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You know European basketball is not an NBA to see the same and the same, even if the EuroLeague from 2000 onwards managed to … Americanize us. The Barcelona conclave, which evolved into a closed group of shareholders, offers the most competitive championship we have ever seen in our continent, however, suffocatingly closing the passage for those who might be interested in participating in the festival.

Fortunately, there are the… Pari of this world, who by winning the Eurocup, even enter the Euroleague through the window to add salt to the soup. Only, that the team from the French capital does not like, for now, to be only the salt of the competition. It’s the pepper, it’s the sauce, the appetizers and the salad, not to mention the main course!

Ten consecutive victories for the formidable team from Bonn and the foundations laid by coach Isalo (currently an assistant at the Memphis Grizzlies). He moved to Paris almost together two years ago and is doing everything he did in the previous two competitions. She terrorizes her opponents, winning one after another. And well in the BCL and the Eurocup. But also in the Euroleague?

Yes, yes there too. Olympiacos was the last victim of an incredible team with players, almost “unwritten”, that on an individual level maybe no one looked at them, but as a team you see them, you admire them and… you don’t even catch up with them. In the SEF for 33 minutes, they paraded, leading with 20 points and while Olympiacos attempted an improbable comeback, with 22-0, they found the strength, they also had luck on their side (in the … Vezenkov-Peters clash the which a certain rebound with the score tied, turned into a surprise and three-pointer by Lo) but and walnuts to react.

Who?

• The short one What J Shorts (only 1.75!) who, as he is doing after the MVP in BCL and Eurocup, is ready for an unrepeatable triple-crown, taking the title of the best in the Euroleague as well. Fearless on every drive he attempts, an excellent ball handler and prolific scorer, he is slowly bringing more and more NBA scouts to scout him, although as he may sense, Europe is his shooting range.
• The hairless Childres, Nadir Hiffy (which anyway shoots… hifi three-pointers) and Tyson Wardrogue gunslingers from ten meters if necessary, and in the five seconds of the attack (usually).
• The tall one Kevarius Hayes who in his previous teams (Villerban, Bursaspor, Zalgiris) looked more like Averell, but here the experienced Maudo Lo, who was lost last year in the mediocrity of Milan, has also transformed into a center guard
• Ouattara, former sixth player (then out of rotation) of Monaco and some Malcolm (with tenure in Finland and the Nicosia Lightning), Badia Si (five matches with AEK in 2018), Yandunen (coming from Finland, before going to Paris, he played in Ostend and Treviso Basketball), Kratzer (the substitute German center) coached by Isalo’s successor, also a newcomer to the coaching club but with extensive experience as a Euroleague player, Thiago Splitter.

So, these guys, who don’t catch your eye, in the warm-up they acted like little kids (which they are after all) have swept, so far in the Euroleague. They have cleared almost all of them, playing the basketball of joy. Lots of intensity, full tempo, shots definitely before the ten seconds of each attack, all together in offensive rebounds and all together in kamikaze defense.

Paris looks invincible. Every two or three minutes the players come in and out, but nothing changes on the pitch. It’s as if they all fell together like Obelix, when they were little… or I know from the moment they went to Paris, into the marmite with the magic basketball potion.

He was waiting for it but 33 minutes… he was watching

Olympiacos expected all this. He knew he had to go full-throttle, hours after overexerting himself in Monaco, a journey that ended in the early hours of Thursday, with Faal out, Vezhenkov ill (ongoing antibiotics) and Wright out for good.

And if he wanted, as coach Bartzokas said, to push and push Paris into second thoughts and into mistakes as happened in the four minutes of fire (33′-37′) when -20 became +2, we think it would be hard to bear. Yes, but also seeing Paris makes you… a horse doesn’t say.

Olympiacos needed more energy, but also where to find it. The Parisians were throwing fire, in the second quarter they missed just one shot, in the third period they looked invincible and were ready to put their opponent on the canvas.

Baked but not finished

With the scoreboard reading 60-80, most in SEF thought they were going to see an Olympiacos crash. Instead, they watched an epic comeback and in the end found themselves cheering for a 22-0 run by Vildosa with a layup and Evan Fournier’s instigator.

Mediocre, let’s not say negative, until then, Evan was loaded with three fouls, before making an airball three-pointer and going to the bench in the middle of the third quarter. McKissick’s four fouls, the -20 and Barzoka’s thought of throwing all his scorers on the floor (the Vezenkov-Peters duo in the racket, in the Gos-Vildosa district) brought the Frenchman back to the floor. He started with a three-pointer, followed by another 12 points, three steals, a couple of assists that blew Olympiakos away.

Goss and Vildosa put the brakes on Paris’ wild regionals, SEF was on fire at 82-80, but Heaphy recklessly hit the biggest three-pointer of the match to give his team the lead again. The rebound lost through the hands of two players and Law’s three-pointer kept the French, puffing like peacocks, for another triumph.

Olympiacos was left with the appetite for a huge upset, but the match, as commented by Sasha Vezenkov, was won by the best of the match. Paris may have ended up with 19 mistakes in their tally, too many to walk away victorious, but they had great character to hit almost all of the big shots they attempted after the home side had overtaken.

“I have confidence in my team” said Bartzokas and he is right. Especially if he gets a tall one that he needs. We used to say that Petrusev rightfully left for Red Star, since he was left with Milutinov, Wright and Fall, but a month later, Olympiacos is left with only Milos and next Wednesday (11/12) he will find himself… in the path of his former player and the Serbian “red and whites”.

As for Paris, they expect to complete their terrible first round with a French derby against Villeurbanne (earlier for the championship they will also play with Monaco of Spain) then waiting for Bercy, both Real and Fenerbahçe. Will they be beaten too? Having said that, they have fallen into the pot and these Gauls are crazy!

In Odessa, in the match of the 16th round of the UPL, Chernomorets will host Krivbass. Babich’s team faces a difficult test, given their personnel problems.

• Watch all the highlights of the match live in Telegram UA-Football

Before this round, “Krivbass” was in fourth place, and “Chernomorets” was in thirteenth place. The first round game ended with a minimal victory for the Krivoy Rog team – 1:0.

The start of the match is at 15:30. You can watch football on the UPL TV channel. It is available from many providers, OTT platforms, cable networks (Setanta Sports, sweet.tv, Omega TV, Volya TV, Kyivstar TV, Vodafone TV, etc.).

There will also be an online text broadcast – a live description of events on the field. You can follow her in the match center UA-Football >>

“Chernomorets” (Odessa) – “Krivbass” (Krivoy Rog)

VBET League. 16th round

December 07, Odessa, Chernomorets stadium, 15:30

The video broadcast of the match is available at the link >>>

Juventus need a good dose of reality. He has won just one of his last five matches in all competitions, just two of nine, and is stuck in sixth place in the league while its leaders are churning out victories. But he does not want to acknowledge the problematic situation. Will Bologna, Thiago Motta’s previous team, force him to admit it?

Series A. 15th round

December 7th. 19:00. Turin. “Allianz Stadium”

“Juventus” – “Bologna”

Referee: Matteo Marchetti

Command status

The Bianconeri set a new club record for draws in a calendar year in Serie A – 18. The penultimate one was a completely dismal draw against Milan. After that, there was also a zero match with Aston Villa in the Champions League away. More lively, but also grey. Before that, the league won the derby – 2:0. Solid, but, as it turned out, changing little.

In the last match – in the league in Lecce – in the first half, Motta’s team played gray and lackluster, but dominated, but in the second, in an open game without a center field, they simply lost to the opponent. They lost the entire match in terms of shots on goal and shots on target. We managed to score a goal with a long-range shot with a rebound. But in added time a flank counterattack was missed – 1:1.

Motta said his team simply ran out of energy in the second half, but admitted the goal could have been avoided. He is not going to panic, he says that we need to learn lessons and think positively. But for now the league and the Champions League are running away. Including in attack. In the last five matches in all tournaments, Juve’s goal difference is 4:2. Excellent defense, dull attack.

Bologna is also catching up. She also started the season with many league draws, six in her first eight matches. But in the last five already with four victories. Moreover, she scored nine goals in them, that is, her poor execution is beginning to improve.

She also won the last two matches in all tournaments very confidently. Yes, teams from the relegation zone at home – 3:0 over Venice in the league, 4:0 over Monza in the Cup. The midweek cup game itself is a drawback compared to Juventus. And before these two matches there were 0:3 against Lazio in the league and 1:2 against Lille in the Champions League. But in the first “Rossoblu” played decently with ten men from the 32nd minute.

Vincenzo Italiano is pleased with the character and life of the team in the last two matches after those two failures. I saw progress in implementation.

Both teams are in the Top 3 in the league in terms of ball possession, but not even in the Top 9 in shots on goal. Juventus tries to have a lot of possession, to play aggressively and high. But the effectiveness of these actions is low, creativity is low. Bologna, the team Motta coached the previous season, is trying to play the same way. And also with big problems with efficiency.

Figures and facts

• The last three and four of the last five matches between the teams ended in a draw, with Juventus winning one of the five. And right before that, Juventus won 11 head-to-head matches in the league in a row. He has not lost to Bologna in his last 26 head-to-head matches in all tournaments
• In Turin, the last head-to-head match ended with a score of 1:1, before that Juventus won 3:0, before that it was also 1:1, and before that Juventus won eight matches in the league and in all tournaments in a row. In the last 13 such tournaments, he did not lose
• Juventus are unbeaten in their last 22 league matches across all fields, but 14 of them were draws. Including in four of the last six
• Bologna have lost just two league matches this season and just one in their last 12 matches, with five wins and six draws. True, one loss took place in the previous away match – 0:3 from Lazio.
• Juventus are Serie A’s leader in draws this season with eight. Bologna have six draws and are fourth in the league in this one. But there were no such things in her last five league matches – four wins and a loss
• In the last six home league matches, Juventus’ results are two wins and four draws. In the last 14 he did not lose, but eight of them were draws.
• The defeat to Lazio ended Bologna’s streak of five away league matches without them – three wins, two draws
• Juventus have kept a clean sheet in three of their last four league matches, while scoring in eight of their last nine. Bologna haven’t conceded in three of their last five, and have scored in five of their last six.
• Today, for the first time in its history, Juventus can record 11 clean sheets in the first 15 rounds of the season in Serie A

Latest team matches

Personnel

In Lecce, Juventus managed to bring only 13 outfield players from the first team. Moreover, two of them became like this only this season. This time, as many as 16 are expected. Plus Savona, Adzic and Vlahovic. The first two also became first-team players this season, but with the return of the second, a pure center forward will finally play in the attack.

In this regard, even two dilemmas arise. Savona or Danilo on the right in defense and Yildiz or Vea on the left in attack.

In Bologna, Aebischer, El Azzouzi, Cambiaghi are old injuries. The new ones are defender Lykogiannis and winger Orsolini, who scored five goals in the last forty days in all competitions. But they have a replacement. Former Juventus player, winger Ealing Junior or forward Odgar – different tactical moves on the flanks of the attack.

Captain Ferguson is recovering and has already received playing minutes, including in the starting lineup. But is it too early to throw him at Juventus?

Winger Ndoye scored a brace in the previous round, forward Castro scored in the Cup.

Juventus: Di Gregorio, Danilo, Gatti, Kalulu, Cambiaso, Locatelli, K. Thuram, Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Wea, Vlahovic

Bologna: Skorupski, Posch, Lucumi, Beukema, Miranda, Freuler, Pobega, Moro, Ndoye, Castro, Odgar

Prediction: Juventus – Bologna 2:1

We expect many beautiful attacks, but poor finishing. We expect swings and aggressive play from both. If they suddenly improve the quality of the shots and they start flying, it could turn out to be a brilliant game. And the result? Anyone is possible, but Juventus is playing at home and should already understand that it’s time to win. Vlahovic can mark his return with a goal.

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