The fourth consecutive road game across the EuroLeague and the Italian league will be staged in the old Pionir in Belgrade, the arena now named after the great coach Asa Nikolic, an arena that is currently used as home court by Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Olimpia, coming off a win in Villeurbanne, is chasing another victory to improve its record, since the closing sprint has virtually begun, every game is crucial, and the differences between teams small. After the game in Belgrade, Olimpia will have two home games with Alba Berlin and Partizan Belgrade. Maccabi is way behind in the standings but mostly because of its road record (1-9) while, in Belgrade, has an acceptable 4-5 and recently defeated Zalgiris. The team coached by Oded Katash, one of the greats of Israeli basketball, is certainly dangerous mostly because it has great offensive talent and creative players. In Milan, Maccabi remained in the game for a long time, riding the talent of Jaylen Hoard and Levi Randolph. Tamir Blatt will also be available in Belgrade, forming a pair of versatile and creative guards with Rokas Jokubaitis. Furthermore, Wenyen Gabriel has been replaced by Trevion Williams, an offensively gifted center that Olimpia faced when he was at Alba Berlin. It will be a tough game, no doubts about it, and the importance of it, especially for Olimpia in this case, is remarkable. Milan is 8-1 when scoring more than 85 points, which demonstrates that this is a high-scoring team, but in Villeurbanne Olimpia won under 80 points scored: it had happened before only with Paris Basketball at the beginning of the season. This shows that the defense is growing and the team is gradually putting itself in a position to win even at low pace and scores. Compared to the last Italian league game, Olimpia will have Shavon Shields and Zach LeDay back in the mix. Fabien Causeur and Neno Dimitrijevic remained in Milan to recover, as Josh Nebo too.
Tip-off time at Nikolic Hall in Belgrade will be 20:05 on January 9th.
THE REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Carlos Cortes (Spain), Gytis Vilius (Lithuania).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “For obvious and known reasons, outside the realm of sports, Maccabi is living a not so easy season. However, its record is not mirroring what they have shown on the court: even when they lost, they lost competing through the end. They are a team with a clear identity, based on rhythm and ball movement, with players capable to solve the most complicated situation with their one-on-one moves. Keep them from deciding the tempo of the game, through controlling the boards and an accurate shot selection, will be crucial for our chances of winning a difficult game.”
MACCABI TEL-AVIV OUTLOOK – Compared to the first game played earlier in the season, Maccabi released guard Saben Lee and center Wenyen Gabriel, who was replaced by Trevion Williams, who had started the season with Alba Berlin. The point guard is Tamir Blatt who is averaging 10.5 points per game, is first in assists with 8.0, shoots 40.8 percent from three and 91.7 percent from the line. Among the guards, Coach Oded Katash has at his disposal John Di Bartolomeo (3.6 points per game), Rokas Jokubaitis, the Lithuanian who was at Barcelona, who is scoring 11.4 points per game (on 57.0 percent from two) with the addition of 5.1 assists, and David DeJulius (4.0 points per game). Levi Randolph and Jaylen Hoard are the starters at the forward positions. Randolph plays over 28 minutes per game, averaging 11.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, shooting 45.5 percent from three. Hoard plays for over 31 minutes and with 15.5 points per game he is the team’s leading scorer (he shoots 61.5 percent on twos, 32.1 percent on threes). Hoard also grabs 5.5 rebounds per game. With them another small forward is Marial Shayok, who played in the NBA and in China, spent a season at Fenerbahce and in the summer was playing for the South Sudan Olympic team. Shayok is averaging 5.2 points per game. Israeli Roman Sorkin is used both as a power forward and as a center: he is producing 11.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in 22.0 minutes on the court. Veteran Jake Cohen (2.3 points per game, 64.3 percent on two-pointers) and William Rayman (2.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game) also spend minutes at the power forward spot. Center Trevion Williams has 9.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in two games at Maccabi. The back-up is Jasiel Rivero (10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game) who has missed the last few games due to injury.
THE MACCABI TEL AVIV CONNECTION – Josh Nebo has played for Maccabi during the last two seasons, but he is injured and will not be available for the game. With Maccabi, he played 78 EuroLeague games in two years with 724 points scored and 517 rebounds captured.
NIKOLA MIROTIC NOTES – Nikola Mirotic has an active streak of 11 games with at least 16 points and of 18 with at least 12 personal rating points. Mirotic, who has also hit all of his last 26 free throw attempts, is leading the league for individual rating with 23.3 per game; he is sixth in points per game with 18.4; he is third in rebounds with 6.8 per game; he is second in free throws made (5.4 per game) and sixth in fouls drawn (5.0 per game).
ZACH LEDAY NOTES – He just cleared the 2,000 points scored for his career. In 11 of the last 12 games, Zach LeDay has made at least one three-pointer. LeDay is ninth in individual rating (19.2). He is second (51.6 percent) in three-point shooting; with 5.7 per game, he is fifth for fouls drawn; with 4.6 per game, he is fourth in free throws made per game.
