Courtesy the Euroleague folks, BallinEurope brings a compendium of facts and figures spanning history and record books regarding tomorrow night’s slate of a half-dozen games – plus lines on the games and highlight clips. Enjoy!
CSKA Moscow vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul
• CSKA leads the all-time series between the teams, 8-7.
• Nenad Krstic has scored in double figures in each of his last 16 Euroleague appearances dating back to the 2003-04 season.
• Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic lead the Euroleague in index rating with at averages of 27.8 and 21.5 per game, respectively.
• Kirilenko also leads the Euroleague in blocked shots (3.2 bpg).
• Milos Teodosic is ranked second in the Euroleague in assists this season with a career-high 5.6 assists per game.
• Darjus Lavrinovic needs three more blocks reach 100 for his Euroleague career. With his next block, Lavrinovic will tie former CSKA big man Terence Morris for 12th place all-time.
• 2010 Euroleague Best Defender Viktor Khryapa needs only 4 more blocks to reach 100 blocks in his Euroleague career.
• Khryapa needs two more rebounds to reach the 500 mark for his Euroleague career.
• CSKA’s win streak is now at 12 games in a row dating back to last season.
• CSKA faced Efes in the quarterfinal playoffs of the 2005-06 season. CSKA swept the series 2-0 and continued on to win the Euroleague title.
• Tarence Kinsey has recorded at least one steal in each of his last 11 Turkish Airlines Euroleague contests.
• All-Euroleague forward Dusko Savanovic has registered double doubles in three of his last five Euroleague games.
• Last week, Savanovic set personal career highs in index rating (31), offensive rebounds (7), defensive rebounds (10), total rebounds (17) and minutes played (35).
• Savanovic has made at least one three-pointer in seven straight Euroleague appearances.
• Anadolu Efes has won just one of its last seven encounters with CSKA.
• The last time Efes won against CSKA in Moscow was in the 1998-99 season.
• Kinsey and Darjus Lavrinovic played together in Fenerbache Ülker last season. Together they won the Turkish League and Cup titles.
• Savanovic played in Unics Kazan in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons together with Lavrinovic and Dmitry Sokolov. Nikita Kurbanov spent part of the 2007-08 with the above trio in Kazan as well.
• The lines: CSKA Moscow, minus-12.5; over/under 155.5 points.
Gescrap Bilbao Basket v. Unicaja Malaga
• These two teams have never met before.
• Gescrap is looking for its first-ever win in the Top 16.
• Gescrap has committed more turnovers (15.7) than any other Top 16 team this season.
• Marko Banic has scored in double figures in all 11 of his team’s Turkish Airlines Euroleague games this season.
• D’Or Fischer’s average of 1.55 blocks per game is the best in competition history among players with at least three seasons played.
• Raul Lopez needs four more steals to reach the 100 mark for his Euroleague career.
• Roger Grimau has made 11 free throws without a miss this season.
• Alex Mumbru has made at least one three-pointer in each of his last seven Euroleague appearances.
• Kostas Vasiliadis played for Unicaja for a season-and-a-half. He arrived during the 2005-06 season and played the following one as well in Malaga. He helped the team win the 2006 ACB title. Berni Rodriguez was a teammate of Vasiliadis during that time. Jorge Garbajosa was also there for the first of those seasons and current Unicaja coach Chus Mateo was an assistant coach that season.
• Unicaja leads the Euroleague this season in offensive rebounding at 13.0 per game and total rebounds at 37.8 per.
• Unicaja is ranked last among the Top 16 teams in three-point accuracy at 29.1%.
• Jorge Garbajosa has made 22 straight free throws in Euroleague action.
• Garbajosa needs six more free throws made to reach 400 for his Euroleague career. He’s ranked 15th on the all-time list of free throws made.
• Last week Luka Zoric set career highs in points and index rating as he recorded his first Euroleague double-double with 32 points, 10 rebounds and a 33 index rating against Real Madrid.
• Garbajosa was a teammate of Axel Hervelle, D’or Fischer and Josh Fisher at Real Madrid during his time there in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• Nedzad Sinanovic was a teammate of Raul Lopez, Axel Hervelle, Alex Mumbru and Josh Fisher at Real Madrid during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
• Coach Chus Mateo started his coaching career in the junior program of Real Madrid and later was an assistant coach on the first team.
• The lines: Bilbao, minus-4.5; over/under 152.5 points.
Real Madrid vs. Montepaschi Siena
• Siena leads the all-time series, 4-3.
• Madrid has the top-scoring offense in the Euroleague with 87.3 points per game and has scored more three pointers than any other Top 16 team with an average of 8.4 per game.
• Nikola Mirotic has made 14 consecutive free throws in the Euroleague.
• Mirotic scored the last basket in the game last week in the last second to give Madrid an important 80-81 win in Malaga.
• Sergio Rodriguez leads the Euroleague in assists this season with a career-high 5.8 assists per game.
• Jaycee Carroll has made at least one three-pointer in every Euroleague game this season.
• Carroll leads the Euroleague this season in three-point shooting percentage at 57.4%.
• Mirza Begic is ranked second in the Euroleague in blocks this season with 1.5 blocks per game.
• Begic has blocked at least one shot in five straight and seven of his last eight games.
• Martynas Pocius was a teammate of injured Rimas Kaukenas on the Lithuanian national team at FIBA EuroBasket 2011.
• Nikos Zisis needs two more three-pointers to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
• David Andersen joined the exclusive Euroleague 2,000 career points club last week. He’s ranked 11th all-time at the moment, but is still 40 points behind Luis Scola for 10th place.
• Andersen is also only two rebounds from becoming the third player in competition to reach 1,000 career rebounds. He will join Nikola Vujcic as the only players to register 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
• Bo McCalebb has scored in double figures in nine straight Euroleague games.
• The first four encounters between these two teams were decided in favor of the home team while the last three were decided in favor of the road team.
• Madrid and Montepaschi played for third place at the 2011 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four. Montepaschi won 80-62.
• Igor Rakocevic spent the 2005-06 season with Real Madrid and was teammate of Felipe Reyes that season.
• The injured Rimas Kaukenas played in Real Madrid in the 2009-10 season together with Felipe Reyes, Ante Tomic, Novica Velickovic and Sergio Llull.
• The lines: Real Madrid, minus-7.5; over/under 157.5 points.
Fenerbahçe Ülker Istanbul v. Emporio Armani Milano
• Milano leads the all-time series, 2-0, with the only time these two teams meeting in the 1996-97 season.
• Fenerbahçe Ülker is ranked last among Top 16 teams in assists with only 11.6 per night.
• Bojan Bogdanovic has scored in double figures in four straight and eight of his last nine Euroleague games, and is averaging 16.1 points per game on the road this season compared to just 8.4 points at home.
• Roko Ukic and Jacopo Giachetti were teammates at Lottomatica Roma during the 2007-08 season.
• Milano is ranked last among Top 16 teams in steals with only 4.4 per game and in total rebounds with 31.5 a night.
• Drew Nicholas needs only one more steal to reach 100 for his Euroleague career.
• Omar Cook started the season 3-of-17 from downtown, but has made 11 of his last 23 three-point attempts.
• Ioannis Bourousis is only eight rebounds behind injured big man Kerem Gonlum for seventh place on the career rebounding charts. Bourousis has 830 career boards.
• Bourousis needs three more steals to reach the 100 mark for his career.
• Leon Radosevic and Bojan Bogdanovic were teammates at Cibona Zagreb in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
• Nicholas and James Gist both played college basketball at the University of Maryland, though Gist joined the Terps two seasons after Nicholas finished.
• The lines: Fenerbahçe Ülker, minus-7.5; over/under 147.0 points.
Panathinaikos v. Unics Kazan
• These teams have never met in Euroleague play.
• Panathinaikos is one of three clubs that have never missed the Top 16 phase in its 11 years. FC Barcelona Regal and Maccabi are the other two.
• Panathinaikos leads the Euroleague in steals with 8.7 per game.
• Dimitris Diamantidis has made 19 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action dating back to last season.
• Diamantidis needs only four more assists to become the fourth player in Euroleague history to dish 600 assists.
• Sarunas Jasikevicius needs only five more assists to become the fourth player in Euroleague history to dish 600 assists.
• Steven Smith has made 10 consecutive free throws in Euroleague games.
• Panathinaikos has never advanced past the Top 16 round the season after winning the Euroleague title.
• Ian Vougioukas has blocked at least one shot in five of the last six games.
• Sarunas Jasikevicius was signed to replace an injured Lynn Greer last season in Fenerbahçe Ülker.
• Henry Domercant has hit at least one three-pointer in 11 straight and in 21 of his last 22 Euroleague games.
• Domercant is ranked second in the Euroleague this season in three-point shooting percentage at 54.2%.
• Unics has won seven of its last eight EL games.
• Kelly McCarty has made eight straight free throws in Euroleague action.
• Lynn Greer played two seasons – 2007-08 and 2008-09 – for Panathinaikos’ archrival Olympiacos.
• Domercant and Romain Sato were teammates in Montepaschi Siena during the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 seasons.
• Vladimir Veremeenko became the first Unics player to be named Euroleague weekly MVP when he nabbed the honor after producing 17 points, 11 rebounds and performance index rating of 32 in a win over Fenerbahçe Ülker.
• The lines: Panathinaikos, minus-11.5; over/under 146.5 points.
Bennet Cantù v. Žalgiris Kaunas
• Cantù leads the all-time EL series between the clubs, 2-0, with those meetings over 30 years ago in the 1980-81 season.
• Gianluca Basile has made at least one three-pointer in 11 of his last 12 Euroleague games.
• Basile needs two more assists to pass Marcus Brown and enter the Euroleague all-time top 10 in assists. He has currently 456.
• Basile took over third place on the list of career Euroleague games played, leaving former CSKA guard J.R. Holden one spot behind. Basile played his 210th game last week.
• Žalgiris has allowed more points than any other team in the Top 16 with 81.5 points allowed per game.
• Žalgiris has committed more fouls than any other Top 16 team with 23.9 per game.
• Marko Popovic has made at least one three-pointer in 33 straight Euroleague appearances. His last Euroleague game without a triple came in November 2006 with Žalgiris at home against CSKA.
• Paulius Jankunas needs two more steals to reach the 100 mark for his Euroleague career.
• Milovan Rakovic played the last two seasons in Italy with Montepaschi Siena and beat Cantù in the final of the Italian league last season.
• The lines: Cantù, minus-5.0; over/under 149.5 points.
