CSKA Moscow and Anadolu Efes will both be looking to remain unbeaten when they meet in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Top 16 on Wednesday.
Two classic Turkish Airlines Euroleague teams will fight to stay undefeated in the Top 16’s Group E when CSKA hosts Anadolu Efes in Moscow, Russia on Wednesday.
CSKA has won its 11 Euroleague games so far but Efes has notched three road wins this season. Efes leads the Top 16 in rebounds (45) and pulled down 15 offensive boards last week against Galatasaray Cafe Crown.
CSKA was the highest-scoring team last week with 86 points against Olympiacos. CSKA has won its last four home games against Efes, whose last win in Moscow came in 1999 in double overtime. Expect an intense physical showdown in the Russian capital.
Both teams are injury-free and ready to face each other. Tarence Kinsey and Ermal Kuqo returned to Efes, which also signed Oliver Lafayette. Both teams have all of their 15 players available, so three will be sitting out. Last week, Sammy Mejia, Nikita Kurbanov and Dmitry Sokolov did not play for CSKA, while Vlado Ilievski, Soykan Yikilmaz and Osman Sirin sat out for Efes.
Efes will need to find a way to stop Milos Teodosic, as CSKA runs its offense through its starting point guard and former Euroleague MVP.
Teodosic will not have it easy against Kerem Tunceri and Lafayette, a combo guard who will also see playing time against explosive youngster Alexey Shved. If Teodosic has space to make the most out of his court vision and unlimited range, Efes will be in trouble. CSKA needs to take care of Tarence Kinsey due to his athleticism and size at small forward but has the right man for that mission in Andrei Kirilenko, whose intensity and energy can make the difference in any game.
Swingman Ramunas Siskauskas - another former Euroleague MVP - or combo guard Jamont Gordon will be critical for CSKA in this game.
Gordon must use his explosiveness against Sasha Vujacic, while Siskauskas will test his legendary one-on-one skills against Cenk Akyol and especially Sinan Guler – a very intriguing matchup. Dusko Savanovic comes off a monster performance – 16 points, 17 rebounds – against Galatasaray and is a mismatch at power forward but CSKA will turn to one of its own superstars, Viktor Khryapa, to get the better of this match-up.
Savanovic has deeper range and will use his post moves, but Khryapa is more athletic and experienced. Kuqo, Stanko Barac and Esteban Batista will share minutes at centre with the main goal of slowing Nenad Krstic, whose strength and post skills have been a key to CSKA’s success. Andrey Vorontsevich and Sasha Kaun give CSKA range and power, respectively, off the bench.
