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Thursday night will be a turning point for at least one Group A team as Climamio hosts RheinEnergie Cologne at Land Rover Arena in Bologna, Italy. Both teams are looking for their first win of the competition. Climamio came close last week as it held a 7-point lead midway through the fourth quarter at Dynamo Moscow, but scored just 5 points the rest of the way and lost 78-73. The bright spot was Preston Shumpert, who continued his nice scoring run with 16. However the bad news came when forward Stefano Mancinelli suffered an ankle injury in the game and will miss Thursday;s game. Moreover, point guard Tyus Edney has a hip muscle problem and is questionable for the hosts. RheinEnergie was blown out at home last week by Tau Ceramica 70-102. Only Marcus Faison rose to the occasion with 22 points as his team committed 25 turnovers. RheinEnergie is averaging a league-high 21 turnovers per game, something it will need to cut to win on the road in Italy. Edney's fitness could have a big impact on the game, since the team's backup, German national team guard Steffen Hamann, is well known to the Cologne squad. RheinEnergie playmaker Demond Mallet is a former teammate of Hamann's at Brose Baskets Bamberg. Bologna's scoring starts from the perimeter with Marco Belinelli (12 ppg.) and power forward David Bluthenthal (12 ppg.), with Shumpert (17.7 ppg.) making his outside shots as well as penetrating to the paint. Inside, James Thomas has carried the rebounding load with 8.7 boards in 25 minutes, though he is also a foul liability with at least four in each game. Faison (18 ppg.) has been a scoring machine for Cologne, shooting 70.5% from two- and 50% from three-point range this season. He is also 12-for-12 from the line. Ronnie Burrell is a solid No. 2 option, though the team may wish to turn to 2.14-meter center Marcin Gortat in the paint more often this week to exploit his height advantage over Thomas, who stands at 2.03m. Both teams know that an 0-4 start to the season will make reaching the Top 16 a remote possibility and that something that neither side wants to face. With the prospect of the rest of the season slipping away, there will be a playoff atmosphere in Bolgne as RheinEnergie and Climamio fight to save their season.
Immerhin führen wir die Liga in einer Rubrik an.