Tomorrow’s game at the arena formerly known as Palalido between Olimpia and Barcelona will be a bg classic, a clash that has seen many close and intense battles, especially in recent seasons, including the one at the Palau Blaugrana early in the season, a 74-72 victory for the Catalans. Much has changed since then: Barcelona is no longer coached by Joan Penarroya who has been replaced by Javi Pascual, who has returned to his original team; Olimpia now has Peppe Poeta at the helm. Barcelona had climbed the standings and momentarily approached the top spots, but then lost four of their last five and were sucked into the mix. In the last round, after failing to win the Copa del Rey, Barcelona lost in Bologna despite 14 points and 12 assists from Nicolas Laprovittola, who is poised to engage in an all-Argentine duel with Leandro Bolmaro. Olimpia is coming off a very unusual period: after the Italian Cup triumph, it played with nine players available in Tel Aviv, then assigned five players to national team activities, and they returned to practice with the team today ahead of the Barcelona game. Beyond the standings implications, the intention is to take every opportunity to achieve prestigious results, regardless, especially against such a highly prestigious opponent. Olimpia has Devin Booker back from the ast game, but will be without Bryant Dunston, who suffered a hit to his left hand in practice and will be evaluated in the coming hours.
NOTES – Olimpia Milano-Barcellona is going to be played on March 5th, Thursday, at 20:30 at Milan’s Allianz Cloud.
THE REFEREES – Robert Lottermoser (Germany), Borys Ryzhyk (Ukraine), Marcin Kowalski (Poland)
COACH PEPPE POETA– “We face a great team, well-equipped at every position and with a lot of physicality both with the big men and the perimeter players. Barcelona is counting on its size, the huge experience provided by their veterans and its offensive execution. For us, it will be important to match their physicality starting with the rebounds necessary to ignite our open court game avoiding to hit their wall in a slow-paced game.”
ARMONI BROOKS– “We know that every EuroLeague game is tough starting obviously with Barcelona. We have a little bit of momentum since the Italian Cup win and the National Team players coming back. Our job is to make sure to play every remaining game with the intensity of a playoff game and try to make a final push in order to finish as high as possible.”
BARCELLONA OUTLOOK –Barcelona’s Czech point guard Tomas Satoransky is in his fourth consecutive season with the Blaugrana, the team he left in 2016 for a seven-year career in the NBA. A physically imposing player, he’s averaging 6.9 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game, but the new development is that he’s shooting 44.7 percent from three, by far the best shooting season of his career, so much so that his threes were decisive in the Barcelona game as well. Also playing at point guard and shooting guard spots are Nicolas Laprovittola, who is the Barca’s hottest player coming from three consecutive double-figure games and is averaging 8.4 points and 3.8 assists per game, while shooting 61.1 percent on twos, and Dario Brizuela, the Spanish international (9.6 points per game, 56.1 percent from two, 36.5 percent from three), an explosive scorer and a great transition player. Juani Marcos (1.8 points per game), the Argentine international whom Barcelona brought to Spain in 2019 and who was in Girona last year, is rarely used. The starting shooting guard is obviously Kevin Punter, one of the most consistent scorers in recent seasons, in his second season at Barcelona, averaging 15.9 points per game, on 43.4 percent three-point shooting, and 3.0 assists. Former Trento player Myles Cale is also part of the rotation: he currently averages 3.3 points per game playing both as a shooting guard and small forward. The two forwards in the starting line-up are two veterans of the competition, Will Clyburn – who won the EuroLeague with CSKA Moscow – and Tornike Shengelia, both from Virtus Bologna. Clyburn, after missing nine games due to injury, has returned to regular play and is now averaging 13.0 points in 23.5 minutes on the court, adding 4.0 rebounds per game. Clyburn is also effective shooting 56.6 percent from two and 40.6 percent from three. The Georgian, MVP of last season’s Italian Championship final, plays just over 24 minutes per game, which is enough time for him to average 13.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game. Shengelia is shooting 59.3 percent from two and 42.2 percent from three. Behind them there are the American Miles Norris, who also has a brief stint with the Boston Celtics and is averaging 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, and the Spanish international Joel Parra, who is averaging 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 58.3 percent from two. The centers are Willy Hernangomez (6.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game) and Jan Vesely (8.3 points on 57.2 per cent from two, and 3.2 rebounds on average). Youssoupha Fall is the third center. He’s averaging 2.8 points per game on 65.2 percent two-point shooting.
BARCELLONA CONNECTION – Leandro Bolmaro was brought to Europe from Argentina by Barcelona: he played 36 EuroLeague games with the Catalan team, scoring 99 points. Kevin Punter, who spent a year at Olimpia, played for Barcelona, scoring a Super Cup, an Italian Cup, and the 2021 Final Four. He played 36 EuroLeague games, scoring 515 points.
GAME NOTES – Armoni Brooks has made at least one three-point shot in 20 straight games, ranks second in three-pointers made with 2.8 per game and three-pointers made total, with 80, behind Andres Obst. Josh Nebo has collected multiple offensive rebounds in seven straight games and ranks fourth in two-point accuracy at 75.3 percent. Quinn Ellis has posted a PIR of at least 12 in five straight games. Marko Guduric needs 11 points to reach 3,000 for his career, the 26th player to cross the threshold. Zach LeDay ranks sixth in three-point accuracy at 45.9 percent. He is averaging 16.5 points per game over the last five outings.
