Belgium vs Montenegro Prediction: Montenegro to clench their first win

Playing in a bright match against Georgia with overtime, Belgium proved they should not be written off. But Montenegro have their own plans, and the second defeat is clearly not part of them.

Belgium is one of the few teams in this tournament without a bright star on the roster. A couple of people playing in Spain, but no more. And yet in the first match against Georgia, just this balance, without pulling the game on someone else, allowed the Belgians to achieve victory over the hosts, with the strong support of the fans at that.

Four players from the rotation were able to score more than 10 points, and most interestingly, Jean-Marc Mwema and Jonathan Tabu were the two highest scorers, contributing 14 points each, which strengthened the game from the bench. Of all the players in the game, only 32-year-old Alexandre Libert didn't have any points on the score sheet, while all nine other guys who played were able to make at least one shot to the basket.

We shouldn't draw any far-reaching conclusions right now, but Belgium showed what they'd like to fight for, at the very least, out of the group. Let's see what happens.

Montenegro's main star, Nikola Vucevic, never made it to this EuroBasket tournament. Still, the team looks very interesting and well-staffed. Here are the NBA representative, Marko Simonovic, who looks very confident, as well as the terrific Bojan Dubljevic, and Kendrick Perry, a former player at Nizhny Novgorod, has fit right in with the new team.

But regardless of all of the above, Montenegro lost to the Turks in a very tough and difficult game, losing in the very end, unable to keep up with the long-range shots of the Turkish shooters in the second half and the passes of Osman and Korkmaz. This defeat should motivate Bosko Radovic's team even more, because after Georgia’s loss, the situation in their group is starting to spiral, and the four nominal favorites can no longer feel at ease. Everyone can win here.

The last two meetings between the teams were friendlies. In 2016, Belgium won (87-81), while in 2017, it was the Montenegrin team that celebrated the victory (78-64).

For Belgium, one more win would be a 100% ticket to get out of the group. Well, for Montenegro, a loss could just start to hinder that possibility. So we have an interesting match ahead of us.

Nevertheless, with all due respect to the Belgian team, Montenegro looks more interesting and powerful. This is especially true for Simonovic and Dublevic. It will be difficult to oppose these guys, as both are able to attack from any point on the floor. Belgium, as previously noted, is a balanced team, but with no stars, and the opponent has a no less strong squad that can avoid blowing bench players during game time.

The favorites in this match are Bosko Radovic's guys, and Belgium will still be able to pick up a second win, but probably not tonight. Betting options for this match are as follows:

• Montenegro Handicap (-5.5) for 1.733;
• Montenegro ITO (79.5) for 2.06;
• Montenegro To Win By 6-10 Points for 3.50.

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