The final EuroLeague game of 2024 is also the first of the second half of the regular season. One of the big favourites, Olympiacos Piraeus, who have played in the Final Four in each of the last three seasons, and reached the championship game in 2023, is next in Milan. In an attempt to return to winning a title, the last one dates back to 2013, in summer Olympiacos put together a top-level transfer market by bringing back former MVP Sasha Vezenkov, as well as signing Evan Fournier, a French shooter who has a solid NBA career behind him. Furthermore, Olympiacos has not let go on any of its stars and awaits the recovery of Keenan Evans, a signing from Zalgiris, who is still recovering from a knee injury. Currently, Olympiacos is one of the teams leading the EuroLeague in a weird season in which the first place and the “dead” zone, the one with no access to the play-in tournament, are separated by just two victories with 17 games to play. Olympiacos is in first place with 11 wins; Olimpia is ninth with nine wins, which are the same the 10th and 11th best teams have. After six wins in a row, eight of nine, Olimpia fell twice last week, including a painful one-point, last-shot defeat to Bayern Munich. This increases the importance of the Olympiacos game, which is incredibly difficult regardless. Olympiacos has enormous depth and many options at any position including the chance of changing the line-up outlook. At the center spot, Coach Bartzokas wil be missing Nikola Milutinov (the best offensive rebounder in the competition), so Nathan Mensh will make his EuroLeague debut behind the experienced Moustapha Fall (the league-best in two-point shooting) against whom Olimpia will not be able to use Josh Nebo and will therefore have to shuffle the cards a little knowing that the LeDay-Mirotic one-two punch still produced the six-game winning streak. The game will be played in a sold out Unipol Forum.
Tip off time on December, 26, will be at 20:30 in Unipol Forum
THE REFEREES – Tomislav Hordov (Croatia), Uros Nikolic (Serbia), Arturas Sukys (Lithuania).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face one of the most consistent team in the EuroLeague, a very aggressive team defensively, who will use its quality of passing to free up shooters on offense. We really intend to play a good game, get back on track, and give our fans a game to be proud of, because they have remained very close to us, especially lately, and will our arena one more time.”
OLYMPIACOS OUTLOOK – Olympiacos found stability using Thomas Walkup, Evan Fournier, Kostas Papanikolau, Sasha Vezenkov and Moustapha Fall as the starting line-up. Walkup has started 168 times in the last 169 games that he played, the only exception being of this season’s first game. Producing 4.5 points and 4.8 assists on average, he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the competition. Evan Fournier, a two-time Olympic silver medalist with France, returned to Europe after 12 years and 704 NBA games, has always been in the starting lineup so far, sometimes as a guard, other times as a nominal small forward, and is averaging 15.3 points per game on 37.2 percent shooting from three. Papanikolau, one of the legends of the Greek club, now plays just over 15 minutes per game with 4.1 points per game, but his impact goes beyond the numbers, especially on defense. Vezenkov, back in Athens after a year spent in the NBA, is averaging 18.7 points 6.4 rebounds per game (62.5 percent shooting on twos), essentially picking up where he left off two seasons ago. Fall, who has had some injuries, is contributing 5.8 points per game, but is shooting an impressive 87.2 percent from short range and he is dishing 2.4 assists per game. The playing time of the other center Nikola Milutinov is higher, 20.5 minutes per game, with 9.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 60.3 percent from two, but he won’t be available in Milan, replaced by Nathan Mensah, a newcomer. In addition to him the second unit is formed by Luca Vildoza (5.1 points, 39.6% from three), who last year was at Panathinaikos; the shooter Tyler Dorsey (4.2 points per game); experienced guard Nigel Williams-Goss (6.6 points and 2.1 assists per game), a multidimensional player and a great defensive ace; Shaquielle McKissic (8.8 points, 61.1 percent from two, 38.0 percent from three), who produces a lot in less than 17 minutes of playing time; Alec Peters (6.5 points per game, 50.0 percent on threes) who last year as a starter had Vezenkov-like numbers. Olympiacos lost their other center Moses Wright to injury. With the summer signings, Greek international Giannoulis Larentzakis has lost playing time too.
THE OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS CONNECTION – Christos Stavropoulos, Olimpia’s general manager, has been at Olympiacos for 19 years, winning the EuroLeague championship twice, among other things. Milan Tomic, Ettore Messina’s assistant, played from 1991 to 2004 for Olympiacos and eventually coached at the same club. Zach LeDay played 30 games for Olympiacos with 292 points during the 2028/19 season. Naz Mitrou-Long plays for Olympiacos and was in Milan two seasons ago, also winning the 2023 Italian league championship.
NIKOLA MIROTIC NOTES – Nikola Mirotic has made at least one three-pointer in 13 of the last 14 games and at least two in eight of the last nine. He has an active streak of nine games with at least 16 points and at least 12 personal rating points. Mirotic, who has also hit all of his last 16 free throw attempts, is second in individual rating with 13.5 per game; he is sixth in points per game with 18.5; he is third in rebounds with 7.0 per game; he is third in free throws made (5.4 per game) and seventh in fouls allowed (4.9). Mirotic and Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos are the only two players among the top ten in both scoring and rebounding.
| Nikola Mirotic | Sasha Vezenkov | |
| 23.5 (2°) | Average Index rating | 22.9 (4°) |
| 18.5 (6°) | Points per game | 18.7 (4°) |
| 7.0 (3°) | Rebounds per game | 6.6 (6°) |
| 51.0% | Two-point shooting pct | 62.5% |
| 40.6% (8th in threes made) | Three-point shooting pct | 33.9% |
| 87.6% (7th in fould drawn) | Free Throws pct | 90.2% (2nd in free throws made) |
ZACH LE DAY NOTES
In 10 of the last 11 games, Zach LeDay has scored at least 13 points and accumulated at least 16 rating points, in addition to making at least one three-pointer. LeDay is seventh in individual rating and ninth in scoring. He enters this game six points away from 2,000 for his career. Finally, with 52.7 percent he is third overall in three-point shooting; with 6.2 he is third for fouls drawn; with 4.9 per game, he is fourth in free throws made per game.
GAME NOTES – Fabien Causeur has made at least one three in 11 of the last 12 games. Armoni Brooks has done it in nine of the last 10 games played. Causeur is first in three-point shooting with 58.3 percent, fifth for steals with 1.3 per game. In the latter ranking, Leandro Bolmaro is fourth overall with 1.4 steals per game.
