GRE/LTU - Lietuvos Rytas take aim at sweep of Panathinaikos

ATHENS (Euroleague) - Renaldas Seibutis was the architect of Panathinaikos's 84-83 demise at the hands of Lietuvos Rytas on the opening day of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague season last month when he poured in 19 points and made a game-winning shot late in overtime.

A run to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Top 16 looked then as if it might be on the cards for the Vilnius club yet four defeats later and their prospects don't look as promising.

Heading into their clash at Panathinaikos on Thursday night, Lietuvos Rytas are bottom of Group D with just that lone win while the Greens are 2-3 and riding a two-game losing streak.

Lithuanian national team players will be pivotal in this showdown.

Seibutis and Martynas Gecevicius are the most prominent in the Lietuvos Rytas side while for the home side, there is Jonas Maciulis.

Gecevicius is a scintillating 17 of 34 from long range in the Euroleague.

He leads the competition with 17 made three-balls.

"Lietuvos Rytas is a good team," Maciulis warned.

"In the first round we weren't ready going to Vilnius mostly because of injuries.

"We lost against a team that can hurt anybody in this group and we have to be more serious this time.

"We need this win, but then of course they need it, too.

"We are playing at home and we cannot miss out on the opportunity to commit a step ahead playing here at OAKA."

Thursday night will be a first for Pana, with the club having completed a Euroleague ban and now able to play in their OAKA stadium.

The Greek giants have had their struggles this season.

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar surprised the a couple of weeks ago on the island of Crete with a Krunoslav Simon three-ball at the end of the contest and last time out, they slipped up at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Dirk Bauermann, the coach of Lietuvos Rytas, is optimistic.

"We always have a chance to win," he said.

"We will have to win at least one away game if we want to get to the Euroleague Top 16. Why not on Thursday?"

FIBA