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Even though the situation dictates that Maccabi desperately need a win and Khimki will still be the first-placed team even if they lose, it's not likely to expect this game to go in that direction. Haifa have outdone their expectations by reaching Round 2 and now they're playing against a team that crushed them by 39 points in the first game. They had their first-choice placers Ofoegbu and Cubillano then and they are out for today. They are without Henning as well, the player brought to replace Ofoegbu. Apart from that, Maccabi had a very difficult league game only 48 hours ago and it is very difficult to expect a team with such short roster to recover so quickly. Khimki's motivation is an important factor here. Even though a win for them changes nothing here, they have a terrific run of 28 wins in all competitions and they surely want to extend their run. There is no need to talk about the quality of this team and the first game showed everything. Today they won't be as convincing but I simply don't see a way for the Israelis to match the superior opponents and I even see the Russians getting a double-digit lead here.