Both Olimpia and Panathinaikos enter this game with a lot of confidence going on. Olimpia convincingly defeated Asvel Villeurbanne after conquering Barcelona; Panathinaikos capped a 40-minute battle by overcoming Monaco on the road with a buzzer beating three scored by Marius Grigonis. Both have won the last two games and moved up in the standings with Panathinaikos entering the playoff/play-in zone for the first time and Olimpia following suit. Now it will try to take advantage of the sequence of home games (three in a row but in general six of seven of which only one has already been played). Another analogy: the record does not do justice to the two teams. Panathinaikos is 0-3 in games that have ended in overtime; Olimpia has lost two out of two. In fact, Panathinaikos has the fifth best point differential in the competition (+40), one point less than Virtus Bologna who is second in the standings. Olimpia’s +41 – the same as Bologna, the third-best number overall – is in fact surreal compared to the position in the standings. This is why the game against Panathinaikos is worth so much. Compared to the beginning of the season, the Greek team brought in former NBA scorer Kendrick Nunn and brought back its power forward Juancho Hernangomez after an injury. Olimpia is obviously still without Nikola Mirotic, Maodo Lo and Pippo Ricci. However, Billy Baron has recovered and despite obviously being behind, especially in his feeling for the game, he played profitably against Asvel and will gradually do better.
THE REFEREES – Damir Javor (Croatia), Milan Nedovic (Serbia), Maxime Boubert (France)
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face a team of the highest level. And they are going through a period of excellent shape. We are aware, in the emergency, of the difficulties of this game, but we will all have to continue to give the best of ourselves every time we step on the court. If we do this, as has been the case in each of the last few games, I have no doubt that the team and the crowd against Panathinaikos will support each other for the full 40 minutes.”
PANATHINAIKOS OUTLOOK – The era of Ergin Ataman, the coach who won two EuroLeagues and played three championship games with Efes Istanbul, began in the summer, and Panathinaikos has completely revolutionized its roster, retaining very few players from last season team and all of them are scarcely used except for the Lithuanian Marius Grigonis (a small forward, almost 29 minutes of playing time), who is producing 10.1 points per game with very high shooting percentages (64.5 percent from two, 41.8 percent from three). The point guard is Kostas Sloukas, who came from Olympiacos, a move that has caused a stir: he is averaging 11.8 points and 5.8 assists per game. Next to him, there is Jerian Grant (almost 29 minutes per game), 9.0 points and 3.6 assists per game, 48.5 percent from three. Among the guards, there are 18 minutes for the Argentine Luca Vildoza (6.7 points and 2.1 assists on average) and above all Kendrick Nunn, formerly in Miami, Lakers, Washington, a scorer on his debut in Europe, who came early in the season (11.4 points per game). The power forwards are Juancho Hernangomez, a former NBA player, averaging 4.3 points and 4.6 rebounds but he is just returning from an injury which caused him to miss about half of the games, and Dinos Mitoglou, the most used player in the EuroLeague, 15.8 points per game, 62.4 percent from two, 43.2 percent from three and 6.8 rebounds. The centers are the Frenchman Matthias Lessort (14.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 62.7 percent from two), Kostas Antetokounmpo and Aleksander Balcerowski (4.3 points, 71.4 percent from two). The shooter Kyle Guy has been little used so far, while Ioannis Papapetrou has only played one game due to physical problems.
HISTORY VS. PANATHINAIKOS – Olimpia has faced Panathinaikos 26 times during its history. The record overall is 10-16 (9-15 considering only the EuroLeague era). In Athens, Olimpia has prevailed four times: during the 2011/12 Top 16, 67-58; during the 2018/19 season, 86-83 with 20 points and eight rebounds by Arturas Gudaitis; in 2019/20, 79-78 with Vlado Micov scoring 18 points and Luis Scola added 17; in 2021/22, 76-75 with 13 points and 10 rebounds from Kyle Hines, who decided the game from the line at the end. In Milan, the record is 6-7. In Athens, it is 9-4 in Panathinaikos’ favor, including the 90-77 overtime win conquered last season. During the 1997/98 season the two teams met in the Europe Cup semifinal. Panathinaikos won the first game 77-58, but Olimpia, coached by Franco Casalini, came back in the second game with a memorable 86-61 that clinched the berth for the championship game.
THE PANATHINAIKOS CONNECTION – Jerian Grant spent in Milan the 2021/22 season, helping the team win the Italian Cup and the Italian championship. While in the Italian Cup, he was barely used, his impact was huge during the playoffs. He appeared in 36 Italian league games, 11 in the playoffs. In the EuroLeague, he had 26 games and 42 points scored. Dinos Mitoglou, over the same season, played 13 EuroLeague games with 99 points scored with Olimpia before his season was interrupted for a suspension.
NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES – Nicolò Melli has just passed Georgios Printezis and is sitting in 4th place all-time for defensive rebounds grabbed in the EuroLeague. He is 26 defensive rebounds shy of the 3rd place that belongs to Felipe Reyes (1.094).
NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES 2 – With the 17 points scored against Asvel, Nicolò Melli became the all-time 4th-best scorer for Olimpia in the EuroLeague/Champions’ Cup behind Bob McAdoo, Vlado Micov and Shavon Shields. He passed Sergio Rodriguez’s 1.008 points.
SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – Shavon Shields had the 8th consecutive games with at least three three-point field goal made. His career-high is 54 threes in a season. He has 48 over 15 games so far.
DIEGO FLACCADORI NOTES – After setting his new personal-best in Barcelona for minutes played, points scored, free throws made and personal index rating in a single game, Diego Flaccadori added his new career-high for assists with seven in the game against Asvel.
