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A clash of spot 4 contenders

The three top teams are ahead and Szolnoki most likely won't get into a fight for round two, which means that this game between PAOK and Lietuvos (both 1-3) has massive importance. PAOK are more stable since Schortsanitis joined, which means we should see the Thessaloniki-based team put up the kind of performance we are used to today

PAOK have had more than a turbulent start to the season. The team from Thessaloniki was expected to play one of the key roles in the Greek championship but instead of that, they opened with 4 defeats, which brought about a rather bad atmosphere to the team. The situation is even more grave if we know that PAOK recorded only one win in the first four Eurocup rounds. 

A bad record at the start of the season is a consequence of the fact PAOK played without an orthodox center, which caused a lot of problems in the paint for them. The opponents have been clever about taking advantage of that but last week PAOK acquired Schortsanitis, who already played his first game, which was very different from the previous ones. They went to meet Rethymno after allowing at least 90 points in the last 3 games, which rarely ever happened before. But, as soon as PAOK acquired a proper center, they got back to their game style and limited Rethymno to 63 points to record a very convincing win.

- We knew it was a tough task and that we were to play that game after a long and tedious trip and some bad results. We knew Rethymno can get dangerous if they manage to find rhythm and that we will have to slow them down. I think we were able to do that for the most part of the game - Markopoulos said. 

Schortsanitis hit 12 points in 18 minutes on the floor and PAOK recorded only two rebounds less than the opponents (32-34). 

- Schortsanitis helped us a lot. He changed our game-style and the balance of power. Of course, it is too early for us to make any conclusions - PAOK's coach said. 

In any case, the win over Rethymno brought about a more peaceful atmosphere for PAOK. They are set to face Kolossos in the domestic championship this Saturday, which would see them get more stable. PAOK will most likely not just give up on their Eurocup ambitions. It's still not late for making amends, which means PAOK are expected to be extremely motivated and dangerous today.

- We have to defend the home court no matter what, especially in this game. Every point, every possession is very important so that we stay alive in this battle for the next round - assistant coach Boutskos said. 

The three top teams of this group are ahead and Szolnoki most likely won't get into a fight for round two, which means that this game between PAOK and Lietuvos (both 1-3) has massive importance. Other than just the win, the final point difference will matter here as well as it could play the key role in case these two teams finish group stage on the same record.

- They have good quality shooters, they are especially aggressive in transition and have the Argentinean point-guard Laprovittola as the leader on the floor. They combine the experience of veterans Lavrinovic and Lukauskis with the shooting talent of Orelikas and Giedraitis - Boutskos said. 

Lietuvos are not in a great situation either. They won the away game in Hungary but lost all three games at home. They are currently 1-3 and have 4 tough games in the last 4 rounds. They opened group stage as one of the favorites and are now in danger of not reaching the next round. 

They played Zenit home last round and did well on the defensive end to limit the opponent to 70 goals, but not even that was enough for the win. Lietuvos once again payed the price for the bad start to the game. They lost the first half 45-23 and even though they were the better team in the second half, the win was unobtainable. That last defeat was just like Lietuvos' previous defeats - it was caused by a poor start to the game (allowed Besiktas 49 and Avtodor 50 points in the first half), which does not go unpunished in Europe. 

- We didn't fight in the first half, we didn't play defense and we allowed them 45 points. Our defense was much better in the second half. That is what we have to be doing from the start - Nicola said. He is rather oriented on defense and such poor performances by his team must be very disappointing for him. 

Lietuvos won the championship game over Rudupis. Lietuvos opened that game much better to take a 45-32 lead by half time and stay in control until the very end. They are to face a much more different opponent compared to Zenit, Avtodor and Besiktas. PAOK are a very tough team, which means Lietuvos will have to respond to their aggressiveness from the very start. This is a great test for Nicola as well. The Lithuanian media started talking about him losing his job and a new defeat would definitely not be good for him or his team. 

Lietuvos will be without Gudaitis today. Kavaliuskas didn't play the Neptunas game and he's questionable today. 

This margin is a consequence of the results both teams achieved in the Eurocup and from the statistical point of view, it should be a few points higher. However, this is a classic example of how deceiving stats can be. Let's start with the fact that, except for Szolnioki, other rivals are extremely powerful offensively. Avtodor, Besiktas and Zenit are quite powerful offensively, capable of scoring over 80 points against anyone and the games against those teams automatically pump up the average. Besides that, PAOK played without a center in the last weeks, they were very inferior in the paint (15-20 rebounds less in almost every game) so they had to look for their chance with faster game. That way they took Olympiacos at 203 points with overtime, and lately in the Eurocup they conceded 100 i 90 points. However, Schortsanitis' arrival brought some stability in the paint and they returned to their playing style at Rethymn and won the match while conceding 64 points. On the other side, Lietuvos started to focus more on defense under Nicola, they don't have the offensive potential they had in previous season, but they lost in Eurocup so far because they started games badly (45-50 conceded points in first halves). Nicola's position is now shaken, he will ask his team today to be maximally aggressive from the start and not allow for the same mistake to happen again. Lietuvas were quite under this margin in away games against Zalgiris and Neptunas and I expect a similar, even tougher game today. We have a clash of two defensively strong teams, whose coaches are primarily focused on that segment, and this bet is made even better by the fact that this game is extremely important in the fight for the second round. It is not an empty phrase when Boutskos points out that every point will matter here, point-difference could also be important in the end and I expect a war-like game that will stay under 150 points.