EuroLeague Primer: Round 20 - Wednesday

EuroLeague Primer: Round 20 - Wednesday

This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.

PREGAME UPDATES

STATS AND INFO.

THE SLATE

CSKA Moscow at Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

Status Check: Will Clyburn (CSK), Howard Sant-Roos (PAO), Stefan Jovic (PAO), Lefteris Bochoridis (PAO), Lefteris Mantzoukas (PAO)

Best Bets for Success: Only one of the two contests originally scheduled to be played Wednesday will actually take place, and just like Tuesday it will feature two teams who have not participated in a EuroLeague game in nearly three weeks. CSKA's injured list is short but impactful, as the Russian squad will be without Clyburn, who is leading the team in all of scoring, index rating and fantasy points. No shortage of players are candidates to pick up the slack, and in a game that is expected be pretty high-scoring, all of Alexey Shved, Tornike Shengelia and Nikola Milutinov could do so. Shved dropped a double-double last time these teams met, which is not surprising considering Panathinaikos ranks bottom-5 against guards in nearly every counting stat. Shengelia will be even more involved than he usually is, and Milutinov grabbed 13 rebounds in 21 minutes when he faced the Greek squad in Round 13. The home team figures to be either rested or rusty Wednesday, as they have not played a game of any sort in over two weeks. Georgios Papagiannis was also plenty busy when these teams last saw each other and hasn't slowed much, averaging 10.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.5 blocks in his four EuroLeague games since. With Daryl Macon slowing down a bit, Papagiannis has emerged as Panathinaikos' more reliable option in fantasy contests.

DFS Darlings: CSKA's top players figure to soak up most of the opportunities created by Clyburn's absence, but Johannes Voigtmann and Nikita Kurbanov could be more involved as well. Voigtmann has shined whenever the Russian team has been without a key piece of its frontcourt and is averaging 13.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.4 threes when playing 20 minutes. Kurbanov had his best game in a couple months in his last EuroLeague appearance, and CSKA's glue guy will be in position to hit the 20-minute mark for the second time in a many games and the eighth time this season. On the Panathinaikos side, Nemanja Nedovic presumably benefited from the time off, and he's a good bet to continue producing in the points column after averaging 16.8 points over his last four EuroLeague appearances. Ioannis Papapetrou had a tough time getting on track in December, but he too should be fresh and ready to put up better numbers again. With Jovic not yet with the team and Bochoridis questionable at best, Sant-Roos -- provided he plays -- will also be in position to have a nice night.

ALBA Berlin at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

Per an official announcement from the EuroLeague, "The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 20 game Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv vs. ALBA Berlin, originally scheduled to be played on Wednesday, January 12, has been suspended. ALBA requested the suspension after several team members tested positive for COVID-19, which leaves the team without the minimum eight players on the Authorization List fit to play."

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Kevin O'Brien plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: kevob100, DraftKings: kevob100.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin O'Brien
Kevin mans the Packers and Brewers beats and moonlights as RotoWire's Director of Operations.
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