Euroleague Tips with Previews – Wednesday matches

• Baskonia swept UNICS Kazan in their only two previous meetings.

UNICS Kazan (1-4) takes on Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (3-2) in what should be a special game for many reasons. The teams’ head coaches, Velimir Perasovic of UNICS and Dusko Ivanovic of Baskonia, were teammates and helped Jugoplastika Split win back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 1989 and 1990. Perasovic led Baskonia to Final Four appearances in 2006 and 2016. Tonye Jekiri played for Baskonia last season, too. Baskonia is on a three-game winning streak, but UNICS won its last home game, 73-70, against FC Bayern Munich. Baskonia is 2-0 against UNICS and won its only previous game at Basket Hall Kazan, 91-92, on December 15, 2016, behind 22 points from Shane Larkin.

Zenit St Petersburg (3-2) takes on Real Madrid (4-1) in a highly-anticipated game at Yubileyny Sports Palace. Zenit comes off a 26-point road loss at FC Barcelona. Real is on a three-game winning streak, but lost its lone road game in the EuroLeague this season. Zenit has not beaten Real in any of its last three showdowns. In the teams’ last matchup, Real edged Zenit 71-75 in St Petersburg behind 16 points and 9 rebounds from Walter Tavares. Interestingly, Zenit center Jordan Mickey faces his former team; he played for Real in the 2019-20 campaign.

• CSKA leads ASVEL 3-2 in their head-to-head games this century.

Two teams in the top half of the standings meet when LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (3-2) hosts CSKA Moscow (4-1) on Wednesday. CSKA is on a four-game winning streak despite losing Marius Grigonis, Toko Shengelia and Nikola Milutinov to respective injuries. ASVEL lost its last two games and is looking to bounce back against the Russian powerhouse. It will be the teams’ 14th showdown since their first meeting in 1970. CSKA has a 9-4 record against ASVEL and beat the French champion twice last season, 78-87 at the Astroballe behind 31 points from Mike James and 88-70 in Moscow behind 23 points from Iffe Lundberg.

• Maccabi owns an 18-9 record vs. Zalgiris this century.

Panathinaikos OPAP Athens (1-4) faces reigning champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul (1-4) in a battle to leave the lower part of the standings. These teams will face each other for the 33rd time. Panathinaikos is 20-12 against Efes and beat the Turkish powerhouse in the 2000 EuroLeague semifinals, the 2001 SuproLeague semifinals and the 2005 EuroLeague Playoffs. Efes, however, downed Panathinaikos twice last season. It beat the Greens 77-80 in the Greek capital behind 33 points from Vasilije Micic and defeated them again in Istanbul, 85-65. Once again Micic led the way with 21 points.

If Vasilije Micic and Krunoslav Simon remain sidelined, Shane Larkin and Rodrigue Beaubois should be expected to lead Efes’s backcourt. Elijah Bryant comes off a solid performance in his first game with Efes and should use his aggressiveness to attack Ioannis Papapetrou, but the later is doubtful.