Week 2 of Euroleague Top-16 should give us first outsiders of this stage and starting from next round we will have some less motivated teams, that is why I decided to call this round "Fighting for Motivation".

Zalgiris - CSKA

The 2nd week will start with great historical battle between Zalgiris and CSKA. Unfortunately at this moment these 2 teams are not at the same level and we have CSKA as strong 6.5 favorite in Kaunas. Despite 2 games where Zalgiris was leading until 3rd quarter in Moscow and won in Kaunas in VTB United League I still can't see Zalgiris as equal opponent against CSKA.

It will be hard to score eleven 3-pointers 3rd time in a row and it was the only offensive weapon for Lithuanian club in those games. Tonight CSKA will be more prepared tacticaly and will stop Zalgiris shooting quards. Most probably CSKA again will control pace of the game and it should not be higher than 154 possessions.

Zalgiris against good defensive teams should struggle in the offense. On defensive end Zalgiris looks solid but not enought to win games only because of defense. Their normal defensive ability somewhere the 73-77 points range and it looks like mission impossible if we talk about win.

For sure Zalgiris will fight for its honor and supporters but CSKA defense and experience will lead them to another victory. I agree with line and expect CSKA to win by 5-9 points.

Prediction: Zalgiris 67 - 75 CSKA

Recommendation: Pick CSKA at odds higher than 1.50 if they will have 5-7 points defecit in first half.

Efes Pilsen -   Montepaschi Siena

Many pick Montepaschi to win this game but I have feeling that it will be a very very tough game for both and winner can be decided only in the end. Ok, Montepaschi is a better side team due the experience and winning mentality but Efes right now is better form and at home they can give a fight.

I don't expect fast game here because both teams are more defensive teams than offensive and at home Efes playing slower than away from home. Montepaschi has some injury concerns and maybe this will reflect on their scoring ability in Turkey.

Both teams has perfect ability to defend under 75 points and I see this game very defensive minded where winner will score 74-77 points and loser might stay under 72 points.

Prediction: Efes Pilsen 72 - 75 Montepaschi

Pick: Under 153.5 @ 1.83 Ladbrokes (40 min only)

Olympiacos - BC Khimki

Olympiacos have everything in their hands and if they will be able to control pace of the game on both ends of the floor it should a comfortable victory by 9-14 points. Line is very close to fair one and the only thing where I see small advantage over the line is Khimki total. Offensively away from home they fails to score 70 points and there is no reason to set 72.5 total for them against Olympiacos which is defending in the 65-74 points range.

Prediction: Olympiacos 83 - 69 Khimki

Partizan - Regal Barcelona

Regal Barcelona had very serious preparation for this game and if they have supermotivation they might destroy Partizan by 2-digit numbers. We have big handicap here but Barca is much much better team than Partizan in all aspects of the game and I am sure that they will win this game quite comfortably.

The only problem I see here is Barcelona's player motivation when they will lead by 16-18 points. I hope they understand that they should control this game from 1st till last second to turn off arena factor. If they will play at 100% during all 40 minutes their winning margin might be around 16-22 points.

Prediction: Partizan 64 - 81 Barcelona

Pick: Barcelona (-7.5) @ 1.74 Betfair

Unicaja Malaga - Asseco Prokom

Unicaja usually feels well when playing against run-and-gun teams because they can run, score and DEFEND better than teams like Prokom. This game has top importance for Malaga after their loss in first round to CSKA and I expect very motivated and well prepared Unicaja here.

Unicaja can't take Prokom easy and if everything goes well for Unicaja on offensive end we can expect confident Unicaja's victory.

Prediction: Unicaja 86 - 74 Prokom