The tour de force continues. From the Bayern game to the one against Trento and now on to Alba Berlin: the pace is fast and furious, one game every 48 hours or less. It will continue afterwards with the arrival of Red Star Belgrade in Milan. It is a tough schedule for all EuroLeague teams and a little more complicated for Olimpia which is still struggling with a roster missing too many scorers. However, against Alba the team will be the same one that came close to winning in Piraeus, that beat Bayern convincingly and re-emerged from a 15 points deficit in Trento. Somehow, after five games played with this roster or almost the same, the team has found its defensive balance as well as some unheard of before lineup, often with three big men on the court simultaneously. What Olimpia did without Shields, Mirotic, Lo and Baron deserves to be appreciated. The keys were the growth of Flaccadori in sustaining Napier; the offensive impact of Bortolani; Nicolò Melli’s adaptability to multiple position from 3 to 5; in addition to the unexpected formula of two centers together, Hines and Poythress. But this is for another time, not during another week with no breaks. At this moment, all attention must be reserved for Alba Berlin. Despite their position in the standings, they have beaten Olimpia three times in a row in the last two years, once in overtime and once by coming back in the last quarter. It is a motivated team because it counts on two young, quality Italians like Matteo Spagnolo and Gabriele Procida; on fearsome shooters like the marksman Matt Thomas and Sterling Brown; a World Champion who is producing the best season of his career, Johannes Thiemann. With Milan’s decimated roster there will be no alternative to a game of ferocious attention to detail, made up of defense and the search for some scoring punch offensively. With this setup Olimpia beat Baskonia thanks to the 40 points Melli and Voigtmann combined for; stayed competitive at Piraeus with the Tonut and Bortolani; beat Bayern with an exceptional performance by Devon Hall supported again by Bortolani’s outbursts. All these things will also be needed on Tuesday evening. Tip-off time is 20:30.
THE REFEREES – Juan Carlos Garcia (Spain), Rain Peerandi (Estonia), Mario Majkic (Slovenija)
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We know Alba is a dangerous team when they can play in the open court and use their transition offense. On top of it, they are a very strong offensive rebounding team. However, this is a fundamental game for us in order to strenghten our position in the EuroLeague.”
KYLE HINES – “For us it is an important game because we are still in the hunt for a potential playoff position and we have to avoid mistakes and defend the home court is crucial. The key will be to limit their offensive rebounds that we paid dearly in Berlin and to contain their transition opportunities. It will be necessary to start it by moving the ball offensively.”
ALBA BERLIN OUTLOOK – They won three games by close margins, four points against Barcelona, three points against Olimpia and two points against Zalgiris, a sign that they know how to be a dangerous team in close situations. Alba has also had many injuries that have prevented the team from having continuity. Guard Malte Delow and Johannes Thiemann, who has been, so far, the most consistent player (he scored 22 points in the Berlin game and has a season-high of 31), are the only ones always available. Therefore, Coach Israel Gonzalez has used many different starting lineups. The point guard is usually Matteo Spagnolo (7.1 points and 3.1 assists per game) who played with Flaccadori in Trento and in the national team with Melli, Tonut and Ricci. The guard is Sterling Brown, a big factor in the first game (18 points), who is averaging 11.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and has reached double figures scoring in each of the last five games. At small forward there are many options available: Justin Bean started six times, averaging 3.5 points per game but shooting 40.9 percent from three. If available, Louis Olinde always starts at the 3 or the 4 spot. He is a highly effective player, 10.2 points per game but above all 72.7 percent on twos and 43.3 percent on threes. Yanni Wetzell is a power forward who averages 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Finally, the World Champion, Johannes Thiemann who can swing between two positions is effective both as a low-post threat and as a perimeter shooter. For him there are 13.9 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 59.1 percent on twos and 39.5 percent three-point shooting. Off the bench, the most threatening guard is the veteran Matt Thomas, a great shooter (9.0 points on average, 40.9 percent from three-point territory). Malte Delow (5.2 points and 2.9 assists per game), Gabriele Procida, another Italian international, a great athlete who is averaging 8.6 points per game, and Jonas Mattisseck have playing time too. At small forward there is Tim Schneider (4.8 points per game, 60.0 percent from two). Among the big men, there are Kresimir Nikic, but mostly Khalifa Koumadje, a 2.24 mt tall center averaging 4.2 points and 5.0 rebounds over 14.4 minutes on the court, who is almost impossible to keep out from offensive rebounding. The Slovenian point guard Ziga Samar has only been available in eight games so far.
HISTORY VS. ALBA BERLIN – In today’s version of the EuroLeague, Olimpia has met Alba eight times with a 4-4 record favorable to the German team, that becomes 6-5 if we include the 2015/16 Eurocup. The history of the game, however, has its roots in 1995 when Olimpia and Alba faced each other in the Korac Cup final. Berlin won an international title for the first time in its history, winning at home 95-87 and tying in Milan 87-87. The two teams also faced each other in the 1996/97 edition of the old Euroleague: Alba won in Milan 91-80; Olimpia made up for it in the return game by conquering the win in Berlin 78-68. If we therefore consider all the games played between the two teams the record becomes 6-8-1; 3-4 in Berlin; 3-3-1 in Milan.
ALBA BERLIN CONNECTION – Maodo Lo has played three years for Alba Berlin, winning the German championships twice. In the EuroLeague he played 86 games for Alba with 998 points scored.
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 17 defensive rebounds shy of the 3rd place that belongs to Felipe Reyes (1.094).
GIORDANO BORTOLANI NOTES – The game in Piraeus (11 points, three triples) was the first in double figures for Giordano Bortolani during his EuroLeague career. However, he did it again the very next game, against Bayern, improving immediately his high-scoring game with 12 points.
