalgiris Kaunas: Paulius Jankunas and Nate Wolters have not traveled with the team for Round 13 due to injuries.

Derrick Williams continues to ball out!

21 pts 6 rebs 7/10 FG 6/7 FT and Bayern get a big win on the road in Milan 78-80. Dominant

Leo Westermann CLUTCH

Derrick Williams still rolling. Yesterday against Milano he scored clutch 2+1 that helped to steal the victory from italians. Now he averages 14.1 points in Euroleague season and 17.4 points in the last 7 games.

CSKA - Anadolu Efes

Some interesting numbers from referee perspective. Tonight's referee crew for CSKA Moscow - Anadolu Efes match

Carlos Peruga (Spain) Crew Chief

Armani Olimpia Milano 81 - 80 Khimki
Buducnost 60 - 72 Zalgiris
Olympiacos 72 - 73 Fenerbahce
FC Bayern Muenchen 72 - 65 Khimki
Panathinaikos 75 - 67 Darussafaka

Average total points: 143.4

Mario Majkic (Slovenia)

CSKA Moscow 79 - 75 Darussafaka
Khimki 84 - 85 Anadolu Efes
Olympiacos 88 - 83 Real Madrid
Darussafaka 71 - 75 Gran Canaria

Average total points: 160

Gytis Vilius (Lithuania)

FC Barcelona 83 - 73 FC Bayern Muenchen
Maccabi Tel Aviv 95 - 71 FC Bayern Muenchen
Gran Canaria 95 - 85 Buducnost
FC Barcelona 60 - 69 Olympiacos

Average total points: 157.7

Total average points from these referees: 146.4

Actual total for this game at the moment:

Bet365 - 173.5 @1.90
Pinnacle - 172.5 @1.934

Panathinaikos parts ways with Xavi Pascual



After two seasons together, Panathinaikos and Xavi Pascual parted ways.

Panathinaikos and Xavi Pascual will not continue their collaboration after nearly two seasons together, following the Greens’ losing streak in EuroLeague so far in the season.

George Vovoras and Fragkiskos Alvertis will take charge of the bench until further notice.

Pascual led the Greens to two consecutive Greek League titles, in 2017 and 2018, while he was also named Greek League Best coach for both seasons.

The Spanish coach didn’t meet with the press today in the scheduled press conference for the upcoming EuroLeague game against AX Armani Exchange Milano.

On the contrary, owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos visited the team at OAKA and also fans of the Greens were waiting outside the gym in order to also meet with the team. Giannakopoulos announced his decision to impose a fine on the team for the way they performed against Real Madrid.

Changes are expected in the roster, however, nothing is expected to change before the game against Milan.

Rick Pitino hired to coach powerhouse EuroLeague team Panathinaikos

Pitino is headed to Greece with hopes of one day returning to the NBA.



Former Louisville men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino is taking his talents overseas. He will coach EuroLeague powerhouse Panathinaikos in Greece, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, with his first game coming Dec. 27.

This will be a challenge for Pitino. EuroLeague is an entirely new game from college basketball, where Pitino had established himself as one of the most successful coaches of his generation.

Wojnarowski reports Pitino’s goal is to use EuroLeague coaching as a stepping stone to return to the NBA as a head coach. He spent two seasons as coach of the New York Knicks (1987-89) and three and a half seasons with the Boston Celtics (1997-2001). During his tenure as a head coach in the NBA, he amassed a 192-220 record.

Pitino was most recently in the spotlight during an FBI probe into college basketball. He was fired by Louisville in the aftermath of that probe, though it remains unclear if he was aware of payments made to a Louisville recruit’s family.

Pitino inherits a Panathinaikos team in 10th place with a 6-7 record in the middle of its season. His roster includes Giannis Antetokounmpo’s younger brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, former Kings big man Georgios Papagiannis, and ex-NBA point guard Nick Calathes.

Pitino will also be working for a team owner whose reputation precedes him. Dimitros Giannakolpoulos was fined after “barging into the referee’s room and threatening to kill the officials and their families” after his team won a playoff game.

Some interesting Euroleague teams numbers before tonight's matches



Khimki M. - Darussafaka

Khimki covering 53.8% of their giving handicaps.

Most of the Khimki matches finishing with less points than expecting before the match (61.5%)

Darussafaka covering just 46.2% of their giving handicaps

Darussafaka has same percentage of total points unders as a Khimki (61.5%)

Zalgiris Kaunas - Maccabi Tel Aviv

Zalgiris Kaunas struggling of covering their handicaps (46.2%)

Zalgiris Kaunas is still with one of the highest percentages for total points overs (76.9%)

Maccabi Tel Aviv increased their winning percentage of covered handicaps to 53.8%

Maccabi Tel Aviv together with Khimki and Darussafaka have the same percentages of games which finished with less points than expected before the match (61.5%)

Bayern - Real Madrid

Bayern is one of the top teams regarding the covered handicaps percentages (61.5%)

53.8% of Bayern games finished with more points than expected

Real Madrid has the same percentage of covered handicaps as Bayern (61.5%)

Unexpected but 53.8% of Real Madrid games finished with total points under

Panathinaikos - Milano

Panathinaikos has the worst percentages in the league regarding covering handicaps (23.1%)

Panathinaikos finished 53.8% of their game with total points under

Milano also has very bad record of covering their giving handicaps and percentages seeks just above 30% (30.8%)

Most of the Milano games ending with more points than expected (61.5%)

Maccabi Tel Aviv have good individual players, but watching them play against Zalgiris today it's easy to understand why they're 4-10. Absolutely no team basketball, it's isolation ball nearly every posession and that's why they won't make the playoffs

They had no option in the attack tonight. Maybe something will change after Jeremy Pargo comeback

Buducnost: Norris Cole signs with Buducnost

Two-time NBA champion Norris Cole returns to EuroLeague.

Buducnost signs American guard Norris Cole, the Montenegrin club announced. The former NBA champion with the Miami Heat returns to EuroLeague where he played in the previous season with Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Cole, 30, spent the first half of 2018-2019 in Italy with Sidigas Avellino a club currently in economic distress. He parted ways with the Italian team earlier Friday (21/12), few hours before the deal with Buducnost became official.

In nine Basketball Champions League games with the Italian team, Cole averaged 16.1 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.4 rebounds.

They gotta have more ball movement

To be honest they have weak rosters besides 2-3 players. Typical Maccabi with americans squad but this time seems that some of the players just not on the same page as the others. Although they have now good coach they still have no big option for improvement. As I said hope so Jeremy Pargo will change something but I don't think that on that time the Maccabi would have any chances left for the spot in TOP 8

Oh they are definitely not making the playoffs, its mid season and they haven't figured it out yet.

Maccabi is not that far away to try join into running train. We saw what Baskonia did last season or same Zvezda

Zalgiris Kaunas: Leo Westermann suffers knee injury

Zalgiris Kaunas’ injury woes are persisting midway through EuroLeague’s Regular Season.

Lithuanian site 15min reported on Zalgiris Kaunas’ injury list ahead of the away game with Herbalife Gran Canaria mentioning Leo Westermann suffered a knee injury on Thursday morning’s practice. The 26-year-old French forward won’t play in Friday’s match due to this injury.

Paulius Jankunas and Antanas Kavaliauskas will also miss Sarunas Jasikevicius’ team EuroLeague Regular Season Round 15 match. However, Nate Wolters is expected to return to action after his two-week layoff due to his ankle injury, but his playing time in Spain might be limited.

Updated. Leo Westermann out at least for a month.

Panathinaikos - CSKA press conference after the game. Rick Pitino looks a funny guy and loves to talk 😁

Buducnost fires head coach Aleksandar Dzikic

Another EuroLeague head coach gets axed midway through the season.

Buducnost announced that the club fired head coach Aleksandar Dzikic. The announcement came less than 24 hours after the EuroLeague defeat to Bayern Munich that arrived after Buducnost blew a 17-point lead. A few days ago, the team had suffered an ABA League home loss to bottom-placed Krka Novo Mesto.

Per the announcement of the Montenegrin club, the decision to part ways with Dzikic was taken because of a “turbulent period due to the lack of expected results. The club also mentions that Dzikic’s sacking is a part of a “cycle of changes that started by bringing new players and serious reinforcement.”

While Buducnost has beaten powerhouses such as CSKA Moscow and Barcelona in EuroLeague they are second to last in the standings with 3 – 12. Furthermore, the team’s record in the ABA League is 8 – 4.

In the previous season, Dzikic led Buducnost to the ABA League championship title for the first time in the history of the club and thus a return to EuroLeague for the first time since 2003. Buducnost beat Crvena Zvezda in the Finals despite lacking homecourt advantage.