Marcelinho Huertas continued his brilliant run of form Thursday in leading Caja Laboral to a 78-63 victory over Unicaja and winning MVP of the Week honors in the process. Huertas had 18 points on near-perfect shooting plus 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals for a career-high performance index rating of 30.

The win put Laboral in pole position in Group E and the Spanish champs can clinch first place in the group with a win next week at Lietuvos Rytas. Huertas became the first player to win MVP honors twice in the Top 16 since Lynn Greer, then with Olympiacos, did so in the 2007-08 season.

Regal Barcelona will travel to Tel Aviv to battle Maccabi in Week 5 of Euroleague's Top-16 stage this week.

Barcelona holds a 16-12 historical record against Maccabi and have one their three most recent meetings dating back to the Top-16 phase of the 08-09 Euroleague season. Maccabi defeated Barcelona, however, in their three-game series in the 2008 Quarterfinals.

Maccabi leads the Euroleague this season in scoring (82.6 ppg.), performance index rating (96.4) and assists (16.8 apg.).

But Barcelona has Juan Carlos Navarro, who leads the Top-16 in scoring with 20.8 points per game and is the leading candidate for Euroleague MVP.

Mirza Teletovic of Caja Laboral has made a Euroleague high 35 three-pointers this season.

Teletovic is averaging his best career numbers in Euroleague play, posting 16.1 points and 5.6 boards per game.

Power Electronics Valencia has lost Victor Claver for two months due to a foot injury.

Claver was hurt during practice on Monday night and tests confirmed the injury on Tuesday.

Claver, the 22nd overall pick by Portland in the 2009 NBA Draft, was ranked 13th among all Euroleague players so far in the Top-16.

Antonis Fotsis recorded one of the best games of his Euroleague career Thursday to lead Panathinaikos to a 76-74 victory over Caja Laboral in Group E and earn Top-16 Week 4 MVP honors.

Fotsis, a former Euroleague, Eurocup and EuroBasket champion, was at his best as he racked up season highs of 22 points and 11 rebounds en route to a career-high 40 performance index rating.

Trent Plaisted, who was recently added by Zalgris Kaunas, could make his Euroleague debut this week.

Plaisted was a second round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft after leaving BYU early.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Union Olimpija Ljubljana in Week 4 of the Top 16 phase. Maccabi won the prior meeting by a final of 104-67.

Maccabi leads the Euroleague this season in performance index rating (95.8) and is second in assists (16.5 apg.), steals (10.5 spg.) and fewest turnovers committed (11.7 TOpg.).

Maccabi is the only team in the Euroleague this season with two players ranked in the top 10 in performance index rating. Sofoklis Schortsanitis is sixth with a 16.1 average index and Chuck Eidson is ninth (15.9).

Joel Freeland has scored in double figures in 10 straight Euroleague games for Unicaja.

Unicaja will play Lietuvos Rytas this week.

Freeland was a first round pick by Portland in 2006.

Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos Athens leads the Euroleague in assists this season with an average of 6.1 per game.

His counterpart in this week's game, Caja Laboral's Marcelinho Huertas, is second with 5.9 per game.

In their previous meeting in the Top 16 stage, Caja Laboral beat Panathinaikos by a final of 77-70.

Ricky Rubio is struggling offensively in the Euroleague this season, but he isn't letting his shooting woes get him down.

"Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't," Rubio said. "I'm not worried. You have to keep shooting and believing in yourself."

He is shooting just 20% from behind the three-point line this season. His play-making skills remain sharp, but he's averaging just six points per game for Regal FC Barcelona.

"I consider myself a player who does not score a lot because shooting is not my strong suit," Rubio said. "So from very young I had to look for other ways to help my team, like giving assists and defending, and those were two things I have focused on intensely."

According to Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual, Rubio is steadily progressing.

"[Rubio] will experience an important jump in his game when he stabilizes his scoring. He will [then] become one of the best to ever play the game," Pascual said. "He cannot lose his identity as a player based on defense and passing."