It is the last game of 2023 at the Forum of 2023. It is also the last of the first half of the EuroLeague regular season. Olimpia has obtained less than it would have liked and perhaps should have collected, given the two overtime defeats or the epilogue of the Berlin game. But exactly for this reason it would be important to find a way to beat Baskonia in the last outing the team is forced to play without Shabazz Napier (he will become available on January 2nd in Athens). It is a mid-season game but a very important one for Olimpia who have won two of the last three, play four of the next five at home and therefore must make its move now. Baskonia is a tough opponent, though. After replacing coach Joan Penarroya by bringing the seasoned Dusko Ivanovic back to Vitoria, they won six out of seven games and had just triumphed in Istanbul against Efes. In the last few games, the shooting big man Matt Costello was out but he will return available in Milan. Ivanovic’s team relies a lot on the best EuroLeague rebounder so far (Tadas Sedekerskis), on the second-best scorer (Markus Howard) and on two multidimensional players such as guard Codi Miller-McIntyre and Chima Moneke, a former MVP of the FIBA BCL who eventually spent time in Sacramento and last season passed from Monaco, a energy power forward who doesn’t have a lot of centimeters but has a lot of liveliness and now also shoots threes effectively. Olimpia will have to play another game with a reduced guard rotation, Diego Flaccadori at the point guard position (10.0 points, 3.0 assists and 10/18 from two over the last three) will be supported by Devon Hall, Billy Baron, although not at his best, and Giordano Bortolani.
THE REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Gytis Vilus (Lithuania), Josip Radojkovic (Croatia).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Baskonia is an healthy team playing with confidence, very aggressive at the defensive end of the floor and capable to play a high pace game offensively with two great shooters, Howard and Marinkovic, who are averaging 16 threes attempted per game. The circumstances are tough for us, so we’ll need to sacrifice ourselves again, help each other both on defense and offense, execute with sharpness and try to control the rebounds as much as possible.”
BASKONIA OUTLOOK – The go-to guy is the sharpshooter Markus Howard, who does not always start, but averages 18.6 points per game, and is shooting 39.2 percent on threes. The other big scorer is Chima Moneke, an undersized power forward with great energy and top numbers, i.e. 14.8 points and 6.5 rebounds on average, 57.9 percent on twos and 43.2 percent on threes, the great addition to his repertoire. Moneke never starts, despite his numbers. In the starting five at the point, Coach Dusko Ivanovic uses Codi Miller-McIntyre, 28 minutes of playing time per game, 8.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists on average, a multidimensional player. As a guard, if Howard is not there, Vanja Marinkovic goes in the lineup. He is another shooter averaging 10.8 points and 38.9 percent from three. Tadas Sedekerskis is the most used player, close to 30 minutes per game, a defender who produces 10.3 points while shooting with high percentages (66.2 percent from two, 47.6 percent from three) and is above all a great rebounder (8.2 on average, 2.1 of them are offensive rebounds). The power forward is Matt Costello (7.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game), who missed the last few games due to an injury butshould be available in Milan. The starting center is the Estonian Maik Kotsas (6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds per game). The rotation is completed by Sander Raieste, Dani Diez, sometimes a starter as a forward, and Khalifa Diop. The backup point guard behind Miller-McIntyre was Nico Mannion, but he was released after Baskonia long ago signed Chris Chiozza (2.8 assists in less than 12 minutes).
HISTORY VS. BASKONIA – Olimpia slightly leads the all-time series 12-11. In Milan, it is 9-3 Olimpia, on the road it is 3-8. Milan has prevailed three times in Vitoria, the first took place during the 2013/14 season, 83-65 with 17 points scored by Curtis Jerrells; in 2017/18, Olimpia won 83-82 with 16 points each for Andrew Goudelock and Jordan Theodore, who made the winning drive) and finally during the 2021/22 season it was a 78-64 win with 12 points and 10 rebounds by Shavon Shields, 13 points were scored by Malcolm Delaney and 12 by Devon Hall. The two teams splitted the games last season.
THE BASKONIA CONNECTION – Shavon Shields has spent two seasons in Vitoria, winning the Liga in 2020. Overall, he has played 59 EuroLeague games with 569 points scored. He also took part in 63 Spanish league games with 711 points scored. Johannes Voigtmann has played three seasons in Vitoria with 100 appearances in the EuroLeague and 876 points scored. Assistant coach Peppe Poeta was a player for Vitoria during the 2013/14 season. Coach Ettore Messina won his 2001 EuroLeague when in Bologna defeating Baskonia in the championship series, already coached by Dusko Ivanovic. In 2005, Ivanovic’s Baskonia team eliminated Treviso, coached by Messina, in the playoffs, 2-0. They met again in 2006 in the semifinal game that Messina’s CSKA Moscow won on its way to the EuroLeague championship. For the two of them, the game will be the 24th against each other. The overall record is 15-8 for Messina. Since he came to Milan, Messina has faced Ivanovic five times and is leading 3-2. During this span, Ivanovic has coached Vitoria, Red Star and now is again in Vitoria. Ivanovic is sixth all-time for games won behind Zeljko Obradovic, Ettore Messina, Javi Pascual, Pablo Laso and Dimitris Itoudis.
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 20 defensive rebounds shy of the 3rd place that belongs to Felipe Reyes (1.094).
SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – Shavon Shields had the 9th consecutive games with at least three three-point field goal made. His career-high is 54 threes in one season. He has 51 over 16 games so far. Over the last nine games, he has always had at least 17 points of index rating, he’s always scored in double digit, he has made 21 free throws out of 22 attempts.
