One more night reserved for strong-hearted people is waiting Olimpia at the Unipol Forum. More than 50 years have passed since Olimpia and Hapoel Tel Aviv have faced each other, but the Israeli team is coming to Milan leading the league: after winning the Eurocup championship, on the transfer market Hapoel built a very competitive, top-level contender. Olimpia is entering the game on a four-game winning streak, all them achieved with a lot of guts and heart (in Istanbul, Olimpia won a two-overtime game; Olympiacos was defeated by a single point) and inevitably with an extremely depleted roster. It is not going to be different on Thursday night (Devin Booker returned momentarily to the U.S. to attend his grandmother’s funeral) against a fast-paced team, first for points scored (90.9 on average), second both in two and three-point shooting percentages, and defensively very good at eliminating three-point shooting and protecting the rim (it is fourth for blocked shots per game, 3.3 per night). It is a very deep team, built around talented guards, Vasilje Micic, Elijah Bryant, Antonio Blakeney mostly. Whoever will step on the floor, a great defensive game will be required: Hapoel is 7-1 when scoring more than 85 points; 5-0 when scoring over 95 points; and lost every time it scored less than 80 points, which clearly is happening very rarely. Olimpia had Lorenzo Brown available in two games only so far; Josh Nebo for three games; Zach LeDay for four. Despite these problems, it has a positive record, 6-5, with six road games in the back and two coming up (Maccabi and Baskonia).
NOTES – Olimpia Milano-Hapoel Tel Aviv will be played on Thursday, November the 20th in Unipol Forum at 20:30 PM local time.
REFEREES – Juan Carlos Garcia (Spain), Carlos Cortes (Spain), Kristaps Konstantinovs (Latvia)
INJURY REPORT – Lorenzo Brown (left leg), Josh Nebo (concussion protocol), Ousmane Diop (left knee), Nate Sestina are out. Leandro Bolmaro and Zach LeDay are GTD.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA- “We’re facing a team with enormous talent and depth. We’ll need to play a game based on courage, cohesion, and pace, while also counting on the support of our people in the stands. The key aspects for us will be defending the players who create scoring for Hapoel and controlling the rebounds.”
ARMONI BROOKS- “Hapoel is a very talented team, with a Final Four-caliber roster. We’re facing a tough game and executing our game plan will be crucial. We have some absences, but like we did against Olympiacos, we want to embrace the challenge, focusing on our depth because on this team, everyone has occasionally been able to step up when needed, and it doesn’t depend on one or two players.”
HAPOEL TEL AVIV OUTLOOK – A club with around 90 years of history, Hapoel Tel Aviv is in its debut season in the EuroLeague. They earned their spot by winning the Eurocup last year, led by one of Europe’s most experienced coaches, the Greek Dimitris Itoudis, who won the title twice with CSKA Moscow. On the transfer market, Hapoel built a deep and experienced team, signing, for example, two key players from the European champions of Efes: Vasilije Micic and Elijah Bryant, the MVP of the penultimate round of the EuroLeague. Itoudis’s most commonly used starting five features Micic and Bryant as guards; Collin Malcolm and Ish Wainwright as forwards; and Dan Oturu at center. However, Johnathan Motley may occasionally join Oturu, adding to the physical size of the line-up. Micic, the 2021 EuroLeague’s MVP, the 2022 EuroLeague’s leading scorer, and the 2021 and 2022 Final Four MVP, is coming off a stint in the NBA but has quickly re-adapted. He’s averaging 14.5 points per game, dishing out 3.8 assists per game, is 30-of-32 from the line, and is shooting 38.1 percent from three-point distance. He’s scored in double figures in 10 of 11 games, and when he hasn’t, he was contained to nine. He and Bryant form a physically imposing duo. In his seventh EuroLeague season, Bryant is averaging career-best numbers: 14.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game, shooting 42.5 percent from three and 39-of-42 from the line. The two guards who usually come off the bench are Chris Jones—a veteran, formerly of Maccabi, Asvel, and Valencia—a physical point guard averaging 8.4 points and 2.9 assists per game, and Antonio Blakeney, currently one of the most productive sixth men, who was the league’s leading scorer in China in 2023, and was a valuable member of Hapoel last year. Blakeney is a 14.1 point-per-game scorer on 45.5 percent three-point shooter. Yam Madar, the Israeli national team point guard, has not yet played due to injury, while former Napoli and Venezia point-manTyler Ennis (4.2 points per game) has played only four games. Small forward Ish Wainwright is averaging 4.2 points per game and 3.7 rebounds. He was at Hapoel last year, too. Collin Malcolm was acquired from Paris Basketball. This year, he’s a starter with defensive duties, averaging 7.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in 24 minutes on the court. Johnathan Motley also has minutes at power forward on top of being a part-time center. He averages 9.4 points per game on 75.5 percent two-point shooting in less than 16 minutes on the court. He’s also occasionally dangerous as a shooter from the outside. Center Dan Oturu comes from Efes. He’s a 12.0-point rim runner, shooting 66.7 percent on twos and is averaging 2.5 offensive rebounds per game, (5.4 overall). Other options are Tai Odiase and Tomer Ginat (3.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game).
GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields is on a streak of 28 out of 29 games with at least one three-pointer made and has scored in double figures in 18 of his last 19 games, all of the ones he played in, this season. Zach LeDay played his 200th EuroLeague game in Istanbul; Leandro Bolmaro played his 100th in Istanbul and set his career-high for rebounds in a game with eight against Asvel, which he eventually tied against Olympiacos. Armoni Brooks set his career-highs for points (23), assists (six), and three-pointers (five) in a game against Asvel.
