Olimpia tries to extend a streak (two wins in a row in EuroLeague) against an opponent of the highest possible level like Fenerbahce, and at the same time will try to close another, that of 10 attempts to beat Zeljko Obrodovic’s team unsuccessfully, a streak that started during the 2014/15 season. The two teams faced each other in Athens, during the last preseason, and Olimpia won.

OLIMPIA – The team started preparing for this game last Tuesday at his home, in the Mediolanum Forum. Compared to the Cremona Italian league game, Luis Scola returns to the roster. Arturas Gudaitis, who’s already appeared in the Italian league, also returns after almost nine months since his last EuroLeague game. Unfortunately, Jeff Brooks has not recovered: the knee contusion that he had in Athens is not yet absorbed. Nemanja Nedovic and Shelvin Mack remain sidelined.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We are two teams that have had injury problems and now need to be consistent. The experience and the organization of the Fenerbahce team under Coach Obradovic, will force us, regardless of who will play or not, to play with the highest level of attention both offensively and defensively. It is a game that we can still play with serenity, considering the opponent”.

THE OPPONENT – Fenerbahce is 1-2 in the EuroLeague, but it won the last game against Vitoria and then kept the momentum in the Turkish league, where the French big man Joffrey Lauvergne made his return after a long absence. Last year, he averaged 12.6 points per game, before suffering an injury that limited him to 13 appearances. The team that made the Final Four after winning the regular season lost Marko Guduric and Nicolò Melli, both of them in the NBA now, in Memphis and New Orleans respectively. But they were replaced by Nando DeColo, the eighth best scorer ever in the EuroLeague, who had 39 points in the previous round, is scoring 26.7 points per game, and is the best ever in the EuroLeague at shooting from the line (93.7 percent), and by Derrick Williams, a former number 2 pick of the NBA draft, coming from from Bayern Munich (where he averaged 11.4 points per game). Along them, the French guard Leo Westermann arrived from Kaunas. A large part of the historical core was kept, including the point-men Ali Muhammad and Kostas Sloukas, the shooter Melih Mahmutoglu (18 free throws made in a row), the Serbian international Nikola Kalinic, Luigi Datome (he comes to Milan riding a streak of 21 free throws made in a row), the reigning MVP Jan Vesely (the seventh best offensive rebounder in the history of the EuroLeague) and center Ahmet Duverioglu, who’s helped now by the veteran Vladimir Stimac.

MISCELLANEA – Ettore Messina and Zeljko Obradovic, two head coaches who have combined to win 13 EuroLeague titles in the past 27 years, go head to head for the first time since December 2013… Sergio Rodriguez and Fenerbahce’s Nando De Colo were backcourt mates at CSKA Moscow the last two seasons. They helped the team win the 2019 EuroLeague title. Fenerbahce guard Leo Westermann was their teammate at CSKA during the 2017-18 season. Aaron White and Leo Westermann were teammates at Zalgiris Kaunas last season… Fenerbahce’s Nikola Kalinic has been a teammate of Nemanja Nedovic on the Serbian national team. They won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Nedovic will not be avalaible… Sergio Rodriguez ranks fifth all-time with 1,110 assists; former CSKA great Milos Teodosic is fourth with 1,126. Rodriguez ranks seventh all-time with 383 three-pointers made. His former teammate, Rudy Fernandez of Real Madrid, is sixth with 403 and counting. Rodriguez is 33 points shy of reaching 2,500 for his career and has made 13 consecutive free throws… Luis Scola ranks eighth all-time with 826 two-pointers made. Maccabi Tel Aviv manager Nikola Vujcic is seventh with 850… Vladimir Micov needs 4 assists to reach 400 for his career…

 

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