Euroleague, Zalgiris vs Real, 17/10/2019

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The third game of the 2019/2020 Euroleague season, when Zalgiris Kaunas hosts Madrid. While Zalgiris is looking pretty poor at this stage of the season, Real is in the opposite situation, with 8 wins in a row, including 2 in the Euroleague. What are Zalgiris' chances against one of the Euroleague giants tomorrow? What bet would you recommend to make from this game in order to not only watch good basketball, but also to replenish your wallet? All the answers are in this preview, and at the end of the preview we'll give you our prediction for this game.

Zalgiris Kaunas - Real Madrid (3.30 kof. - 1.35 kof., betsafe)

Another year under the leadership of Šarūnas Jasikevičius, when Zalgiris, written off by most basketball experts in the pre-season, will be looking to prove that it is not in vain that it has managed to finish among the top 8 teams in Europe for 2 years in a row. Due to a major change in the team's line-up and the emergence of new, young players, who apparently have not yet fully grasped Šar's philosophy of the game, Zalgiris is still stagnating and has not yet won any victories on the European stage. The Basques have been an enigma for Zalgiris for years and are undoubtedly one of the toughest teams for the Kaunas team to play against, while Milan is facing a much stronger and more organised team this season. The Euroleague is off to a tough start, but a home game against Real can be a very good test and a test before the upcoming games against potentially weaker Euroleague teams.

On the other side of the barricades, Real Madrid has had a perfect start to the season with 8 wins out of 8, including 2 in the Euroleague. Real got rid of injury-plagued centre G. Ayon in the off-season and replaced him with J. Mickey, who looked great last season in Khimki. This centre is a great replacement for Tavares, as he is much more athletic, has a great rebounding game and can finish off attacks in a variety of ways, both with his back to the basket and his mid-range shot. Although Real's numbers look impressive at the start of the season, it should be mentioned that in the Euroleague, although they have 2 wins in 2 games played, they have not been as easy as many people expected: at home against Ulker, they won by just 4 points, and Maccabi was only beaten by an incredible three-pointer by Carroll, which made the difference with 2 seconds left. Although the Spaniards are considered the favourites for tomorrow's game, it will not be as easy as it may seem at first sight.

Match highlights

Quick Real Madrid attacks

Without a doubt, one of Real's strengths is their fast attacking play. Every time the ball is defended, the ball is quickly played to the other side of the pitch and the slightest of opportunities are sought for shots, with positional attacks being organised if they fail. Campazzo, Laprovittola, Lull - all of them can immediately create a shooting opportunity for a teammate by turning the ball over, or they can attack themselves. How Zalgiris manages to deal with the Spaniards' fast-paced offence can have a big impact on the outcome of the game.

Hitting three-pointers

Madrid is making 41.8 % three-pointers, while Kaunas is hitting just 33.31 %. Real has 3 players shooting 50% or better from long range: J. Taylor (55%), J. Carroll (57%) and R. Fernandez (50%), while Zalgiris has only A. Milaknis shooting 50%. At least a minimal slowdown of the Spanish long-range artillery would be a better result, but it's important to hit the shots too, even though Zalgiris hasn't been shining this season.

Home walls

Once again, the arena will be packed, so the home wall will have an impact and hopefully the warm-up will help the team to score better, because although the opportunities are good, the shots just don't fall. Zalgiris has a young, ambitious line-up with important players who have not played in the Euroleague before, so the pressure is definitely there, but again, the home wall should help to ease it.

Previous meetings

Zalgiris and Real Madrid have a long history with each other, with the latter dominating. Nevertheless, the last few meetings between the two teams under Jasikevičius have been hard-fought: last year, Zalgiris lost 79-90 to Real in the first round, but in the second round, Zalgiris beat the Spanish team 93-76 on the road in one of the most important matches of the season. Overall, the last few games have been very productive and it is likely that we will see something similar tomorrow.

Forecast

Tomorrow's game against one of the Euroleague favourites will show how much Zalgiris has improved and will likely reveal the team's biggest weaknesses. Although the favourite is undoubtedly the Spanish club, Zalgiris is a tough nut to crack at home for any team. The only worrying thing is that Zalgiris doesn't have a good history of playing Spanish clubs and the latter are stylistically very unfavourable opponents for the Kaunas club.

Although Zalgiris has struggled offensively in the EuroLeague this season, sooner or later it should adapt and start making its shots. Real play fast basketball and attack well, and there are defensive gaps for both teams, which should result in some good and attractive basketball. The current total of 157.5 points (betsafe) is not high, given the current circumstances. Overseas, 160 points are already on offer, so 157.5 points with 1.9 coef. is probably the best option for tomorrow's game. Good luck to the bettors and have a good match!