I am sure you would like to know where to place your money for the Euroleague Final Four. Should you go with CSKA to be on the safe side or do you want to take the risk by going with Siena? By the way, is it a risk to go with Siena, who is playing probably the best team basketball this year?
I’ve done a lot of betting, since people told me they really can make a lot of money with basketball bets, so I tried it. Now, BallinEurope has a partnership with sportingbet, one of the largest sports betting companies, so I am placing all of my bets with sportingbet.
First match up: Tau Ceramica vs. CSKA
Overall I think going with a winner is pretty hard to do at a final four. You still can get odds of 3.85 for a Tau Ceramica win but only 1.30 on a CSKA win. If you really want to gamble, go with a tie (19.00) which is probably much more likely than during a normal season game. At least you can be sure this time that everybody will give 100%, particulary Tau, since they don’t want to lose in the semifinals again.
But what would be a “safe bet,” where you still can make some money? Probably betting on the total score. Once again, since it is the final four, you won’t expect a high-scoring game with both teams will trying to play intense defense, but then last year’s final ended 93-91, a total of 184 points.
Taking the over on the over/under of 146.5 total points is 1.85, as is taking the under. If the game ends 73-72 you would stay under 146.5. Is that a thinkable score for a game of CSKA and Tau?
Probably. CSKA is sixth in scoring with 78.7 points per game while Tau is 2nd with 82.3 points per game. This would add up to 161 points. Now you also have to know that CSKA only allowed 66 points per game to their opponents and I am sure that will not change in the Final Four. Tau allows 75 points per game, around the number that CSKA scored the whole season. Considering now that this is the Final Four and we’ll see hard defense, I would go with a score UNDER 146.5 for CSKA-Tau.
What about Siena and Maccabi?
If I had to choose a team right away, I would go with Siena right now. They just play unbelievable team basketball, while Maccabi almost had a struggle against a very bad FC Barcelona. The odds on sportingbet are 1.625 for a Siena win and 2.45 for a Maccabi win.
Once again I have to suggest that an over/under bet promising to me. The magic number for this game is 154.5 points, which a final score of 77-76 would get a payout of 1.85 for taking UNDER 154.5.
Is that possible?
Of course, Maccabi Tel Aviv leads the Euroleague with 83.5 points per game but Siena is even lower-scoring than CSKA with 78.3. While Maccabi allows almost 80 points per game, Siena’s tough defense won’t let Maccabi score more than 70 points. So saying Siena scores 80 points and keeps Maccabi to 70, we would have to bet another UNDER.
I would love to know your thoughts, and after that I will place my bets for everybody to see how much I bet and how much I won – should be a cool story – BallinEurope’s way to be a millionaire! 😉
