A make-or-break fight for survival in Group H will take place in Vitoria, Spain, on Thursday when Caja Laboral hosts Cibona in what promises to be an intense showdown.
Watch Caja Laboral v Cibona live, on SportingBet's live streaming service, from 19:15 CET today.
Cibona enters the game ranked fourth in Group H with a 1-4 record, but can still advance to the Quarterfinal Playoffs if it beats Laboral and already-qualified Olympiacos downs BC Khimki Moscow Region in Russia.
Laboral will be out with a loss, but can finish second - and therefore face CSKA in the playoffs - if it wins and Khimki loses. Laboral will also advance if both Laboral and Khimki win and Khimki's winning margin is not 7 points or more larger than Laboral's margin of victory.
Laboral must be concerned with stopping Jamont Gordon, the Top 16’s leading scorer, who has been unstoppable so far in this phase. Gordon stepped up once he became the only point guard in the team, helping in every aspect of the game and using his driving skills and athleticism to generate points.
Samo Udrih offers a helping hand at point guard. Pau Ribas seems the right man to guard Gordon due to his quickness and aggressiveness. Marcelo Huertas will try to beat his defense with court sense and experience.
Laboral features very good shooters at both wings, such as Brad Oleson and Carl English, as well as its own do-it-all swingman in Fernando San Emeterio. Oleson and English are ready for a big scoring battle against Udrih and Top 16 Game 5 MVP Bojan Bogdanovic, who downed 6 of 6 three-pointers against Khimki last week. San Emeterio faces a critical matchup against Marko Tomas, who has been in great shape recently.
Tomas needs to use his deep shooting range and confidence against a quicker player like San Emeterio. Walter Herrmann can make the difference at small forward due to his size and power. Hermann, however, may see minutes at power forward, as Tiago Splitter is out against Cibona and Lior Eliyahu will play, but has been slowed by injuries in recent weeks. Mirza Teletovic will shoulder much of the load in such a big game and Stanko Barac offers much-needed size and rebounding skills. Teletovic must open the court with his three-point shots against Luksa Andric and Leon Radosevic.
Meanwhile, Barac faces a tough challenge against experienced defensive center Dalibor Bagaric. Cibona must run its offense through Gordon and lock the defensive board to win the game. Laboral must play up-tempo, stop Gordon and Tomas and expect Teletovic and Herrmann to make the difference. Expect a big battle to stay alive at Fernando Buesa Arena on Thursday.