In the 1st round of Euroleague, Khimki Moscow will host Valencia in hopes to start off their new season in Euroleague with a win.
Khimki Moscow is returning into Euroleague after spending their last year in Eurocup and it is without the doubt a team to watch out for. They have proven time and time again they are a strong team, being that they have progressed past the regular Euroleague season in their last 4 appearances. In the last year’s campaign, Khimki went through the group stage with ease, winning all their matches, they did, in fact, suffer 2 losses in top 16 group against Bayern, but were still qualified for the playoffs, where they were knocked out by Valencia. Their best player is surely Alexey Shved, who was crowned Eurocup MVP, of course, we can not neglect their whole team, but if he can play with the same efficiency as he did last year, this team can and will go far. Khimki will be playing against a well-known opponent, with whom they have some unfinished business. Both of the teams played in the Eurocup last year and when they finally met in quarter-finals, there was going to be only 1 winner. That was Valencia, who denied Khimki a ticket to semi-finals and went on to defeat Hapoel only to be defeated in the finals by Unicaja.
Valencia as mentioned before played with Kimhi in Eurocup, where they finished 1st in their group with 7-0 record and went on to play in top 16. There seemingly was no team that could stop them, as they went on to end up in 1st place in group H, again with 0 defeats. Valencia was finally defeated in the 2nd match of quarterfinals against Khimki (98:74) but redeemed themselves with a win in game 3 (88:82). With only 3 defeats in the whole season, this is without a doubt a very strong team, if they manage to perform as well in the Euroleague as they did in Eurocup.
These two teams have met numerous times before with Khimki winning 3 out of 5 times. These teams seem equally strong on the paper, with the home side winning most of the matchups due to a slight advantage home court brings. Today we won’t predict a winner as it could easily be a close match, however, I see this one as a high scoring match. Taking that into consideration, a bet on Over 156.5 looks like a good choice.
Prediction: Over 156.5 points
Odds: 1.95 Pinnacle
Another betting preview will be posted shortly, so stay tuned for more.
