European basketball has plenty of intrigues, and spectators are often treated to some brilliant and crucial rivalries. For example, the Spanish derby in round 20 of the Euroleague regular season. On January 19th, Saski Baskonia will try to defeat Barcelona.
Tournament – Turkish Airlines Euroleague;
Date – 19.01.2023;
Kick-Off – 19:30 UK;
Venue – Fernando Buesa Arena (15.504);
City – Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #1 – Handicap (-2) for Barcelona – 1.832.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #2 – Total Points Under 166 – 1.668.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #3 – Baskonia Points Points Over 79.5 – 1.765.
Baskonia’s current form calls into question its capabilities. The Vitoria-Gasteis side is too unconvincing. The Catalans are unlikely to be able to put up a fight.
Baskonia is in crisis, so we doubt that Penarroya’s men will be able to produce a result. Barcelona has an excellent defence and the Basques have not been very entertaining in recent games. It’s not impossible that they will fail again. It’s probably not worth expecting a high-scoring game.
The Basques have scored more than 79 points in 3 of their last 5 games.
This season, Saski Baskonia has twice tried to beat Barcelona, but so far without success. In the Spanish championship, Penarroya’s side lost (74-89). In the Euroleague, the Basques fared no better. In December, they lost again to the Catalans (84-96).
For their next game against the Blaugranas, Baskonia came up against a weak team. The Vitoria-Gasteis side lost its last three games in the Euroleague. Their opponents were not at the top level – Alba (85-85), Partizan (83-65) and Bayern Munich (92-79). In the game against Partizan, Vanja Marinkovic scored 16 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
Baskonia has won 89% of its home games of the season.
The home team is scoring an average of 84.4 points per game.
Barcelona lost its last game in the league. Jasikevicius’s men lost at home to Anadolu Efes last week (75-80). That was the Catalans’ seventh loss of the season. Because of those defeats, the team still can’t climb higher than fourth place.
It’s worth noting that four days ago, Barcelona played a domestic championship game. On that day, the Blaugranas faced Murcia. They managed to beat that side quite convincingly (86:72). This latest victory should boost the Catalans’ morale.
In the game against Anadolu Efes, Cory Higgins scored 17 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
In our opinion, the teams will take to the field with the following line-ups:
Saski Baskonia: Darius Thompson – Rokas Giedraitis – Tadas Sedekerskis – Daulton Hommes – Maik Kotsar.
Barcelona Basquet: Nicolás Laprovíttola – Álex Abrines – Nikola Kalinić – Nikola Mirotić – Jan Veselý.
The fixture will be played at Fernando Buesa Arena (15.504) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
This starting whistle will sound on the 19th of January 2023, at 19:30 UK Time.
We recommend checking out the odds for the Turkish Airlines Euroleague: Saski Baskonia vs Barcelona Basquet at 1xBet and VBET.