The complicated Turkish derby of the Basketball Champions League

Today Pinar Karsiyaka will face Tofas in Bursa. It should be a clear Pinar’s victory if they didn’t have problems with the roster. During the weekend they lost at home vs. Bursaspor because they had two important absentees, Amath Mbaye and D. J. Kennedy. Probably both of them will miss as well this encounter against Tofas, which complicates a lot the things for Pinar Karsiyaka.

The visitors need the victory today to stay in touch with the possibility to reach out of this tough group, where Hapoel Holon and Brindisi have already 2 wins. If Pinar Karsiyaka loses today and Happy Casa Brindisi wins at Holon their chances will be extremely small.

In these circumstances, with Tofas Bursa having 6 foreigners (not 5 like in the domestic league of Turkey), they should win easily against a Pinar Karsiyaka with the decimated roster. But, as we saw in the last round of the Basketball Champions League, Tofas is not motivated and now even more, already eliminated. They collapsed last week in an embarrassing way at home against Brindisi, being stunned by 20 points margin. And they could repeat that dose of mediocrity vs. Pinar. That’s why it’s better to watch and bet live the game.

Anyways, my initial prediction was that odd 3.30 was too big on Tofas. The odd dropped significantly but only at the game time, we can have a proper perception of the encounter.

Image: Basketball Champions League