In a showdown between teams looking to bounce back from Round 25 losses, FC Bayern Munich hosts Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday. Bayern (15-10) had a three-game losing streak snapped when it fell at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Coach Trinchieri’s men are 9-3 at home this season. Maccabi (10-13) has dropped its last two games and is 4-8 on the road this season. The Israeli champs are now four wins outside of the playoff zone and the pressure may be mounting.

• Nihad Dedovic missed the team’s Round 25.
• Robin Amaize has missed the last eight games.
• Zan Mark Sisko returned to action in Round 25 after missing seven games.

Bayern excels by playing a physical game that leads to lots of steals and forced turnovers. It leads the league in fouls (23.2 per game), is second in steals (7.8 apg.) and fourth in turnovers forced (14.1 TOpg.). Maccabi’s poor free-throw shooting (76.7%, 16th in the league) is something Bayern can take advantage as is Maccabi’s struggles from the three-point line (35.6%). Forcing Maccabi into tough shots and fouling when the Israeli champs have good looks could be a recipe for success.

• T.J. Cline is due to make his EuroLeague debut.
• Yovel Zoosman will be out until late March with a knee injury.
• Omri Casspi will travel to Munich with the team and may play after missing several weeks with illness.
• The participation of Wilbekin (thumb), Othello Hunter and Casspi will be game-time decisions.

Bayern has made the most two-pointers (21.5 per game) and the fewest threes (7.2 per game) in the league this season. Maccabi has a deep and long frontline with Othello Hunter, Ante Zizic, Dragan Bender and Angelo Caloiaro and they together will be tasked with controlling the paint on both ends. A collective strong game by the Maccabi bigs blocking shots, on the glass and scoring inside would put Coach Sfairopoulos’s men in a winning position.

AX Armani Exchange Milan will try to bounce back from losing two of its last three games when it hosts Khimki Moscow Region on Thursday. Third-placed Milan (16-9) has won five straight home games and is 9-4 on Italian soil this season. Khimki (2-22) is on a 16-game losing streak, though Alexey Shved and co. continue to play hard.

• Jeff Brooks has not played in the last six games.
• Zach LeDay has missed the last two games with an injury.

Milan’s high-powered attack is second in the league in three-point accuracy (42.0) and has committed the fewest turnovers (10.8 TOpg.). Khimki has been vulnerable to the three-pointer, allowing a league-high 43.2%. Milan should get plenty of good looks, but it needs Malcolm Delaney, Luigi Datome, Punter, Shavon Shields and Sergio Rodriguez to make their threes, because when the threes don’t fall, Milan struggles. Coach Messina’s men have made just 34.3% of their triples in defeats this season.

• Devin Booker has missed the last four games.
• Anton Ponkrashov made his Khimki return in Round 25.
• Errick McCollum did not play in Round 25.

Khimki can ill-afford turnovers in Milan; the team has averaged just 10 turnovers per game in wins and 14.4 in losses. Khimki also needs to make more use of its interior weapons, such as Jordan Mickey, to balance the attack, since it is tied for second-to-last with just 17.5 two-point shots made per game.

Real Madrid hosts Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday in a showdown between two playoff hopefuls separated by just one game in the standings. Real is fifth at 15-10, while Zalgiris is four places behind despite its 14-11 record. Los Blancos will try to shake off back-to-back losses and recapture its winning form before heading to Russia for two games next week. After winning seven in a row at home, Real has dropped three of its last four in Madrid. Zalgiris snapped a two-game slide on Tuesday with a victory over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade and now wants to turn that into a winning streak. The Lithuanian champs are 7-6 on the road this season with losses in four of their last five.

• Anthony Randolph is out with a ruptured left Achilles tendon.
• Rudy Fernandez did not play in Round 25 due to back issues.
• Sergio Llull’s participation in the games is questionable with a knee injury.

After losing its last two games in a row, Real will look to geth back to the winning track as soon as possible if it wants to stay among the top teams. In front of them they will have a team with fighting spirit which also happens to be the second-best team in the league from beyond the arc. The hosts will have to pay attention in defense to those open shots, while also make sure that the guests do not travel too often to the free-throw line, where they lead the league with a 85.2%

• Zalgiris swingman Patricio Garino remains out of action after a knee operation.
• Arturas Milaknis is out after making 200 consecutive appearances in the competition. This was the second-longest streak this century.

If any team has the tools to neutralize Walter Tavares’s defensive impact, it’s Zalgiris, which is second in the league in three-point shooting at 42.0%. However, Zalgiris is very selective from downtown; its 19.9 threes attempted per game are the third-fewest in the league and it will be without ace shooter Arturas Milaknis this week. If Maruis Grigonis, Lukas Lekavicius and Nigel Hayes heat up and stretch the floor, it would be a great sign for the visitors. Zalgiris has averaged 9.5 three-pointers on 47.2% shooting in wins this season and just 6.9 threes at 35.2% in defeats.