I expect Baghdad to bounce back with a strong performance. Dhaka is off to a fast 2-0 start, but they still have a lot of room for improvement. I think Baghdad comes away with the victory.

I'm riding Jerusalem. Andre needs to shoot for a higher percentage for Damascus to win. Tyrek is too much, and Steve has really stepped up his game. If the show on time, Jerusalem wins.

Jeddah put an a fast break clinic last week, but used 2 of its 4 guest passes in doing so. The guard played real well, when he came in with those fresh legs, Palermo didnt stand a chance. But Jeddah has a real tough opponent this week in Sarajevo. Farhad is going to get his 20/10, and FA/Khuram will lock down Jeddahs offensive threats. Going with Sarajevo, this is a good game to see what level Jeddah is at.

Still looks like Bukhara is shaking off the rust, this team just doesnt have its legs right now. Lot of open looks and good execution on offense, shots just arent dropping. I think they'll figure it out and be ready to roll with a head of steam come playoffs, but I dont see that yet. Execting timbuktu to win relatively comfortably.

Alexandria/Islamabad - No pick here. But Islamabad needs to hit their FTs and shoot at a better clip if they wanna get the goose-egg off the board.

Palermo got tired quick last week with only 1 sub available. This was a 22-20 contest, and when a fresh wave of opposition came there way they found themselves down 45-23 at half. Tripoli will look to do the same, they'll get out in transition and get easy buckets. I dont see Palermo being able to prevent that for more than a half.

Some really good games this week.

Baghdad/Dhaka - This was a tight game throughout. In the 2nd half Dhaka got a little 3-point happy, not really attacking the zone D and settling for too many deep jumpers. Baghdad was able to hit some big buckets behind some clutch shots by Jaaber and came out with a nice win.

Damascus/Jerusalem - This one got away from Jerusalem pretty early. Dont think they had any subs and Damascus took advantage with several easy transition buckets. Jerusalem had its opportunities to keep it close but couldnt finish on several trips within a couple feet of the basket. Damascus extended the lead early in the 2nd half and cruised.

Jeddah/Sarajevo - Give Jeddah a lot of credit, they hung in there and had the ball down one late with a chance to win. Everytime Sarajevo got the lead up to 7-9, Jeddah responded with a mini-run and kept the pressure on all game. Defensively, they put a lot of pressure on the ball handlers and force lots of turnovers. Good game, good effort by both squads. Farhad hit 2 late FTs, Jeddah had a desperation half-court 3 attempt to tie that was off the mark.

Bukhara/Timbuktu - This was a pretty tight game for the most part, with Bukhara able to strecth the lead to 8 points with under 2 minutes to go. Timbuktu elected to extend the game starting the fouling process early. The slowly chipped away, and Bukhara didnt help their cause too much with several misses from the FT line. Sufian had a really nice putback on one of the misses late and you felt like that would be the game. But timbuktu managed to get it down to 3, and hit a 3 with a couple of seconds left to tie it. This game got to double OT where Timbuktu came out on top.

Palermo/Tripoli - I didnt see this game, but you get the impression from the score that neither team was very interested in playing D.

Alexandria/Islamabad - Half way through the first half this game was very tight, and Islamabad closed the half on a nice run to go up 15. Alexandria really buckled down and played well getting the lead down to 4. Aymen affected a lot of shots down low, if he wasnt getting blocks he was definitely changing and disrupting shots. Islamabad managed to hold on doing a better job at the Ft line tha in weeks past.