Top 6 tips off with two games today

Today is the start of the Top 6 in EUROHOLD Balkan League. Six teams are left to fight for the Final 4 and the title for this season. The current champions - BC Galil Gilboa (Gan Ner, ISR), the beaten finalist BC Levski (Sofia, BUL), the former champion and former finalist BC Rilski Sportist (Samokov, BUL) and three newcomers - KK Kumanovo 2009 (Kumanovo, MKD), KK Teodo (Tivat, MNE) and BC Kavala (Kavala, GRE). All those teams start Top 6 with 2 wins and 2 losses from the first round and have pretty much an even chance for the Final 4.
The game which will open the Top 6 is in Sofia where there will be a local derby between Levski and Rilski Sportist. It is an interesting week for both teams as they are set to meet each other again on Saturday in the local championship. But first they are playing in EUROHOLD Balkan League and trying to start the second stage with a win. Both teams had an easy games in the local league prior to this one so the coaches managed to rest their players. Levski will be missing Zlatin Georgiev who is out with a muscle injury and is a important part of the team′s rotation. Of course the team is based on a lot of players and there a few that can replace him. The point guard Marko Marinovic will be very important as so far he is averaging 14.9 points and 5.4 asists in the competiton. Chavdar Kostov is playing well with his 13.9 points while the center Nikolay Varbanov has 12.0 points and 5.9 rebounds. Of course Levski relies on all of its players during the games and their bench will have in important role.
On the other side Rilski Sportist′s rotation is now down mostly to 7 players after Stanislav Slaveykov left the team. Of course the main weapons are Terry Smith, Branko Mirkovic and Hristo Zahariev. Smith has 19.8 points in the competition, Mirkovic is averaging 17.1 points and 6.3 assists while Hristo Zahariev has 12.1 points. The other two from the starting five - Anthony Gugino and Braxton Dupree are also players on which the visitors in this game will rely on.
The second game today is in Tivat where the local Teodo is hosting Kumanovo. In the first stage both teams didn′t lose a game at home and didn′t win a game away. If the tradition continues than Teodo may win but of course now the stakes are higher and Kumanovo will fight a lot for the victory. Both teams have not started their local leagues and this will be their second official game in 2013. They lost their previous one but still are through to Top 6 and will be looking to start the second stage with a victory. The hosts have very strong starting unit and will be counting mainly on it. Savo Djikanovic, Aleksandar Radulovic, Marko Mijovic and the rest of the team will try to stop the run of four straight losses in the competition and win for the joy of their fans.
The visitors had to wait until last week to book their spot in the Top 6 and did so despite losing to KK Djuro Djakovic away from home. The team will try to start Top 6 with a win as well and for sure will fight for it which will give us a very interesting game. Kumanovo has Uros Lukovic who had the highest efficiency rating of the first stage with 22.7 averaging double double with 15.7 points and 12.0 rebounds. The internationals Aleksandar Kostoski and Ivica Dimcevski are the team′s main offensive weapons averaging 16.0 points and 15.9 respectively and Marjan Janeski is providing good help from the bench. New signing Anthony Lee-Ingram had 29 minutes in his debut so that means he will be counted on as well.
Both games start at 18.00 local time and will be broadcasted live on Sportmedia.tv.