The Greek-Spanish duel of the round in BasketballCL: AEK hosting Burgos
In round 5 of Champions League AEK Athens will host San Pablo Burgos, in a match where the Greeks are favourites and need to win and continue their top form, with 4 wins in the last 4 games. Let’s see some stats about the teams and the final prediction.
AEK Athens are in the form of the season with those 4 victories in a row, two in BasketballCL, one in Greek League and one in Greek Cup. They added these days a new member in Vladimir Jankovic who played for Holargos last season in A1. He averaged 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in 26 games. They added a new important piece in their already long rotation, so that’s good news for AEK’s fans. In the last game they played in BCL, they travelled to Turkey and won the game against Bandirma 68-50 thanks to a very good defense and their long and healthy rotation. Keith Langford (14 points) and Jonas Maciulis (11 points) were the main scorers, while Slaughter had a very important impact on defense with his 11 rebounds.
San Pablo Burgos started the season very well with 7 wins in a row, but those days are grey for them. They have 5 defeats in a row, despite some good performances Bandirma or Tenerife, in the last round of Spanish League. Against Tenerife, they lost 82-85. They had very good percentages in the game, the difference being made only by free-throws. They had more assists, passing the ball very well, they had more steals, but they made a lot of personal fouls, having 24 fouls to Tenerife’s 12. The main contributors were: Earl Clark (19 points and 9 rebounds), Vitor Benite (16 points and 3 rebounds) and Ferran Bassas (12 points and 5 assists).
In the end, AEK Athens will win this game. I like both rosters, but AEK’s is stronger and much experienced on this level. They have very good morale and their rotation will be a huge factor in the game. They also have their fans behind them, so they must play at maximum to keep them happy. Also, there is a chance that Mario Chalmers will play and if he does that, they can smash San Pablo.
Photo: championsleague.basketball
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
