G - Sylvain Francisco - BAY - 11.1 - @ PAR
After a tough home defeat by OLY, BAY is heading to Serbia with the goal to bounce back. Ok, this is unlikely to happen against a starving PAR, but they will make the effort. Francisco has been the barometer (along with Ibaka) for BAY's performance and we think this is a game tailored to his style. We expect him to spend meaningful minutes on the court, manage to draw a lot of contact and get sent multiple times to the charity line. There is no better way to amass PIR and we think Francisco will do just that.
G - Markus Howard - BKN - 10.9 - vs ASV
Who doesn't like a good rollercoaster huh?? Jokes aside, trusting Howard is like trusting the cards. There is no assurance what you will draw. He comes from two hot-handed performances in the double week (followed by a mediocre one for ACB) and ASV is a prime candidate for him to uphold his momentum. After all, BKN remains in a good phase despite the injuries and he did very well against them in the first round. So there you go, that is our grain of confidence. Along with the fingers we will be keeping crossed all night long...
G - NemanJa Nedovic - CZV - 11.5 - vs ZAL
In the last two (home) games Nemanja scored 27 and 21 points, respectively, against two teams popular for their defence (VBC and BAR)! Against ZAL, will simply be another home game against a tough team (which is in a great mood btw) and we can really see history repeating itself! It is not a secret that Nemanja's performance is boosted from the CZV fans (whose wouldn't?) and the big games...so we feel that with just 11.5 crd we have a very good chance to walk away with more than 17 PIR!
F - Semi Ojeleye - VBC - 11.9 - @ OLY
In the last four games Semi has 15.7 avg PIR (and all double digit) showing that he is in a great mood! VBC will face OLY without two C (Davies, Toure). Therefore, we expect Semi to get even more opportunities to score near the rim! The game (and probably every game until the end of the regular season for most of the teams) is a do-or-die for both teams so we expect a tough one, which means, star players like Ojeleye will need to bring their A-game!