EuroCup - Zadar v Hapoel Jerusalem

15 December 2009

Preview By Tipster Jadran

Handicap -3.5 : +3.5

Zadar was absolutely humiliated in that game last week between these two,trailing by 27-28 points in some periods,but I see a few reasons to go with them here.The first is pride-the hosts will do their best to show they are match for Hapoel and the second one is home court where Zadar is almost perfect this year(one loss against Aris).How huge is importance of home court even Yuval Naimy knows,a PG of the visitors mentioned in his blog(Eurocupbasketball.com) how hard is to play on the road in this competition.Zadar is not at their best,but they are still managing to W in their own gym.They won Zvezda by 6 in saturday,in a weird looking game where both teams were struggling to find a tempo,and Zadar s 10/20 three point shooting was a big factor.Despite this W,Zadar s coach Sagadin has reasons to be concerned as his team allowed 15 offensive rebs to Zvezda and that should not happen anytime soon,not for this type of physical and tall team(despite not having true center).I believe that they will find a way to shut down Jerusalem in this one and to limit their advantage in athleticism in this game,as they are far more aggressive in front of their own crowd.To be honest the ML on the hosts is what I like the most in this one,but Zadar to cover this 3.5 also looks like a decent bet,mid stakes,GL!