@EuroCup Top 16: Berlin without Peyton Siva in Belgrade (@PartizanBC, Pionir)

In the EuroCup Top 16 second round, Partizan is hosting Berlin in the Group E, in the “Aleksandar Nikolić” Sports Hall (also known as Pionir).

The German squad came to Belgrade (White City) without their top performer, Peyton Siva, who is still recovering. He was injured in the end of October last year when his team played against Ludwigsburg in the German BBL. The American point guard had to deal with a fractured rib, he recovered, return and, now, is out again.

In the first round the home team lost its away game against Rytas Vilnius (80 – 74 was the final score), while Berlin won 83 – 74 against AS Monaco.

An Interesting fact is that Partizan last season played both against Rytas and the team from Germany in the EuroCup and lost in all games against both teams. Now will have the chance for the revenge against the team from Berlin.

Partizan’s advantage in the game will be definitely the crowd in Pionir because in every home game they are a great boost to the players motivation. Also, the home squad needs to play a good defense because in every aspect the away team is better: they average 23 index rating more than Trinchieri’s roster (as you can check on the Stats, when choosing «Leaders – Teams«, although it would change after the game).

Also, Tim Schneider is the second best 3 pointer from 11 games he played (63.64 %), while Jock Landale, from the Black and Whites (Crno-Beli), is the 4^th best rebounder in the league, averaging 7.00 jumps per game (looking at 11 games during this season).

Offensively looking, Berlin is a dominate team: they have the league best assists (24.00) and the league bests steals (9.82), so, that will be the strength of the German squad, while Partizan needs to stop them with an excellent defense in order to win their first game in the Top 16. The Team from Belgrade can’t lose the focus in any second of the match and that will be the challenge for the young squad.