At the end of November Olympiacos already proved that they are much better team than Zalgiris when they controlled game and won by 16 points. Olympiacos was 13.5 pts favorite in that game, today 2 months later they will meet the same opponnent but now they are only 5.5 favorites. The only seriuos reason for such Olympiacos understimation is their recent results and Macijauskas injury. By the way Olympiacos players before this game were not available for interviews and this talks a lot about their preparation for this game. Maybe they will have some surprises for Zalgiris and on of them could Macijauskas appereance in the game. As far as I know he was training with a team but felt back spasms so doctors decided to give him rest before the game with Real Madrid. Since then no new information was available from the club... So everything is possible here at least I would be suprised to see him playing today.
On other side we have Zalgiris.. I already wrote that I don't hold Zalgiris as a seriuos team. They are lucky to be here. Lucky from the work "luck". They always playing against injury troubled teams or against poor teams like Olimpija, Prokom or Virtus. They had only 2 games I respect against Tau at home and against Real in Top-16. But today I see them clear underdogs of this battle. Zukauskas is quiestionable for this game and even with him on the court it will be extremely hard to stop Tsakalidis-M.Jackson-Bouroussis trio under baskets. N'Diaye is good player but he grabs fouls very fast and against very powerful Oly centers he should appear in foul trouble very soon. Brown will be defended very hard today and as it often happens he could stay out of the game in such hot arenas like Pireus Peace and Friendship arena.
Also I think that Olympiacos shift under new coach could be positive in the long run. They were a bit unlucky with the time of coach shift because players were forced to play new defensive low tempo basketball against strong teams like Maccabi, Real and PAO. 4 losses in a row is too much for Olympiacos especially now when they have do-or-die game against Zalgiris.
Prediction: Olympiacos should be a dominating team on the court today. Zalgiris usually finds a way to stay under 15 pts margin in such type of games and some certain moment cut the lead down to 5-7 pts but they still can't win such games (and will never win until they will hire seriuos coach). I think that Olympiacos in defense will close Zalgiris offense under 74 points and will score around 78-85 pts by theirselves. It's not important will Macas play or not because I rate Oly without Macas still capable of beating this Zalgiris by 7-13 pts. Predicted score: Olympiacos 81 - 73 Zalgiris
VS. 
Unicaja vs CSKA
CSKA Moscow: - Matjaz Smodis is recovered, already took part in a Russian League game this weekend and
will not play against Unicaja. He stayed in Moscow.
- CSKA signed forward Viktor Khryapa, who averaged 5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 2 Top 16 games so far.
- CSKA brought back center Tomas Van den Spiegel, who missed a game but returned against AXA FC Barcelona this week.
- Center Aleksey Savrasenko is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury
Unicaja: - Big men Marcus Haislip and Boniface Ndong saw limited playing time a Spanish League loss this weekend due to respective physical problems. Haislip is still questionable against CSKA while Ndong is expected to play.
- Carlos Cabezas suffered a thigh muscle tear and is expected to be sidelined for one more week.
- Berni Rodriguez is not expected to play against CSKA due to a sprained ankle, joining Alfonso Sanchez in the injury list.
According to one local Malaga's newspaper Berni Rodriguez was ready to play in Sunday game against Menorca but Scariolo decided to rest him for one more game. It is still uncertain about Cabezas status (995% that he is out for this game) but knowing how smart is Scariolo I suggest that we can expect some suprises from him in today's match. Sure it's very hard to expect great offensive game from both of them but in defense they should help. Unicaja also have very important game today and they must win this one to stay out of troubles in qualification battle.
On other side CSKA is not showing superb basketball these days. They won both games at home but I can't say that those wins were very impressive. Many opponents mentally can't win in Moscow. But Unicaja will play at their home court where they don't lose in Euroleague for a year. CSKA have some players in bad form like Holden, Khriapa, Van Den Spiegel, Andersen is also in downtrend. CSKA will not have advantage under baskets today while in offense they will meet Unicaja's defense which is one of the best in Spain.
Prediction: Do you remember last Final Four game between these teams? CSKA won by 12 points but that game was very very close for 37 minutes. I think that Scariolo system fits well with Messina basketball schemes. And Scariolo was absolutely right with his plan for this game. He declared that he wants to stay in the game until last 2 minutes where everything will be decided. Such game plan worked very well against Tau in King's cup, against Barcelona in Top-16.. but both games were away from home and Unicaja lost them but not by many points. Today they will play at home and I see this game as equal one. Maybe on of the teams will build 8-12 pts lead during a game but both teams have experience and class to cut the lead down to 3-6 pts. I give a bit more chances in the end to Moscow team but if Unicaja will play at their best they could take very important 2 points from this game.
Predicted score: Unicaja 76 - 74 CSKA Pick: Unicaja +7.5 @ 1.71 2/10 Bet365.com (risky pick) 
VS. 
