There is absolutely no time to rejoice after the amazing game played in the EuroLeague against Bayern Munich, which followed up on the one, albeit unsuccessful, played in Piraeus, because Olimpia faces immediately a big challenge in Trento. A victory would allow to tie the home team up in the standings, with a place among the Final Eight of the Italian Cup secured. But Olimpia will have to win by playing again on “short rest”, less than 48 hours after the win over Bayern and with the same roster. The difference compared to the last Italian league game played Brescia is in the availability of Diego Flaccadori and Pippo Ricci, both of whom were brilliant during the last week.
Trento is a place that evokes many memories (in the playoffs the two teams have faced each other four times, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 with three wins out of four for Olimpia), but above all the 2018 championship game won on the same floor. Furthermore, it is an emotionally demanding game for many people. Despite the unavailability of Shavon Shields, Diego Flaccadori will be on the court, after spending seven years in Trento and for the first time he will be an opponent; Paul Biligha and Davide Alviti have won the last two championships in Milan (Paul wore the Olimpia jersey for four seasons). Even on the bench there are many stories: Peppe Poeta played in Trento and was the team’s point guard in the 2016 playoffs and in the Eurocup quarter-final of the same season; Paolo Galbiati, in his first season as the head coach in Trento, is a product of the Olimpia academy. “Trento is an athletic and aggressive team.
Transition defense, helped by a good balanced offense, boxouts, and one-on-one defense will be crucial for us,” assistant coach Mario Fioretti said before leaving for Trento. The arena will be packed. Trento so far has lost only to Bologna at home. One of their guards, Prentiss Hubb, however, will not be available. The team is very deep at his position, though because of the experienced Toto Forray, the upcoming Quinn Ellis and Kamar Baldwin, a Butler product who is scoring over 14 points per game, dishes more than four assists and is shooting over 41 percent on threes. The two former Olimpia players are producing a lot too. Davide Alviti at the small forward spot, is shooting well (over 69 percent on twos, almost 43 percent on threes) and averaging more than 11 points per game; Paul Biligha is the defensive cornerstone, helped by Mattia Udom and Derek Cooke. Finally, Trento is counting a lot on Andrejs Grazulis, an Italian league veteran, who is producing the best season of his career after gaining a lot of confidence during the World Cup played with Latvia when he scored 30 points against Italy. Grazulis is playing in and outside, is shooting at a high clip from everywhere while providing a nice help in the rebounding department.
Tip off time in Trento will be 17:00 on Sunday.
