ALBA Berlin vs Maccabi Tel Aviv: Champions to be left stunned by buoyant Berlin

It’s a winner-takes-all affair in Germany but the reigning champions will falter at the final hurdle against ALBA Berlin.

It’s all getting a little tense in the Euroleague Championship as they head into the final week of the Top 16.

There’s still three playoff spots to settle with five teams still in contention and two will meet on Thursday evening as ALBA Berlin host Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Berlin are on a roll in Group E, winning their last three as they bid to be the first German team to make the Euroleague playoffs.

They beat Tel Aviv earlier in the Top 14 competition and in that three-game run, they showed off their defensive prowess by holding teams to 67.3 points per game.

The Israelis, in contrast, have been in mediocre form having won just two of their last five games.

The champions have lost their last three away games and the pressure is on them to pull a result out of the bag in this one or face the real possibility of elimination.

Back Berlin to be bouncing at the end of this one at 5/4 and make their way into the playoffs whilst Tel Aviv will have to hope that Panathinaikos don’t secure the win that will eliminate them from contention.

Over in Group F, two spots remain and an Istanbul derby will help decide who finishes there.

Fenerbahce Istanbul, who have already qualified, could eliminate their cross-town rivals Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Thursday evening.

Efes took out EA7 Emporio Armani Milan last week and hold all the cards for that final playoff spot.

A win secures their place and with Fenerbahce losing last week, they’ll be hopeful that they can best them and qualify.

However, Fenerbahce will be very motivated to beat Efes and they have too much for them to handle so go for Fenerbahce to win at 11/10 and for Efes to rely on results elsewhere.

Later that evening, Laboral Kuxta Vitoria will know exactly what they’ll need to do when they face off against fellow Spaniards Unicaja Malaga.

Laboral pulled out an excellent win against Fenerbahce to keep their playoff hopes alive and they’ll be very confident of beating a Malaga side with the worst offence in Group F.

However, Unicaja won’t be a pushover after winning last week and they’ll want to finish with a win at home.

Whilst they’ve won just one of their last six away games, should Efes lose Laboral will be desperate to get in the next round and that’ll push them to win this one.

Take them to win at 4/5 and just sneak into the next round of the Euroleague.