Olimpia is finishing its week-long road trip in Sassari, coming off the encouraging triumph obtained in Kaunas. The third road game in a six-day span is obviously a tough one, against a team that historically is full of energy in front of the home crowd, a team that has gone through a coaching change and some roster moves, the last one is the addition of Rashawn Thomas. Sassari failed to qualify for the Final Eight and is now attempting a comeback for the playoffs. On top of it, over the last decade the two teams gave life to a very respectful and still hot rivalry, facing each other in playoffs’ series or Italian Cup finals several times. So, it is not going to be a quiet game Saturday night in Sassari. Olimpia has won six of the last seven Italian league games, two of the last three on the road and is still trying to get closer to the top of the standings. Right now, it is sitting in fifth-place, one win away from the second spot and two shy of the first position. So, everything is up for grabs with 11 games left after this one. However, how much this game is relevant is not to be diminished. It is also the last one before the Italian Cup and the EuroLeague break. It is that time of the season when every game is assuming a lot of relevance. So, the team cannot focus on the upcoming Final Eight because the game has to be won as part of the playoffs’ bracket race. Olimpia left Kaunas after a mid-morning practice and flew to Alghero where the team will be joined by Fabien Causeur. After a lenghty absence, the French guard who was instrumental in many EuroLeague wins, but has played sporadically in the Italian league, will be monitored for a potential return.

Tip off time on Saturday, February 8, 2025, is scheduled at 20:00 in Sassari.

SASSARI OUTLOOK – Compared to the early season Milan game, Sassari has changed the head coach moving from Nenad Markovic to Massimiliano Bulleri, a former Olimpia player and a former head coach in Varese. Four fifths of the starting lineup have stayed put since the beginning of the season. Justin Bibbins is a point guard who produces 13.6 points and 5.2 assists per game, shooting 36.2 percent from three on over six attempts per game. Brian Fobbs, the shooting guard, averages 13.7 points per game on 36.0 percent three-point shooting. Fobbs is a creative one-on-one player who also scores a lot from mid-range as shown by his 6.5 two-point attempts per game (on 51.3 percent accuracy). The power forward is the Lithuanian veteran Eimantas Bendzius, 38.8 percent from three on 4.7 attempts, 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game on average. For years he has been one of the best power forwards in the Italian league, especially due to his shooting skills. During the last week, Sassari signed Rashawn Thomas, another power forward or small ball center, who spent one season at Dinamo earlier in his career. The center is the Bosnian Miralem Halilovic, averaging 10.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game of which 1.8 are offensive in approximately 23 minutes of playing time. The fifth starter is the Polish Michal Sokolowski (10.3 points, 67.7 percent from two) who, however, is recovering from an injury that kept him out for seven games. When he was sidelined, the shooter Giovanni Veronesi had plenty of space at the small forward spot (5.7 points per game, 39.7 percent from three), a player who takes almost four shots per game from the arc and only 0.9 inside it. Turkish Erten Gazi, formerly at Anadolu Efes, has also been there for six games, 4.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game so far. He has great competitive spirit and experience. The second unit counts a lot on Alessandro Cappelletti, over twenty minutes of playing time for him, with 7.8 points and 3.8 assists per game. Like him, Matteo Tambone is important. He is a shooting guard who averages 19.0 minutes on the court, 6.5 points per game on 41.4 percent three-point shooting. Dinamo lost the contribution of Mattia Udom, injured, so Luca Vincini is the back-up center, averaging 2.6 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, while Coach Bulleri often implements small ball units. Nate Renfro (4.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game) is currently injured.

THE DINAMO CONNECTION – Ousmane Diop played in Sassari from the 2018/19 season to the last one for a total of 107 Serie A games and 847 points scored plus 443 rebounds captured. Sassari’s coach, Massimo Bulleri played for Olimpia Milano for five seasons, although with a couple of interruptions, from 2005 to 2010.

GAME NOTES – Coach Ettore Messina has coached his game number 200 in the Italian league with Olimpia, third-best all-time behind Cesare Rubini and Dan Peterson. His record is 146-54 including the playoffs. Some more notes: Shavon Shields is now sitting seventh all-time for three-pointers with Olimpia in the Italian league. He has 216 threes, three shy of Piero Montecchi’s 219. He is also fifth all-time for assists with 334. The list is led by Mike D’Antoni with his astonishing number of 1.138 assists for his career. Andrea Cinciarini (479), Alessandro Gentile (470), Sergio Rodriguez (375) are all ahead of Shields.