Semifinal 1 preview: Levski and Balkan in the battle of Bulgarian teams

The first semifinal in EUROHOLD Balkan League sees the two Bulgarian teams in the competition going at each other. At 17.30 hrs local time is the tip-off for this match that will surely provide us a lot of excitement.     Levski will rely a lot on its two American guards - Brandon Heath and Lionel Chalmers who will have a tough task in facing Stanimir Marinov and Ivan Lilov during their time on the court. Lilov is the top scorer for Balkan with 16.9 points as Heath as 17.8 but in five games. From the bench Levski will rely on Pavel Ivanov because Djordje Micic is injured while for Balkan to the court can come Aleksandar Gruev and Martin Marinov who can kill every team with his three-point shooting.   One of the most important battles on the court will be the one between Hristo Zahariev and Pavel Marinov. Both of them have pretty much the same stat line - Zahariev is with 12.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists while Marinov is with 12.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists. To Marinov′s small advantage is his athleticism but both will give their best and will try to perform on top. However we are surely going to see some interesting moments between the two players that always are trying to play an exciting basketball.   Under the basket there is also going to be a lot to watch. Levski will put the experience of the Americans Mike Wilkinson and Jumaine Jones, alongside that of Nikolay Varbanov, Stefan Georgiev and Dimitar Anguelov. This is what Levski will rely on and The Blues are going to need to win the rebounding battle. Jones most of all is grabbing the boards but to have a success the others also need to step in. From the other side Balkan will put the big heart of Noah Dahlman who so far has 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds and is the top rebounder in the competition. Of course the three-point shooting of Peter Sedmak and the fast break of Logan Stutz are other weapons that Balkan will try to use. Slobodan Bozovic will also come out of the bench in some moments and will strive to help with his bigger experience.   No matter what happens we are surely going to see a great contest. Whether Levski′s experience or Balkan′s hunger for success will prevail, we′ll have to understand that after the final buzzer.