The moment of truth has come in a EuroLeague season that has shown a historical level of parity. With three games to play in the regular season (CSKA and Zenit St. Petersburg actually have four more games to play), only one team has clinched a playoff berth. In the previous four years with this format, at this point there were at least five teams who were certain to play the post-season (last year there were five with six rounds left) with a top of seven in 2018. Olimpia will face the Red Star in Belgrade tomorrow (tip-off time is 19:00, Italian time), which is eliminated from the playoffs race but won the first meeting in Milan and won two of the last three in the EuroLeague. As is well known, Olimpia will not have Malcolm Delaney and Jeremy Evans due to injuries.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Red Star didn’t have a lucky season, but this is a team who knows how to play, they have a great scorer in Jordan Loyd and very experienced and physical player capable to create difficulties to any team in this league. It’s obviously a very important game for us, we’ll need to control the rebounding battle, and to have an efficient ball circulation in order to avoid to struggle against their physicality.”

KYLE HINES – “It’s an important game for us, we need to get closer to a playoff spot with a win. We face a Red Star team used to play tough, especially on its home court. For us, it is a little bit challenging to regroup after two straight losses, but we are ready to go.”

REFEREES – Robert Lottermoser (Germany), Juan Carlos Garcia (Spain), Artem Lavrukhin (Russia).

THE RED STAR – A nine-game losing streak pushed Red Star out of playoff contention, but the team coached by Dejan Radonjic before losing in Moscow in the last round, had a two-game winning streak going. Shooting guard Jordan Loyd is leading the team, averaging 17.3 points per game. The other double-digit scorer is Corey Walden (10.8 points per game), who is a 39.3 percent three-point shooter. Normally the experienced captain Branko Lazic, a defensive ace who can also score from the perimeter (38.3 percent from three) is starting in the backcourt along Walden or Langston Hall (41.7 percent from three and 3.1 assists per game). The starting center is Ognjen Kuzmic (3.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game) alongside Marko Jagodic-Kuridza (4.4 points per game, a dangerous 38.2 percent from three). The team is historically deep. Small forward Dejan Davidovac has scored 36 points over the last two games going 14-for-17 from the field; the experiened Marko Simonovic has started 10 games and is another 42-percent three-point shooter. Ognjen Dobric, another terrific shooter, and the athletic center Larry Nnoko are completing a 10-man rotation.

HISTORY – In 1972, Simmenthal defeated the Red Star 74-70 in the Cup Winners’ Cup final (23 points from Arthur Kenney, virtual MVP of the competition), held in Thessaloniki. The two teams had also faced each other in the quarterfinals with the home team coming out on top, both times. The two teams also met in the 1973 European Cup, with Simmenthal winning both games. In 1984/85 Olimpia eliminated the Red Star from the Korac Cup semifinal including a 100-99 win in Belgrade. Two games and two wins were also collected in the 1988/89 Korac. In the EuroLeague, the Red Star have won the last six games in the 2016/17, 2017/18 seasons plus the single game played last season and the first of this one. The All-time record is 8-7 in Milan’s favor.

THE RED STAR CONNECTION – Vlado Micov played on the Red Star youth teams, but never in the first team. Kevin Punter played 12 EuroLeague games with the Red Star last year scoring 191 points (15.9 on average).

THE DOUBLE ROUND – Olimpia played nine double rounds (weeks with two consecutive EuroLeague games) combining those regularly scheduled and those generated by make-up games. The total, before the tenth and last, is 12-6, 5-4 in “game 1” and 7-2 in “game 2”. It is 6-3 at home and 6-3 on the road.

NOTES Gigi Datome is second behind only Kyle Kuric (Barcelona) in three-point shooting at 55.4 percent. Zach LeDay is 10th at 46.7 percent. Shavon Shields has an active streak of nine consecutive double-digit games. Kevin Punter has hit 25 consecutive free throws. Vlado Micov is three rebounds away from 700 in his career. Jeff Brooks is two rebounds away from 300 grabbed for Olimpia. Sergio Rodriguez just surpassed his National Team teammates Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Llull to become the third-best ever for three-pointers made with 481.

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