After three consecutive double rounds and four games in a row played on the road, Olimpia is returning to a regular week facing Baskonia on Wednesday. Milan has won four out of six games in the last three weeks and finished its road trip with three wins and one defeat, suffered Barcelona in the closing minutes, after leading for about 36 minutes. It is a duel between teams aspiring to the playoffs. In the last 11 games between Olimpia and Baskonia, the home team has won 10 times, the exception being Olimpia in 2018 in Vitoria with a Jordan Theodore decisive drive through the lane. Milan has won the last seven home games against Baskonia, but this time the game is obviously played behind closed doors. Olimpia is fourth in terms of points scored (81.5 on average), but second in three-point shooting, while Baskonia is a team equipped with great size and uses it to be second only to CSKA in offensive rebounding.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Every team coached by Dusko Ivanovic is a team very aggressive both mentally and physically, so we must expect a pressing defense and a game played at a very high pace. Defensively, Fall’s presence is important, because he can affect opponents the way Tavares does in Real Madrid: he can alter shots with his size and protects the paint effectively. The game will therefore be very complicated, obviously we want to play well after the excellent results obtained during the last two weeks spent on the road.”
SHAVON SHIELDS – “Right now we are in a good position to try to make the playoffs, we lost a couple of games at home, but we’re able to make up for them by winning on the road. Now, hopefully, it’s time to be consistent and protect the home court, starting tomorrow against Baskonia.”
THE REFEREES – Ilija Belosevic (Serbia), Borys Ryzhyk (Ukraine), Tomislav Hordov (Czech Rep.).
BASKONIA – Point guard Pierria Henry, in his second year in Vitoria, has been the most effective player so far. He’s averaging 10.4 points per game, he is first overall in steals and third (7.1 per game) in assists. In the last five games he has always started and in the last two he has had 19 total assists. Lithuanian Rokas Giedraitis, coming from Alba Berlin, is the only one to have started every game, averaging 11.3 points. Forward Alec Peters stands out as a shooter, he is averaging 12.1 points per game, with 46.2 percent from three and 60.8 percent from two. Achille Polonara is the fifth-best rebounder and the fifth-best shot-blocker in the entire EuroLeague, but he is also shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range. Point guard Lucas Vildoza averages 11.3 points per game with 40.4 percent three-point shooting. Zoran Dragic normally comes off the bench and averages 9.8 points per game. Then there are the big men: 2.21-mt tall Youssapha Fall is converting 64.2 percent of his shots from the field, Tonye Jekiri comes from Asvel and is the second-best rebounder on the team, with 4.9 per game. The role of Tada Sedekerskis also increased. He has started in the last four games.
THE BASKONIA CONNECTION – Vladimir Micov debuted in the EuroLeague in the 2009/10 season while playing for Baskonia. In the same season it was then traded to Cantù. Michael Roll played in Vitoria, but not in the EuroLeague, at the end of the 2015/16 season. The most recent former player is obviously Shavon Shields who played two years in Vitoria and won the ACB championship in 2020. Shields played 59 EuroLeague games in Vitoria, scoring 569 points. He appeared in 63 more games in the Spanish league with 711 points scored. Zoran Dragic in Milan won a Super Cup (2016) and an Italian Cup (2016/17) before a bad injury. Rodriguez and Hines played alongside Alec Peters at CSKA Moscow and won the EuroLeague title together in 2019.
THE MESSINA-IVANOVIC CONNECTION – Ettore Messina and Dusko Ivanovic met each other in the first final in the history of the EuroLeague in 2001, the only season in which the title was not awarded through the Final Four but after a best-of.five series. Virtus Bologna, coached by Ettore Messina, prevailed 3-2 over Vitoria, who was coached by Ivanovic at the time.
NOTES – Gigi Datome has an open streak of 23 free throws made. Kevin Punter has scored a three in each of his last 21 EuroLeague games. In addition, he has scored in double figures in 16 of his last 17 games and has stolen a ball in nine of his last 10 appearances. Malcolm Delaney has had one steal in each of his last five games and has scored at least one three in each of his last nine games.
