Olimpia Milano and Cantù faced off a few weeks ago in Desio, but this time the most intense Lombard derby—along with Milan-Varese—is being played in one of its natural settings, in Piazza Stuparich, in the arena known as Palalido. It’s the historic Milan’s home of a game that has seen 174 precedents, awarded a European title, and experienced the thrills of seven playoff series, some of which have gone down in history, and is rich in twists and turns. In 1980, Cantù, sponsored by the Gabetti family, eliminated Olimpia in the playoff semifinal. At the end of that season, Gabetti left Cantù as a sponsor and became the Olimpia owner. But twelve months later, Cantù eliminated Olimpia in another semifinal, by one point after two overtimes in the third and decisive battle. The Cantù hero of that Game 3, Antonello Riva, then 19, would later play for Milan, becoming its fifth-best scorer in Italian league games. And the former players are still there today: Giordano Bortolani, a product of the Olimpia youth teams, is in his first year in Cantù; Riccardo Moraschini is the captain of the Cantù team. Olimpia comes into this “Monday Night” game fresh from a EuroLeague win over Barcelona, ​​a game that was sensational for 30 minutes, the perfect follow-up to the Italian Cup Final Eight, and then was finished with some late struggles. Olimpia is third in the league with 14 wins, one less than Brescia and one more than Venezia; it has won nine of its last 11 games, and 12 of 14 including the Italian Cup. But Olimpia approaches this game with some roster issues, as Ousmane Diop won’t be be available until the next round in Bologna and Bryant Dunston won’t be able to give some rest to Josh Nebo or Devin Booker for some time. Among the perimeter players Olimpia will be missing Diego Flaccadori for a few weeks and for this game Quinn Ellis will be out to address some ankle issues. Coach Peppe Poeta will choose the lineup tomorrow morning after the shootaround.

EA7 Emporio Armani Milano- Acqua San Bernardo Cantù will take place on Monday, March 9th at 20:00 in Milan’s Allianz Cloud.

COACH BEPPE MANGONE – “Cantu’ is a team that has raised its offensive efficiency, often scoring over 90 points. For a few games now, they’ve been shooting a lot and well from three-point range and are able to combine perimeter play with physicality, especially with Sneed and Ballo. They’ve also found a good setup defensively alternating man-to-man and zone defenses to disrupt the opponents’ rhythm. We’ll have to play with great focus on defense and generate a good pace on offense, alternating with sharp execution when the game will call for it.”

CANTU’ OUTLOOK – Compared to the first game, Cantù has a new coach, the experienced two-time Italian league champion with Venezia, Walter De Raffaele; another point guard, Chris Chiozza—who boasts NBA experience, 91 games with four different franchises, most recently with Golden State, and also in the EuroLeague with Vitoria—and a new power forward, who will make his debut against Olimpia: Frenchman Ivan Fevrier, coming from Le Portel. Chiozza is averaging 6.7 points per game and 5.0 assists per game. He’s also shooting 42.1 percent from three. Alongside him, the starting guard spot is usually taken by Giordano Bortolani, who averages 13.1 points per game on 39.4 three-point shooting percentage on 5.1 attempts. The sixth man, veteran Erick Green, is currently the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.2 points on 67.7 percent two-point shooting, an astonishing percentage for a guard who makes 6.9 attempts per game. The guard rotation is rounded out by Andrea De Nicolao (3.9 points and 3.1 assists per game in under 16 minutes on the court). The forwards are Xavier Sneed, formerly of Brindisi, who spent last year in Israel and is averaging 14.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game on 38.9 percent three-point shooting, and Riccardo Moraschini, 6.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in addition to his usual defensive impact. The power forwards are Fevrier, expected to make his debut on Monday, a pure power froward, and Grant Basile (7.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.0 percent on twos). The center is Malian American-developed Oumar Ballo, a powerful defensive presence and a fearsome intimidating big man who pulls down 8.6 rebounds per game, 3.4 of which are offensive rebounds. Ballo averages 10.8 points per game on 66.7 percent two-point shooting.

THE CANTU’ CONNECTION – Giordano Bortolani, who joined Cantù this season, is a product of the Olimpia youth academy and won an Under-14 Italian championship in Milan. He played full-time with the first team for two seasons, winning the 2024 Italian league championship and the 2024 Italian Super Cup. Riccardo Moraschini played in Milan for almost three seasons, making 71 Italian league appearances with 317 points scored. With Olimpia, he won an Italian Super Cup and played in the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four.