Olimpia began today a week to be entirely spent “on the road”, starting in Berlin to face Alba. From Germany, the team will then move to Serbia to take up Partizan Belgrade (one more effort will then be required in Cremona next Monday). In the EuroLeague, Olimpia is coming off two consecutive wins at home, against Virtus Bologna and Real Madrid, two games essentially dominated for 40 minutes despite the absences. Alba Berlin is a historically treacherous team for Olimpia, even if right now it is affected by a series of injuries that have deprived the roster of Matt Thomas, Justin Bean, Malte Delow with doubts surrounding the availability of Yanni Wetzell and Matteo Spagnolo. Olimpia has just recovered David McCormack and therefore will have an additional option inside compared to what happened in the last few outings (in reality Josh Nebo played against Bologna). The consequence is that the Mirotic-LeDay formula in recent weeks has become Plan A rather than an alternative one. However, both are performing at very high levels (they are among the top ten in the average personal rating). Both will be needed in Germany. Alba plays at home for the sixth time in this regular season. So far, it has only beaten ASVEL Villeurbanne, but it has some players in great shape, starting with Gabriele Procida (25 points scored in the last round) to continue with the center Trevion Williams, who is a rookie in the EuroLeague and also one of the best offensive rebounder, and the Icelandic Martin Hermannsson who after a complicated period has found his rhythm and shape again. Alba is the second-best rebounding team and the second for shots blocked. Besides, it is the sixth-best team at shooting on twos, 55.6 percent. Olimpia – the second-best three-point shooting team – is aware of the difficulties of the game: last season, in Berlin, Milan dominated the game, but pulled the plug way too early, allowed Alba to come back and take the win.
THE REFEREES – Borys Ryzhyk (Ukraine), Milivoje Jovcic (Serbia), Aare Halliko (Estonia).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “For us, this week is clearly very important. We have to play two difficult games on the road but we intend to keep the momentum, built during the Real Madrid game, going. To do so, we have to start with defense and rebounds on top of playing with high-level concentration and total desire to help each other both on offense and defense”.
LEANDRO BOLMARO – “In Berlin it will be important for us to play consistently and solid for 40 minutes straight, both in offense and defense, and to avoid the mental letdowns that have created problems for us over the last few games. Alba is a proud team, that, especially on its court, can play with a lot of energy and physicality, so we will have to pay attention to detail and play as a team right from the tip-off, and possession after possession.”
ALBA BERLIN OUTLOOK – The Icelandic Martin Hermannsson, who also played in the EuroLeague in Valencia, has so far been a permanent starter in the role of point guard (even if he has sometimes teamed up with Spagnolo) and Alba’s most consistent player with 14.6 points and 4.8 assists per game, an extraordinary 42.3 percent from three-point range. Louis Olinde, except for his last outing in Belgrade, has always started at the small forward using his imposing stature (2.08) while producing 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds on average. Trevion Williams, who was in Ulm last season, at center, always starting after Koumadje’s suspension, is a very strong offensive rebounder (2.9 per game, 7.3 in total, fourth overall) and also a man who averages 11.3 points per game. Williams is also the fourth-best shot blocker in the competition. Gabriele Procida, an Italian international, averages 6.7 points per game but in his last outing he scored 25 points with a career-high rating of 34. He is a great jumper and plays both the guard and small forward positions. Australian guard Willie McDowell-White comes off the bench (6.0 points, 2.0 assists on average, but 53.3 percent three-point shooting). The other guards are Matteo Spagnolo (9.0 points and 2.8 assists per game) who missed the last few games due to illness, the Slovenian Ziga Samar, Jonas Mattisseck and Malte Delow who, returning after a period of absence, was injured again in Belgrade. Tim Schneider can play both the forward positions. Although he has never started so far, he has been very effective offensively with 7.3 points on average, 15/19 on twos, 5/12 on threes. Justin Bean, in his second season in Berlin, averaging 5.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, will be unavailable due to a wrist injury. The rotation of the big men now also includes Matias Rapieque, 20 years old, 3.2 points per game. Yanni Wetzell, a New Zealand international, plays both power forward and center spots (7.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game) but has not played in the last few games due to a hand problem.
GAME NOTES – Nikola Mirotic has made at least one three in 14 of his last 16 games played and is eight three-pointers away from 400 for his career. The six threes he made in Vitoria tied his high with Olimpia set last year against Real Madrid. In Olimpia’s history, ten times a player has scored six threes in a game. Mirotic is the first to do it twice. The overall record belongs to Linas Kleiza with eight (2014/15). With 19.8 on average, he is third overall in rating, and with 7.0 he is the fifth-best rebounder in the competition. With an average of 5.1 he is also the second-best defensive rebounder. Zach LeDay surpassed 500 two-pointers in his career during the Virtus Bologna game. Thanks to that performance he was named MVP of EuroLeague Round 7. With 17.2 per game, he is ninth in personal rating, he is also third for fouls received (5.8), sixth for free throws attempted (4.4 per game). LeDay is shooting 94.6 percent from the foul line, fourth all-time among those shooting at least 3.0 free throws per game. Finally, with 57.9 percent he is second in three-point shooting behind Dovydas Giedraitis of Zalgiris. With 56.2 percent, Pippo Ricci is fifth in this category.
