Preview

This is derby game between two best teams in Liga Ouro. It is their 4th
meeting since they met twice at start of season with Contagem being
hosts and split the wins with Botafogo win 74:64 in first match and
COntagem revenging the defeat next day 82:78, while this weekend
Botafogo is hosting both games and after Yetserday 76:80 deefat in
overtime I expect from them to revenge this defeat same way like
Contagem did in first two match ups. This two teams were going hand in
hand sharing the top position with just 2 defeats and all other wins but
before few rounds Botafogo received away defeat also in overtime and
Contagem topped the table alone. Yesterdy game was Botafogo chance to
get even again but they failed in front of home fans which I doubt will
be repeated twice in two days. In previous game Contagem had better
start winning first quarter by 7 and even raising lead to 14 in second
quarter but Botafogo show their strength and responded with reducing the
deficit to just 5 even before half time and later went ahead by 3 after
3rd period. They controlled the game and had some 7 points advantage
with 3 minutes left but Contagem converted 3 attacks in a row and get to
juts point difference 63:62. Beside all this Botafogo had the game in
their hands since with 11 seconds left and 67:65 advantage they had free
throws which both were missed and opponent was fouled on defensive
rebound. Contagem unlike Botafogo hit both free throws , while Botafogo
missed last shot and team swent to overtime where guests were better ,
probably using hosts being still in shock of not finishing the game in
regular time. For today I expect revenge factor to be crucial since
Botafogo showed even in first game that are dominant team and juts had
bad shooting day. This especially stands for free throws since had 43 of
them which is 24 more than Contagem but hit just 25 which is below 60%.
Also for three pointers had just 5 /21 while opponent hit 5 threes more
and even for two points Botafogo was weaker since score 2 baksets less
on 2 more attempts than opponent. Botafogo had 26 more rebounds than
opponent which provide them much more attacks but they were inefficient
and also had 7 more turnovers, so not that good performance. Today must
be better and Botafogo should enter much better in the game not to allow
chasing the score again. I expect strong start since they will not want
to disappoint home fans again and Contagem should chase the score. It is
easier to play when having the lead and supported by your fans and I
expect much better shooting from hosts. Contagem wil not mind to loose
this one since already achieve what they wanted and it is to sneak one
win and stay on top position even with defeat today. So to sum it up.
Botafogo needs the win more, play at home, has revenge factor because of
previous painful defeat and by stats looks like more dominant side.
Enough reasons for me to back them up.