Barcelona (14-6) is looking to make it four home wins in a row with a visit from Zalgiris (7-13), which has won two out of three under new coach Andrea Trinchieri.
Jabari Parker, Barcelona: 'I want to make the fans proud'
The visiting team boosted its confidence with a great win at Valencia on Wednesday thanks to 24 points on 6-of-9 three-point shooting from Keenan Evans. When they last met, Barca won 80-85 in Kaunas last month behind 18 points from leading scorer Nico Laprovíttola, who is an injury doubt after missing Wednesday's win over Olympiacos with a muscular problem. Watch out for a big battle between Jabari Parker, who top scored with 21 points in that victory over Olympiacos, and former Barca forward Rolands Smits, who averages 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per night.
Roger Grimau, Barcelona head coach
"We played against Zalgiris not long ago, but they had some important chances and we will find different things. Normally those changes imply that some players who did not play so well, play better now. A new chance for us to play at home in front of our fans. Lekavicius is coming to the fore to create for his teammates and himself, Smits is having a great season in the paint... Zalgiris is a formidable opponent. Trinchieri is one of the best coaches in Europe, he always does a great job wherever he goes, and this Zalgiris team is starting to show some signs of his doing."
Andrea Trinchieri, Zalgiris head coach
"I believe that we played a solid game in Valencia. This should help our self-confidence. Now we are preparing for a tough game against FC Barcelona. We will play against the second best team in the EuroLeague - together with Virtus -. Barca has everything and we need to play another game knowing exactly what we want to do and how we want to do it. Barcelona is playing very aggressively on offense. They have a lot of players that can score and can hurt you."
Jabari Parker, Barcelona player
"I am happy with my performance in the last game because we won. I woule be happy if I scored eight points or two points. Winning the game is all that counts. I expect Zalgiris to have some good feelings because we beat them in a crucial time and they will want to do the same in our home. It's important to remember that because I expect them to have good energy tomorrow. Our fans are important and for me it's an honor and I am grateful for it. I am happt that fans embrace me and I want to make them proud by giving them wins."
Lukas Lekavicius, Zalgiris player
"FC Barcelona is showing an up-and-down form. They started the season very well, then fell into a hole, and now they came back with a stretch of good games. They have a lot of talent. The most important thing will be to slow down their fast basketball, as they like to run a lot. Talking about us, there is still a lack of practices under a new coach, but instead we watch videos and analyze what we can. The coach tries to get what he wants. He wants us to play fast, as fast as possible. He pays attention to small details, that’s also very important."