Olimpia hosts Olympiacos, one of the EuroLeague’s biggest favorites with its deep roster and unmatched experience, in its fifth home game of the season. Against the Greeks, Olimpia approaches the game riding a three-game winning streak, thanks to the win achieved over Paris Basketball, Efes, and Asvel Villeurbanne, which brought the record back to 50% before the schedule become increasingly complicated. Next week, Milan will face current league leaders Hapoel Tel Aviv in Milan, before traveling to Maccabi. Olympiacos is not only a very strong team, having just crushed Zalgiris at home, but Olimpia is at a very low point in terms of roster, with several absences that will inevitably affect Olimpia’s game. Against Asvel, the emergency situation didn’t prevent the win, but Olympiacos is obviously a different caliber team, boasting a top-tier defense, physicality, and experience. Olimpia is called upon in an emergency situation to play a proud game in front of its home crowd.
NOTES – Olimpia Milano-Olympiacos Piraeus will be played on Friday, November 14, at 8:30 PM at the Unipol Forum.
INJURY REPORT – Josh Nebo suffered a concussion after accidentally slipping in the locker room after the Asvel game; Nate Sestina suffered a right triceps injury during the Asvel game. Both are out for the Olympiacos game. Marko Guduric and Shavon Shields, who missed the game against Asvel, will be evaluated before the game. Lorenzo Brown and Zach LeDay are also out.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “I’d like to express our full support to Keenan Evans: we’re deeply saddened by what happened to a great player and a very good person. Olympiacos is the team with the most consistent roster in recent years, so they are capable to play withe eyes closed, using a defense that can be suffocating at times thanks to the guards’ ability to crush you and put pressure, especially on the perimeter players. We’ll have to try to be ready to deal with this type of pressure and adapt to the multiple offesive options thay can adopt. Unfortunately, we’re in an emergency situation where we don’t know who will be able to play. With so many players doubtful, tomorrow morning we’ll figure out what roster we can effecrively use.”
OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS OUTLOOK – Cologne Final Four in 2021 have been the last without Olympiacos. Over the last four seasons, Olympiacos failed in winning the championship but never failed to reach the ultimate event. The team is obviously built to win, with depth, physicality and experience across the roster. Among the guards, the constant is Thomas Walkup, a two-way player, a great point of attack defender and team player who averages 6.5 points, 4.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. Tyler Dorsey is the designated shooter, a Greek American who played 107 NBA games and eventually played for Fenerbahce too. He is currently averaging 16.4 points per game over 28 minutes on the court. Frank Ntilikina, a Frenchman coming from Partizan who used to play in the NBA (he was the 8th player selected in the draft and stayed seven seasons in the league) is a multitasking, physical perimeter player who averages 5.7 points per game, so far. Saben Lee (4.6 point per game) and Giannoulis Larentzakis complete an impressive rotation that can allow Coach Georgios Bartzokas to go “big” at times moving Evan Founier and Shaquille McKissic at the 2-spot while they normally play at the 3.
The French sniper – a silver medalist at the last Olympics, a 12-year NBA veteran who appeared in 707 games and averaged 13.6 points per game for his career – is a generational offensive talent who struggled with some ailments early in the season. McKissic is another powerful veteran, who averages 4.0 points per game on 83.3 two-point shooting percentage. At the small forward, Tyson Ward was signed from Paris Basketball. He is an elite athlete who is averaging 7.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. Finally, the lefthanded, defensive specialist and 3-point marksman Kostas Papanikolau is still there. He is a member of the golden generation of Greek players, with 405 EuroLeague games played. The former MVP, Sasha Vezenkov, is the team’s power forward. He came back to Olympiacos after a brief stint in the NBA and return to his old habit of being an high-efficiency player, who averages 17.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. His back-up, Alec Peters, is another above average shooting specialist, as witnessed by his 50.0 percent three-point shooting accuracy so far (he averages 4.9 points per night). Moustapha Fall’s long-term injury forced Olympiacos to sign from Baskonia the big-time leaper Donta Hall (6.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, 75.0 percent on twos) in order to spell another veteran like Nikola Milutinov, one of the best offensive players ever, who is having one of the best seasons of his career, as his numbers confirm. He is averaging 11.4 points per game, he is shooting 71.2 percent from the field and finally he grabs 8.4 rebounds per game (3.7 are offensive rebounds). Finally, Kostas Antetokounmpo can always help.
OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS CONNECTION – Christos Stavropoulos, general manager of Olimpia Milano, spent 19 years at Olympiacos, winning, among other achievements, the EuroLeague title twice. Zach LeDay played 30 games for Olympiacos, scoring 292 points in the 2028/19 season. Bryant Dunston spent two years at Olympiacos from 2013 to 2015, scoring 505 points and 283 rebounds in 58 appearances.
GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields has a streak of 28 of 29 games with at least one three-pointer and has scored in double figures in 18 of his last 19 games, all this season. Zach LeDay played his 200th EuroLeague game in Istanbul; Leandro Bolmaro played his 100th in Istanbul and set his career-high of 8 rebounds against Asvel. Armoni Brooks set his personal records of points (23), assists (six) and three-pointers (five) against Asvel.
