Two teams that lost their opening games meet in Belgrade in the second round of the EuroLeague. It is Crvena Zvezda's second consecutive home game and Hapoel Tel Aviv's first away game of the competition. The visitors have enough quality to create shooting opportunities here too. The question is how many easy points the hosts' defence will allow them.
Crvena Zvezda
Crvena Zvezda lost to Žalgiris (77:83). In the closing minutes, the Belgrade side were beaten on the rebounds at their own end. That mistake is especially dangerous against Hapoel Tel Aviv: their centre Daniel Oturu scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the opening round. There is a more encouraging precedent for the hosts, though. In February, they beat Hapoel at home (87:75), holding them to just six points in the final quarter. Both squads have changed since then, so we should not expect a repeat of that scoreline. But that game showed that Crvena Zvezda can deny the visitors good shooting opportunities for long spells.
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv began the season with a loss to Bayern Munich (84:86). That is a serious argument against our bet: 84 points is already above the 83.5 line. They had 57 points after three quarters, but scored 27 in the last and almost erased the deficit. We would not count on a similar surge in Belgrade. Vasilije Micic, Elijah Bryant and Oturu can make difficult shots, so the hosts' priority is to take away the easy ones: protect the basket and collect rebounds when the visitors miss.
Crvena Zvezda vs Hapoel Tel Aviv Prediction
After a poor start, Crvena Zvezda need to be more disciplined on the defensive glass. If Hapoel have to shoot over the defence more often and are denied second chances, reaching 84 points will be difficult. The visitors must score no more than 83 points for the bet to win; possible overtime remains the main risk.
