A win separates Red Star and Olimpia in the EuroLeague standings, a win that separates the playoff zone from the last place available to enter the play-in tournament. The game in Belgrade is of capital relevance for both teams. Olimpia won the first game with a 15-point margin: this is another fact to take into account even if the reality is that at this point it would be very difficult to recover from a defeat. Olimpia is playing in Belgrade for the third time this season: the first two outings were positive, with Partizan and with Maccabi. The game will be played in front of 20,000 fans in the usual fiery atmosphere of the Serbian mega-arena. Red Star lost the last two games played after the break but had won the previous three. It is a deep team, practically three players available at each position, some interchangeable, that usually plays at a slow pace, avregaes just 81.9 points per game, three less than Milan, but has notable defensive numbers, 80.9 points allowed per game, 33.7 percent allowed to opponents in three-point shooting, where Olimpia almost reaches 40 percent as a team. In the Milan game, Olimpia managed to run, move the ball, dictate the pace and create good shots, so it won with a certain ease and a wide margin. In Belgrade, it will be a completely different story even if Red Star has lost five times on its court. Olimpia won’t have Josh Nebo and Freddie Gillespie. All the other situations will be clarified after the game day’s shootaround including the Nikola Mirotic availability.
The tip-off time in Belgrade is scheduled to be at 19:00 on Thursday, March 13.
THE REFEREES – Emilio Perez (Spain), Olegs Latisevs (Latvia), Saulius Racys (Sweden).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “We meet a very athletic team, with efficient shooters, and a lot of depth. As a consequence, we need to play a high level game in Belgrade, perfectly aware that rebounds, as always, and guarding well their pick and roll plays, which they use very often, will go a long way in determining the outcome.”
RED STAR OUTLOOK – Red Star is one of the deepest teams in the entire EuroLeague with only one player, Nikola Kalinic, on the court for over 26 minutes on average. The starting point guard is Codi Miller-McIntyre, who scores 9.0 points and distributes 4.8 assists per game. The alternatives are Yago Dos Santos (7.0 points and 3.5 assists per game) who is shooting 40.7 percent from three, and Milos Teodosic (5.3 points and 2.5 assists on average) who missed 13 games due to various injuries. The guards are Nemanja Nedovic (9.1 points per game, 38.9 percent from three) and Isaiah Canaan (10.2 points per game on 38.5 percent shooting from three). At small forward, in addition to Kalinic, who has always started so far (8.5 points and 3.7 rebounds on average, 40.2 percent from three), there are Ognjen Dobric (4.5 points per game, 64.7 percent from two) and Rokas Giedraitis (4.1 points per game). The starting power forward is Mike Daum (6.2 points and 2.8 rebounds on average) who, however, has missed the last ten games after a knee surgery. The roster includes Dejan Davidovac (3.0 points per game, 65.8 percent from two) and John Brown, a defensive specialist who was in Monaco in recent seasons and came to Belgrade in the middle of the season. The centers are Joel Bolomboy (10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, 68.3 percent from two), who is producing the best season of his career, Luka Mitrovic (5.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 63.0 percent from two) and aFilip Petrusev, who returned to Red Star after a stint at Olympiacos, an offensively explosive player who in 19.1 minutes on the court averages 13.2 points with 62.9 percent from two and grabs 4.2 rebounds per game.
THE RED STAR CONNECTION – Nemanja Nedovic has played 32 games with 307 points scored for Olimpia over two EuroLeague seasons. During his time in Milan, Olimpia won one Supercup.
