For the third time Olimpia faces Brescia in the Italian Cup final round: as in 2022 in Pesaro it takes place in the semi-final. Back then, it was a tough game that Olimpia won in the closing minutes. The difficulty level will be no different. In 2023 in Turin, Brescia took revenge and went on to win the first Italian Cup of its history. It is also a territorial derby, with many twists and turns and very competitive. Olimpia won the only previous game of the season, 88-85, a sloght margin protected during the late comeback of Peppe Poeta’s team. However, Olimpia went to the court less than 48 hours removed from the EuroLeague game against Paris Basketball. It didn’t have Bolmaro and didn’t have Mannion or Gillespie yet. After so many months, things have clearly changed, including Germani’s level of awareness of its potential. Brescia has been ahead of Olimpia in the standings throughout the season and still is now: this says a lot about the difficulty of the game. Olimpia is coming off a good win in the quarter-finals against Virtus Bologna. Then the team returned home to prepare for Saturday’s semi-final. However, Brescia showed great character because, after beating Trieste in the Italian league in a fourth quarter streetfight, they did the same against Tortona on Wednesday night. The two teams have similar characteristics from a statistical standpoint: they are first and second in the index rating; they are first and second for fewest turnovers committed; Brescia is the team that drawns the most fouls thanks to the presence of an aggressive guard like Amedeo Della Valle and a dominant low-post player like Miro Bilan (who is first overall in personal rating) who will also be a threat under the boards since he averages almost four offensive rebounds per game. Olimpia in turn is the best team in Italy in three-point shooting – the only one above 40.0 percent, but Brescia is the third-best – and in free throws; it is second in two-point shooting while Brescia is fourth. Olimpia has changed its roster a bit over the months; Brescia, on the other hand, kept its team intact, a team built around a couple of highly talented guards, Della Valle and Ivanovic, who combined for 40 points in the quarter-finals, and the inside presence of Miro Bilan. Around the Big Three, there is the high level of energy and the versatility provided by Jason Burnell, a very experienced Italian league player. Tip-off time on Saturday in Turin will be 18:00.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Brescia is built around the two guards, Della Valle and Ivanovic, Bilan is another decisive player against whom you always have to prepare to the bets of you capabilities, and in recent games Jason Burnell with his ability to play both the 3 and 4 positions has been crucial, including the Tortona game. It is a team with high character and organization that we beat in the Italian league but many months ago and in any case it was a tough, close game. The key is not to think about the game we played against Virtus or what might happen in the future, but only about this very difficult game.”

BRESCIA OUTLOOK – In addition to being constantly at the top of the Italian league for some years now (they won an Italian Cup, played in the semi-final of the playoffs last year, and are currently fighting for first place in the regular season), Brescia has built a team with a clear identity and hierarchies that worked right from the start. In the 19 Italian league games played so far, Coach Peppe Poeta has always used the same starting line-up with the sole exception of two games in which Maurice Ndour was not available. Five men are averaging in double figures, including Jason Burnell who comes off the bench. Amedeo Della Valle has been one of the best scorers in Serie A for years. This season he is producing 16.1 points per game, on 40.7 percent shooting from three over 6.2 attempts and is almost automatic from the foul line (90.9 percent, averaging 6.9 trips to the lineper game thanks to the 3.9 fouls he drawns per game). Against Brescia, he is always the main danger. But Montenegrin Nikola Ivanovic is no different: he is averaging 14.6 points per game with 40.0 percent shooting from three. He also attempts a lot of free throws (4.1 per game; 84.6 percent accuracy) and manages to be dangerous even when getting the ball in the paint as shown by his 58.3 percent shooting from two on 4.4 attempts. Miro Bilan at the center position is another veteran of the Italian league, a low post terrific specialist, who is averaging 15.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game (3.8 rebounds are offensive). He draws 5.4 fouls per game and is also a sort of added point guard, averaging 3.8 assists per game, better than anyone else on the team. The characteristic of Brescia’s three top scorers is that all three are capable passers, and all three have over three assists per game on average. The starting lineup’s small forward is Demetre Rivers, 10.8 points on 42.9 percent shooting from three; while the power forward is Maurice Ndour, who has energy and athleticism, avregaes 9.9 points per game on 58.1 percent shooting on twos. He is averaging 4.9 rebounds per game, too. The sixth man Jason Burnell plays both forward positions: coming off the bench he provides to the team 12.0 points per game, on 57.3 percent on twos, and 4.3 rebounds. He shoots less than two threes a game but made the back-to-back long distance bombs that decided the game against Tortona. Another decisive player off the bench is third guard Chris Dowe, who has already played in Sassari and Tortona, and over 17.4 minutes on the court averages 6.9 points and 2.0 assists per game. The rotation is completed by David Cournooh among the guards (4.5 points per game) and Joseph Mobio among the big men. If needed, Poeta also has the experience of Giancarlo Ferrero at his disposal, too.

THE BRESCIA CONNECTION – Head coach Peppe Poeta is coming off a two-year experience as an assistant coach at Olimpia Milano where he won two Italian championships. Amedeo Della Valle played 48 league games over two seasons with Olimpia Milano from 2018 to 2020. Giordano Bortolani played in Brescia on loan during the 2020/21 season with 161 points scored over 26 appearances on the court. One of Brescia’s assistant coaches is David Moss, who played for Olimpia between 2013 and 2015, contributing to the 2014 championship.