Fast and furious. Olimpia doesn’t even have time to catch its collective breath after its league win against Venice, because a game in Barcelona is next and another with Paris Basketball is waiting next Thursday in Milan. It’s another week of double-header action in the EuroLeague. Olimpia begins at the Palau Blaugrana for its fifth EuroLeague riad game (current record: 2-2) against a team with obvious quality and ambition, even though it is coming off an unexpected—in terms of margin—home defeat to Zalgiris Kaunas. This defeat was tempered by a league win over Lugo, which saw the return of Youssoupha Fall, who had been rarely used so far, and the return of Dario Brizuela after a brief injury stop. Olimpia scored 100 points in both of its last two games, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win against Valencia. So far, it has been condemned in close game: three of the four defeats have come with a one-possession deficit and the last shot to win (in Belgrade) or tie the score (against Monaco and Valencia). Barcelona is a hugely experienced team with players who have seen and done it all at the EuroLeague level, such as Will Clyburn (249 appearances), Tornike Shengelia (289), and Jan Vesely (382), as well as Tomas Satoransky and Willy Hernangomez, seasoned veterans who spent a significant portion of their respective careers in the NBA before returning to Europe. Barcelona is counting heavily on the scoring skills of Kevin Punter, so Olimpia will have to dip into everything it can find defensively to contain the Catalan offense and use the weapons at its disposal despite significant absences. So far, Quinn Ellis at point guard, Pippo Ricci at power forward, and of course Devin Booker have all contributed on the team best nights to compensate for the absences of Lorenzo Brown, Zach LeDay, and Josh Nebo. As against Valencia, Nate Sestina will be there to help the big man rotation.
NOTES – Barcellona-Olimpia Milano will be played on Tuesday, October, 18th, tip-off time 20:30 at Palau Blaugrana.
REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Borys Ryzhyk (Ukraine), Thomas Bissuel (France).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “We face a powerful team. Barcelona has size both on the perimeter and down low. We’ll have to contain their inside game, try to control the rebounds and offensively we need to move the ball well and quickly like we have been doing in the last few games. On a side note, it will be a pleasure again to compete against Kevin Punter, a player who gave us a lot during the season he spent in Milan; and will be a challenge to face one more time a great opponent like Toko Shengelia”.
PIPPO RICCI – “If we look at the standings, we’re 2-4, but we lost three games right at the end. We played every game, plus we had four road games in the first five. We were always close. It will be tough in Barcelona, but this EuroLeague shows that anyone can overturn any prediction. They lost their last game at home against Zalgiris, so they’ll want to bounce back, but the same goes for us. They have talent and size, they have great players we know well, so we’ll have to approach the game in the best possible manner, playing every possession with energy on defense and moving the ball quickly on offense.
BARCELLONA OUTLOOK – Barcelona’s Czech point guard Tomas Satoransky is in his fourth season with the Blaugrana, a team he left behind in 2016 for a seven-year NBA career. A big size point guard, he’s averaging 6.8 points, 4.2 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game, but the big news is that he’s having his best three-point shooting season ever (7-for-14 so far). The alternative is Juani Marcos (4.2 points per game), the Argentine international whom Barcelona brought to Spain in 2019 and who was in Girona last year. Also playing at the point guard and shooting guard are Nicolas Laprovittola (he sat out last year with an injury but has played two games in the current season) and Dario Brizuela, a Spanish international (7.4 points per game, 41.2 percent three-point shooting), an explosive scorer. The starting guard is obviously Kevin Punter, one of the most consistent scorers of the last few seasons, in his second year in Barcelona, 12.3 points per game, 95.0 percent accuracy from the free throw line, 2.7 assists on average. Former Trento player Myles Cale is also part of the rotation: he’s currently averaging 4.5 points per game and shooting 40.0 percent from three. The two starting forwards are two EuroLeague veterans, Will Clyburn—who won the EuroLeague championship with CSKA Moscow—and Tornike Shengelia, both from Virtus Bologna. Clyburn has been the team’s leading scorer so far, averaging 13.3 points over 23.2 minutes on the court, adding 4.7 rebounds per game. Above all, Clyburn is shooting very efficiently, 60.7 percent on twos and 52.2 percent on threes. The Georgian, MVP of last season’s Italian League playoffs, stays on the court just over 24 minutes per game, which is enough for him to average 12.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per night. Shengelia is shooting 64.1 percent from two-point range. Behind them there is the American Myles Norris, who also has a brief stint with the Boston Celtics, who averages 4.5 points per game, and the Spanish international Joel Parra, who averages 6.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The centers are Willy Hernangomez (8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game) and Jan Vesely (8.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game). Youssoupha Fall, another option, has played only one game so far, replaced by 18-year-old Sayon Keita.
BARCELONA CONNECTION – Leandro Bolmaro was brought to Europe from Argentina by Barcelona: he played 36 EuroLeague games with the Catalan team, scoring 99 points. Kevin Punter has been playing for Barcelona for two years now but spent also one season at Olimpia, where he won a Super Cup, an Italian Cup, and reached the 2021 Final Four. He appeared in 36 EuroLeague games, with 515 points scored for Milan.
GAME NOTES – Leandro Bolmaro’s 31 points against Valencia are a new career high, shattering the previous record of 21. His 37-point index rating also is a personal best. Pippo Ricci, who has scored in double digits in his last two games, is 8-of-9 from three over the same period. Marko Guduric, meanwhile, is three threes shy of reaching his 400th career three. Shavon Shields scored his 400th two-pointer for Olimpia against Valencia.
