The EuroLeague’s top two CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid are both at home on Friday as they look to end the week on top of the table.
The Muscovites lost their place at the top for the first time since the opening rounds with a surprise road loss to Zalgiris, while Real Madrid needed a Sergio Llull basket with 1.1 seconds left to overcome Brose Bamberg, which lifted them to pole position.
CSKA host Anadolu Efes looking to reclaim top spot, knowing that a win would do just that, for a few hours at least.
“Now every game becomes even more important for us,” CSKA’s Nikita Kurbanov said.
“First of all, we have to secure our home court and use a game-by-game approach. A very difficult game is ahead of us, but we have strong belief in our team and we will play as hard as we can.”
But if Real Madrid beat EA7 Milano in the Spanish capital, a couple of hours later, they will reclaim first place in the standings due to them owning the head-to-head over CSKA.
But Milano come into Friday’s clash on the back of two straight wins and will head into the game full of confidence.
“They are a great team but what I want is to play with the same faces, the same desire we had against Olympiacos,” Milano coach Jasmin Repesa said.
“With that kind of attitude we have the chance to do well.”
∞∞∞ LIGA ENDESA CLASH WHERE FORTUNES MUST CHANGE ∞∞∞
Barcelona hosts Baskonia on Friday knowing that only a win will do if they wish to stay in the hunt for a place in the Playoffs.
The Catalan side currently sits in tenth spot, a position unfamiliar with them mainly out down to injuries over the course of the EuroLeague season.
Baskonia, on the other hand after starting positively and being as high as third, have dropped to sixth and are looking to bounce back from a convincing home loss to Red Star.
∞∞∞ OLYMPIACOS HOST BAMBERG ∞∞∞
After losing ground with the top two, 48 hours earlier, Olympiacos head home to play Brose Bamberg who themselves suffered defeat in their previous encounter.
The Germans will have momentum on their side having beaten the Reds 82-68 in Bamberg.
Obviously it’s a very tough game for many reasons,” said Bamberg’s resident Greek Nikos Zisis.
“First of all Olympiacos is a very good team, that have the best defence in EuroLeague. Furthermore: they will have an extra motivation, because they lost against us the last three times.”
∞∞∞ ZALGIRIS TO IMPROVE ON CSKA WIN? ∞∞∞
Zalgiris travel to Istanbul for a clash with Playoff hopefuls Darussafaka Dogus full of hope.
Question is: can the Lithuanian champions build on their monumental win over the EuroLeague champions, 48 hours ago?
In their only previous meeting earlier this season in round five, Darussafaka erased an 11-point third quarter deficit and defeated Zalgiris 83-80.
Adrien Moerman scored 16 points and had a career-high five steals in that game.
