Maccabi - Unicaja

MATCH PREVIEW

Maccabi Electra will welcome a legend back to the sidelines when it hosts Unicaja in a pivotal Group A matchup on Thursday at Tel Aviv's Nokia Arena. Head coach Pini Gershon and Maccabi achieved greatness together with three continental titles and two more trips to the Euroleague final in the past decade and now they are together again as Gershon tries to spark Maccabi after a 2-2 start. And they are fortunate to be hosting a banged-up team in Unicaja, which in addition to its regular absences of long-term injury victims Berni Rodriguez, Alfonso Sanchez and German Gabriel, will also be without star power forward Marcus Haislip.

DKV Joventud - Tau Ceramica

MATCH PREVIEW

An all-Spanish showdown in Group C takes place on Thursday when DKV Joventut hosts Tau Ceramica in Badalona. The two teams just faced each other in the Spanish League last Thursday, also in Badalona. Tau downed Joventut 83-97 behind 24 points from Igor Rakocevic. Tiago Splitter added 21 and 12 rebounds, while Bracey Wright led Joventut with 22 points. Of course, stopping Rakocevic will be the main issue for DKV. Rakocevic is right at the prime of his career and currently is the Euroleague top scorer at 21.8 points per game, hitting 12 of 21 three-pointers and making all 19 free throws that he has attempted. Even with forward Pete Mickeal in doubt, Tau counts on a solid backcourt that features former Euroleague assists champion Pablo Prigioni, former Joventut swingman Sergi Vidal, playmaker Mustafa Shakur, small forward Fernando San Emeterio and combo guard Robert Hite, who missed last week's game against Joventut due to stomach problems, but is fully recovered. Prigioni is set to have a key matchup against Demond Mallet, as Joventut has no other pure playmaker available with Ricky Rubio still sidelined.

A big showdown between teams with quite different goals is set to take place in Kaunas, Lithuania, on Thursday when Zalgiris welcomes Regal FC Barcelona in a Group B clash. Zalgiris released Ratko Varda last week, while center Loren Woods has left the club to be with his wife, who is ill, in the United States but Lored already in the club and will play tonight. Paulius Jankunas will be the hosts' main reference in the paint, with Tadas Klimavicius and Dainius Salenga seeing minutes at power forward. Barcelona has an advantage inside, as it counts on a solid, deep, experienced frontcourt. Zukauskas will test his defensive skills against centers Daniel Santiago and David Andersen. Meanwhile, Salenga seems the right man to slow Euroleague October MVP Ersan Ilyasova.