Who will get back on the winning track – FMP Soccerbet or Cedevita Olimpija?
This game can decide many things in the Playoffs race as FMP Soccerbet and Cedevita Olimpija are among the top 5 teams on the standings.
Paulius Valinskas (Photo: Cedevita Olimpija/Ales Fevzer)
AdmiralBet ABA League Round 19, Saturday, 11 February 2023:
FMP SOCCERBET - CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA
Where? FMP Sports Hall, Belgrade
When? 19:00
Story of the game: This game can decide many things in the Playoffs race as FMP Soccerbet and Cedevita Olimpija are among the top 5 teams on the standings.
Neither side is really approaching this big match in high spirits as both FMP Soccerbet and Cedevita Olimpija have suffered some painful defeats lately.
FMP Soccerbet have lost the previous two games in the league, but we should be fair and say that they played against some of the best teams in the region – Crvena zvezda Meridianbet and Budućnost VOLI. The much bigger problem for this team is that they stayed without their best player in this season Trent Frazier who moved to Zenit St. Petersburg, so the Panthers will definitely need some time to get used to the fact that Frazier is no longer their floor general.
On the other side, Cedevita Olimpija have suffered three consecutive defeats in the league. Interesting enough, the Dragons have also lost the games against Crvena zvezda Meridianbet and Budućnost VOLI, while last week they suffered defeat against last-placed team in the league MZT Skopje Aerodrom. On top of all that, the Ljubljana team suffered a heavy defeat on Wednesday evening in 7Days EuroCup when they lost the away game against Prometey by 94:68.
FMP Soccerbet have the overall score of 12-6, while Cedevita Olimpija are at 12-5, and now you can see why the upcoming game might be crucial in the race for the top places in the regular season as each side is chasing the home-court advantage in the Playoffs.
Match-up in focus: With the departure of Trent Frazier, the leading role in FMP Soccerbet now belongs to Paulius Valinskas who scored 40 points combined in the last two games and who is currently the 15th top scorer in the season with 14,6 points per game. At the same time, the main offensive power of Cedevita Olimpija is their point guard Yogi Ferrell who had some really impressive performances in this season, while he is currently the 6th best scorer of the 2022/23 campaign with 17.2 points per game.
Head-to-head score in the regional league: In total 3:4; In Belgrade 1:2.
