The battle to win Group B between Turkish Airlines Euroleague powerhouses is set for Moscow, Russia, where CSKA welcomes Panathinaikos on Wednesday. Panathinaikos and CSKA have combined for five of the last six Euroleague titles, facing each other in Euroleague finals in 2007 and 2009, both won by the Greens. 

CSKA (8-0) will win Group B with a win or a one-point loss, leaving Panathinaikos second (6-2) no matter what. If Panathinaikos wins by two or more, CSKA will need to beat Unicaja on the road in Week 10 or look for the Greens to lose against Brose Baskets to keep first place. No basketball fan should miss this huge showdown, as two of the best teams in the competition face each other with a lot on the line.

INJURIES

CSKA’s Alexey Shved and Sasha Kaun sat out against Zagreb CO last week but both should play against Panathinaikos. Andrei Kirilenko recovered from his shoulder injury and played in the Russian squad’s game this weekend. Andrey Vorontsevich, however, is questionable due to a foot problem. Panathinaikos will travel to Moscow without Kostas Tsartsaris and Stratos Perperoglou, who remain sidelined.

THE TAKE

CSKA needs to find a way to stop Dimitris Diamantidis, who can cause trouble at both ends with his one-on-one skills, on-the-ball defense and leadership. Diamantidis will see playing time against Alexey Shved and Jamont Gordon, who comes off a good game last week. Meanwhile, Nick Calathes and Diamantidis must stop Milos Teodosic, who directs CSKA's offense with great creativity and basketball smarts. 

The power forward matchup is also important, as Steve Smith, coming off his best Euroleague game ever, won't have it easy against Kirilenko and Viktor Khryapa. Nenad Krstic will use his size and post moves against All-Euroleague center Mike Batiste in what promises to be a great battle in the paint. Ramunas Siskauskas – one of the three Euroleague MVPs on the floor along with Teodosic and Diamantidis – must try to use his driving skills and experience against a tough opponent like Romain Sato. Controlling the boards and establishing game tempo will be the biggest keys to this much-anticipated game.