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Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv v AXA FC Barcelona    

Longtime foes Maccabi Elite and AXA FC Barcelona will battle for the last remaining ticket to the 2008 Final Four on Thursday at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv in Game 3 of their Quarterfinal Playoffs series. The teams have met 24 times since 1981, including twice in the Final Four, but only one game matters now. The series has been a fascinating one so far. A Terence Morris double-double paced Maccabi to an 81-75 Game 1 victory, but Barcelona tied the series two days later as Gianluca Basile blasted a career-high 34 points in an 83-74 win. The Israeli champs have succeeded in their main defensive mission thus far, limiting Barca’s top scorer, Jaka Lakovic, to a total of 6 points on 1-for-6 two-point and 0-for-8 three-point shooting, however Basile has risen to the occasion with two incredible games. The veteran shooting guard has hit 11 triples in the series and was named as last week’s Euroleague Basketball weekly MVP for his two-game performance. Maccabi head coach Zvika Sherf, who was on the sidelines when Barcelona whipped Maccabi 101-67 in the 1991 Final Four semifinal in Paris, will have to cook up a new game plan to limit Lakovic while containing Basile.

 

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One of the most exciting Quarterfinal Playoffs clashes in recent history will be decided one way or another on Wednesday when CSKA Moscow hosts Olympiacos Piraeus in deciding Game 3 in the Russian capital. Olympiacos stunned CSKA in Game 1 74-76 on Lynn Greer’s buzzer-beating jump shot, but CSKA evened the score in Game 2 in Athens as the trio of Matjaz Smodis, Trajan Langdon and Ramunas Siskauskas shined in a 73-83 victory. Now both teams will pull out all the stops and try to put their best foot forward to clinch a spot at next month’s Final Four in Madrid.

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Italians were better side in first game and managed to break Turskish team game plan for most of playing time. There were some minutes when Montepaschi started to play in Fenerbahce style and turks managed to take the lead. Later Montepaschi returned to defensive work and after hitting several consecutive shots did a run and won that game.