A week of time is what Olimpia was able to use to exorcise the memory of the last EuroLeague game, the painful defeat against Zalgiris which came at the end of a game well approached, well played and dominated for 27 minutes. We start from there, from that level of intensity, quality of execution and performance, as well as last Sunday’s win in Scafati, to face one of the powerhouses of European basketball in recent years. Anadolu Efes played the Final Four in 2019, 2021 and 2022, with three championship games and two wins. Often in the past il has crossed paths with Olimpia: it happened in 1996 in the Korac Cup, it happened again in the EuroLeague playoffs in 2022 and there have been many exciting and even daring challenges at different times. Between Olimpia and Efes there are rarely irrelevant games, even during a transition phase for both teams.
Compared to the “back-to-back” team, Efes, in addition to losing Coach Ergin Ataman, had to say goodbye to Chris Singleton, Kruno Simon, Bryant Dunston, Tibor Pleiss and Vasa Micic. However, very high caliber elements such as Shane Larkin, Rodrigue Beaubois and Elijah Bryant remain active. During the summer, Efes was very active on the market by signing two veterans such as Stanley Johnson and Jordan Nwora directly from the NBA and snatching center Vincent Poirier from Real Madrid. At the moment, Efes is 2-2 but they have played only close games: they prevailed in Bologna and beat Olympiacos at home; they lost the Istanbul derby with Fenerbahce during the last few possessions and at the very end they succumbed to Maccabi Tel Aviv. So far, Efes has been the best two-point shooting team in the EuroLeague and the second-best at dfeending against the two-point shooting, in part because of the physicality if the big men.
Olimpia will still not have Josh Nebo and Ousmane Diop, heavy absences because they affect the same position, among other things. Conversely, after Scafati’s stoppage, Zach LeDay will be available again. He has so far been the most consistent player in the EuroLeague averaging 13.2 points per game, reaching the double figure in all four games, playing both as a power forward and as a center as will presumably be necessary again on Thursday.
REFEREES – Sreten Radovic (Serbia), Sergio Silva (Portugal), Thomas Bissuel (France).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “Efes is a team with great offensive talent and experience, with many players who have been together for years, first with Coach Ataman and now with Coach Mijatovic who is working on that same path. For us it is a game to be approached calmly. We will have to build the game possession after possession with defensive attention and the search for the best possible shot on offense. To achieve this we will all have to play with calm and focus especially during the most complicate stretch.”
ZACH LEDAY – “The fanbase support, especially during the home games, is crucial. It is up to us to involve our fans with our energy. We have to do it tomorrow aganst Efes because I know that when we are able to do that our people is great at helping us overcoming the bad moments. For us this is important because we have a lot of young players and is the job of the more experineced players like myself to help them.”
ANADOLU EFES OUTLOOK – The Anadolu Efes’ starting line-up is not normally the same one that finishes games. Coach Tomislav Mijatovic almost always uses Shane Larkin, the team’s franchise player, and Rodrigue Beaubois himself off the bench, while the starters are Darius Thompson (8.5 points and 3.8 assists on average) and Elijah Bryant (12.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game). At small forward the starter is now Jordan Nwora who boasts 206 appearances in the NBA with 7.6 points on average between Milwaukee, Indiana and Toronto and is in his first European season. Nwora is averaging 10.2 points per game with 4.2 rebounds and is shooting 63.2 percent from two. Larkin, who with 24.2 minutes of playing time is still the second most used player, is producing 13.2 points and 5.2 assists per game (63.2 percent from two); Beaubois averages 8.0 points per game but shoots 69.2 percent on twos and 44.4 percent from three-point territory. Another former NBA player, at the small forward position, is Stanley Johnson, who spent seven years between Detroit, Toronto, Lakers and San Antonio for 449 appearances on the court but none during the past season, spent in the G-League. Currently, he is averaging under 11 minutes of playing time (2.0 points, 2.7 rebounds). At power forward, the starter is regularly Ercan Osmani (4.5 points and 3.0 rebounds), but Latvian Rolands Smits, a EuroLeague veteran, formerly with Barcelona and Zalgiris, has similar playing time and is averaging 4.2 points per game. He is a fearsome three-point shooter. Another option is Derek Willis (4.0 points per game, 60.0 percent two-point shooting), previously seen in Italy in Brindisi and Venice. At the center, the options are Vincent Poirier (9.0 points per game, 78.2 percent on two-pointers), a veteran who won the EuroLeague championship with Real Madrid, and Dan Oturu (12.3 points, 5.7 rebounds per game, 73.7 percent on two-pointers), who didn’t play in the Efes’ win over Olympiacos because of a minor injury.
GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields has scored at least 10 points in 10 of his last 11 games, and has had at least 1 steal in 15 of his last 16 games. He also needs 34 points to reach 2,000 for his career and 15 two-point shots made to reach 500 for his career. Nikola Mirotic has made at least 1 three-point shots in 11 of his last 12 games. He needs 20 three-point shots made to reach 400 for his career. Zach LeDay has scored at least 10 points in eight of his last nine games and has made at least 1 three-pointer in five of his last six games. He needs 5 two-pointers to reach 500 for his career.
