Israeli Premier League Basketball

By Divol

Hapoel Holon v Ironi Naharia



6th May 18:55 GMT

Holon will win and cover here. I can't explain the loss to Ramat Gan at home in the final round but it probably was one of those games. This time they are in a must win situation and Holon will have the entire crowd behind them and it will be crazy in there. If we add the fact that the league prefers Holon in the league, it will be very easy for the refs to surrender to the crowd and make many home favouring calls. Holon are also the better team. Not sure if they have got the better coach, but he is the second coach in the last 30 year that won the Championship title with a team other than Maccabi, so while I still think Jino is the better coach it is really not by much. The players on the other hand are better in Holon and by a large margin. I missed the better line because I hoped the line will go down to -3, but still I see no reason for this bet to lose.

Pick: Holon -5, 1.9 odds - 4 units play - VCBet


Maccabi Tel Aviv v Bney Ha Sharon



6th May 19:00 GMT

Last season the finals had Maccabi TA and Haifa playing each other. What was the common link between the teams? They both lost in the first game of the playoffs at home, but won the next game on the road. This season the finals are still far from us, but again TA and Haifa lost the first game at home. Haifa have already won on the road and today it will probably be TA's turn. Maccabi are just too good of a team to lose this one and they will try to win this with ease. Last year, after losing the first game, Maccabi responded with a 17 points win on the road.

But I won't take Maccabi with the line. First of all, Bney Ha Sharon are a stubborn team, so it's dangerous. Second, Perkins, Andersen and Wiz went to a club and stayed there until 2 am. More than the fatigue they might feel, it just sends the wrong message to everyone both in their team and in the rival team. I will take a bet that combines most of the angles for this game and this is the Under. First of all, the Over in Game 1 was mostly due to Bney Ha Sharon scoring 89 points. Today I believe we will see them scoring 70 points at the most. Maccabi on the other hand should score between 83 and 87 points, so the right total here is 154 - 157 points (I added few points in case Bney Ha Sharon will manage to score 71 - 72 points.

Pick: Under 163.5 - 1.87 odds - 3.5 units play - 888sport / Bluesq

Divol