IWith the final countdown now underway—the Dubai game will be followed by the break and the ten games remaining to wrap up the regular season—every game will be a battle in such a tightly contested competition. Olimpia, for example, enters the Dubai game with a positive record (14-13) but on the fringes of the playoffs area. Yet, it is just two wins behind sixth-place Real Madrid. Dubai is one win behind Olimpia. It comes into this Palalido battle . and the arena is expected to be full – in remarkable form: they’ve won three of their last five games, but the two losses have been by close margins—two points in Barcelona, three in Belgrade-Red Star, while in their last two home games, they defeated Olympiacos and Real Madrid. Dubai has been impeccable on their home court, with an 11-3 record that contrasts with their 3-11 road record. However, it is a team that has had many injury problems, now largely resolved with the returns of Dzanan Musa and Bruno Caboclo. Injury problems have also plagued Olimpia’s season (Armoni Brooks and Pippo Ricci are the only players who have been available for every game; rotation players missed 43 games, not including Nate Sestina, who arrived midseason, or players no longer on the active roster like Vlatko Cancar and Lorenzo Brown). Against Dubai, Leandro Bolmaro will be missing, having played all the first 15 games but eight of the next 12. Josh Nebo will also be missing, having missed 11 of 27 games. He is the team’s top offensive rebounder (averaging 2.2 rebounds) and overall he is shooting 71.2 percent from two, a number that clearly reflects the depth he provides to the team. These are significant absences for a team that, however, has won games that were played with a delpleted roster, such as at home against Olympiacos and in Athens against Panathinaikos. The same roster won in Lyon last week, by one point but after leading the entire game as it did in the two previous games won against Partizan and Baskonia (a sequence in which Marko Guduric has dished out 19 assists, 6.7 per game, against only one turnover). It will take a strong performance against a team that’s deep, especially in the big men’s department, with the potential to be versatile and plenty of scoring potential on the perimeter. Offensively, the most notable difference between the two teams is in three-point shooting: Olimpia is second with 39.5 percent; Dubai is 18th with 33.5 percent despite the presence of several specialists (Dwayne Bacon—the only player alongside Mike James to average more than 30 minutes per game—Aleksa Avramovic, Klemen Prepelic, Davis Bertans, Justin Anderson) and big men who can shoot from beyond the arc. Defensively, Dubai is also more effective inside the paint (allowing 54.3 percent from two, fourth overall) than on the perimeter (opponents shoot 37.3 percent, ranking 17th). These numbers will decide a game between two teams that have had little success in close finishes (Olimpia is 2-4 in games decided between one and three points of margin; Dubai is 2-5). Last week, Olimpia won a EuroLeague game for the first time while scoring fewer than 80 points, although it did so by stalling in the fourth quarter when it was on a pace to score much more. When it scored 85 or more points, it won 73% of its games (11 of 15).
NOTES –Olimpia Milano-Dubai Basketball will tip-off on Friday, February 13th at 20:30 in Allianz Cloud, Milan.
REFEREES – Ilija Belosevic (Serbia), Jordi Aliaga (Spain), Kristaps Konstantinovs (Latvia).
COACH PEPPE POETA – “We face a very competitive and deep team. Dubai after the return of Musa and Cabolclo is certainly a playoff contender and is coming here after a couple of big wins over Real Madrid and Olympiacos. We know how important the game is, but in the EuroLeague every game counts a lot at this time of the season. So, we’ll go out there with this kind of mindset and the intention of extending our good stretch of games and to use all our fiches. Our people will help us overcome the impact of the still missing players.”
DUBAI BASKETBALL OUTLOOK – The Dubai team is built around guards McKinley Wright IV and Dwayne Bacon. The third perimeter scorer is forward Dzanan Musa, who, after an injury that limited him to seven games, has returned in excellent shape as he demonstrated scoring 20 points against Real Madrid last week. McKinley Wright IV, who played 32 games in the NBA before joining Buducnost and previously spent four seasons at the University of Colorado, is averaging 13.3 points and 6.3 assists per game. He’s shooting 37.7 percent from three and 88.8 percent from the line, while drawing 3.4 fouls per game. The big-time scorer Dwayne Bacon, also with NBA experience who returned to the EuroLeague after a season away, is averaging 15.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. A high-volume player, he remains on the court for over 30 minutes per game and is capable of great offensive explosions: in the Dubai game against Olimpia, he scored 25 points, then 26 in the following round against Real Madrid, and has a season-high of 36 points against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Dzanan Musa, a Bosnian who played for Real Madrid and spent time in the NBA, is averaging 11.9 points per game but has only been available for seven games (he’s 28-of-29 from the free throw line). The third guard is Aleksa Avramovic, a competitive Serbian international who averages 10.4 points over 18.5 minutes on the court and dishes 3.4 assists per game too. The other guards are Kosta Kondic (6.1 points per game), who hasn’t played in the last 12 games; Slovenian shooter Klemen Prepelic, a veteran who also played for Real Madrid (3.4 points and 2.0 assists per game); and Boogie Ellis (10.4 points per game on 38.5 percent three-point shooting), who has been injured for some time. At the small forward spot, in addition to Musa, there’s Awudu Abass, who mostly has defensive assignments to do in his 17.4 minutes of average playing time (14 starts). He’s currently averaging 3.6 points per game. With Australian Taran Armstrong having been rarely seen so far, another option at the forward spot is Justin Anderson, formerly of Valencia and Barcelona, who brings defense, physicality, and a three-point shot to the table. He’s averaging just 5.7 points per game in 20.6 minutes, but he’s shooting 61.1 percent from two and 37.5 percent from three, along with 3.1 rebounds per night. Serbian Nemanja Dangubic is also on the roster. Davis Bertans, a power forward with a ton of experience and an unstoppable shot considering his size, is in his second season in Dubai after a long NBA career. He currently averages 8.1 points per game on 32.0 percent three-point shooting (he also has 2.5 rebounds per game). He missed the last few games due to a calf injury. Filip Petrusev plays both as a power forward and a center: a dynamic, skilled big man who averages 13.0 points per game on 60.5 percent two-point shooting and 5.1 rebounds per game. He can also be a dangerous three-point shooter (35.7 percent). The starting center is Mfiondu Kabengele, a player with extraordinary physical strength combined with excellent skills. In his first EuroLeague season, he’s averaging 13.6 points per game on 62.6 percent two-point shooting (and he can also hit some three-pointers) and grabbing 6.0 rebounds per game (2.1 offensive rebounds). Bosnian Kenan Kamenjas (4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game) is a physical and solid role player, but he now has to compete for space with Bruno Caboclo, who was out for the entire first half of the season due to injury but returned during the last two games.
THE DUBAI CONNECTION – Awudu Abass, in his second season in Dubai, played for Olimpia from 2016 to 2018 winning the Italian league title in 2018
GAME NOTES – Armoni Brooks leads the league in three-pointers made with 77. Among the top 25 players in this statistic, he is the best for three-point shooting percentage with 44.7 percent. He has made at least one three-pointer in 18 consecutive games. In Vileurbanne, he set his new career-high fro rebounds captured in one game with 10. Shavon Shields is three points shy of 2,000 points scored for Olimpia. He is already the Olimpia all-time leading scorer. Marko Guduric’s streak of consecutive free throws made ended at 35 in Villeurbanne.
