PReview

It is last round in Macedonian basketball league (winners stage) and
before play off is still not decided who will finish 2nd and have home
field advantage in semifinal (Karpos or Rabotnicki) and who will finish
4th and take last play off spot (3 teams are fighting Kumanovo, Feni and
Kozuf). As you can see I am not mentioning MZT since with their
impressive win against Karpos in last round secured top position and
home field advantage in their play of series. This leaves their last
round visit to Kumanovo totally not important game for them so I expect
releaxed approach and not that motivated display especially after such
big win over main opponents Karpos in previous round. I doubt they will
repeat same performance whcihw as probably their bets in this winners
stage and because of that team get some free time next days to enjoy,
but Kumanovo game is approaching very soon in just 3 days. Obviously not
serious and focused approach from their side and additional disadvantage
for MZT would be that they have some injured players. Sinovec is biggest
missing, but he is long term and team show that can play without him,
but there are two more players SImonovski and Mladenovski which are
bumped with injuries recently and was reported by coach Nazor that will
be saved in today game. They are nto first etam but contribute much from
the bench so MZT will have shorter rotation. This is very good since
wider bench of MZT was their big advantage against Kumanovo who play all
this winners stage and play off in Balkan league with just 7 players.
But this 7 players are all with good quality and achieve strong results
in both Macedonian and Balkan league. Especially strong were their home
performances since in Balkan league from 8 games won 6 and both losses
were very close by 1 from Bashkimi after spoiling some 20 points lead in
first half and after overtime and by 3 difference from Beroe in finals
beside they enter last quarter with lead but tried to chase bigger win
because of big away defeat so ost also home game. In Macedonian league
they played 11 home games and won 10 of them (6 in regular season and 4
in winners stage) and only defeat was from KArpos by 3 difference but
after overtime. So Kumanovo is very tough place for visitors and home
team fortress, because of currently most passionate fans which always
fulfill the stands especially when is played derby game against one of
big three Skopje teams. Games with MZT were especially heated in the
past since teams met lot of times and actually they played last season
finals which was won by MZT 3-1 and teams will probably again meet in
play off this season but this time in semifinals if Kumanovo keep their
4th place. For this they depend on their own and can protect it with
their home win today no matter of outcome of other games or in case of
defeat will need win of favorites Karpos and Rabotnicki in other games
which is expected since are fighting for 2nd spot. This is maybe
disadvantage since both this games are starting hour earlier so on half
time Kumanovo could know they are advanced in case of Rabotnicki and
Karpos wins but I think this scenario could be even positive for
Kumanovo players since pressure will be reduced but definitely
motivation will stay the same, since everybody want to defeat champion
and current leader in front of own fans. There is rivalry between the
teams and MZT never had easy job in Kumanovo beside cities are just 30
km distance. In last 9 team meetings in Kumanovo from last 3-4 seasons
in all competitions there are 4 KUmanovo wins against 5 MZT wins and
none of MZT wins was higher than 7. This is the reason why I don’t
expect double digit MZT win today, since beside this visit is very tough
for any Macedonian team including currently bets , additionally it is
not at all important game for MZT which also have injured players. From
the team are promising fight but after such performance against Karpos
no way they can repeat it in 3 days again so weaker performance is
expected enough hosts to protect our line and for sure will try even to
win the game for their fans and raising the moral before play off
starts. MZT has troubles playing in away games shown in Adriatic league
where had just 1 away win in 13 visits, but also in Macedonian league
they had 8 points loss from Rabotnicki which is from same city as them
, than 2 points win against Karpos also from same city , than just 6
difference win against last placed in winners stage Kozuf and only
double digits away win was against Feni by 16. But must mention that
Feni had big decline in form in winners stage and this big MZT win was
some kind of revenge for previous semifinal cup loss from same Feni when
opponent was in better form. I think these are enough reasons to see
big value in backing the hosts.