I trusted Hapoel Jerusalem to win at Pinar Karsiyaka
Yesterday, I recommended on my private Telegram channel to take Hapoel Jerusalem as a winner of the encounter against Pinar Karsiyaka. It was a game-time decision and it came after seeing the statements of both coaches in the previous minutes of the clash. Ufuk Sarica was a bit concerned and he reiterated the problem of the missing players (Michael Roll and Semih Erden). On the other side, Yotam Halperin seemed very optimistic about Jerusalem’s chances to steal the win.
But, first, let’s see the whole context of the encounter. For the Turkish side was not so important because they cannot advance to the first spot of the group (which assures the direct qualifiers to the next stage), while for the Hapoel Jerusalem it was almost a do-or-die. The Israeli side prevailed last round against the Polish team Slam Ostrow, but they were tied at the bottom of the group. So a victory in yesterday game was vital for Hapoel.
Definitely, the absence of such important players for Pinar led to a very shortened and different rotation. The whole problem could be seen better in the first quarter and in the last one when the visitors trashed Pinar winning by 20 points.
The most important argument for me was also the huge odd on Hapoel: 3.35 which seemed too high, taking into consideration the hunger for winning of the Israeli team and the missing players of the Turkish side.
Image credit: Basketball Champions League
Gratian Cormos is a Romanian life coach, journalist, book writer and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain. You can buy his book “How to bet on basketball” ordering by e-mail at: gratian_cormos@yahoo.com
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