Efes Pilsen was beaten 77-70 by Lithuanian champion Lietuvos Rytas in their group opener at the Siemens Arena in Vilnius last Thursday. However, the İstanbul side won praise from friends and foes alike for putting up a good fight in basketball-crazy Lithuania, where soccer comes second to basketball.In the final analysis, Efes lost last week, according to the scoreboard, despite matching Rytas head to head and shoulder to shoulder. The reason is simple: Playing well and losing is not regarded as victory in any sport.
With only one point from last week’s defeat, Efes will be all out for the maximum two points at Abdi İpekçi today. In fact that’s what the demanding fans want, and head coach Ekrem Memnun has plenty of ammo at his disposal to accomplish this feat. Preston Shumpert, who led Efes with 12 points against Rytas, Igor Rakocevic, who scored 11, and Charles Smith, who had 10, are some of the big guns Efes can use to finish off Partizan this evening.
Partizan was also a loser in the group opener last Thursday, going down 64-72 at home to Spanish side Unicaja Malaga. Partizan therefore knows it faces early elimination and is therefore expected to go down fighting, even it is beaten by Efes in İstanbul this evening,
The Serbian side has two outstanding danger men, Bo McCalebb and Branislav Dekic, the only Partizan players who scored in double digits against Unicaja last week.
If Efes can rein in these two Partizan sharpshooters this evening and play well offensively and defensively, then the İstanbul side needs fear no evil.
In the other Group B match today, Entente Orleanaise hosts Lietuvos Rytas. Elsewhere it is Barcelona vs. Cibona and Montepaschi Siena vs. Zalgiris in Group A; Caja Laboral vs. Maccabi Electra and Union Olimpija vs. Maroussi BC in Group C; and Panathinaikos vs. BC Khimki in Group D.
