It is the last home (where it is 11-3) Olimpia’s regular season home game. But it will not be easy at all against AS Monaco, perhaps the hottest team in the competition and committed to clinch a playoffs’ spot that would certify the team’s participation to the next EuroLeague. Olimpia is coming off a win over Bayern Munich with which it is now certain to have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the second consecutive year. A win would bring Milan closer to third place, to win which it must finish with one more win than Olympiacos (who have only one game to play, against Barcelona). Milan have won the last two games coming back, exploding in the second half, in which they scored 98 points overall (47 in Istanbul and 51 against Bayern). In addition, in the last two games it has exceeded 80 points: scoring at least 80 points, it lost only in Madrid but after an overtime. The return of Shavon Shields has given the team an extra gear offensively: after his return game in Tel Aviv, he has scored 34 points combined over two games, including the second “over 20” game of his season. But at the moment, AS Monaco represent a very high obstacle for athleticism, enthusiasm and confidence.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We play a difficult game, against a team who’s doing really well, extremely athletic, with high-level scorers at every perimeter position in addition to Mike James, who can obviously change the course of any game alone. Therefore, the defensive aspect of the game, controlling the rebounds will be the key for us. We need to restart from the intensity we exhibited during the second half of the Bayern game”.
MALCOLM DELANEY – “Tomorrow will be another chance for us to get better, but we will play a very dangerous Monaco team looking to solidify its playoff spot. So, it will be a tough and hard-fought game for us”.
THE REFEREES – Robert Lottermoser (Germany), Emilio Perez (Spain), Milan Nedovic (Serbia).
MONACO – Monaco has won 11 of 14 games since the start of January, turning the standings around after Sasa Obradovic was named as the team’s head coach. Over the last 10 games, Monaco has won seven times, the only team who was capable to do better was league-leading Barcelona, and even when it lost, Monaco was in the game right to the end. The team star is obviously Mike James, averaging 16.4 points and 5.7 assists per game. The starting center is the Lithuanian Donatas Motiejunas (10.3 points per game, 62.3 percent from two, 4.9 rebounds per game). The other point man is Paris Lee (6.9 punti, 2.4 assists on average); the top perimeter players are former NBA swingman Dwayne Bacon (13.8 points per game, 41.7 percent from three), the veteran Leo Westermann (6.9 points per game), the shooter Yakuba Ouattara and Alpha Diallo (9.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, a 40 percent three-point shooter). The Serbian shooter Danilo Andjiusic (7.9 points per game, 42.9 percent from three) missed the last month of the season because of injuries. Among the big men, Monaco can count on Motiejunas then veteran Will Thomas (7.1 points, 68.6 percent from two), the Australian Brock Motum (3.6 points per game, a 50 percent three-point shooter) and Donta Hall, one of the best newcomers, 7.0 points, 5.1 rebounds per game, 73.9 percent from two.
HISTORY Vs MONACO – Olimpia won the only game between these two teams, in Monaco, 71-65. Sergio Rodriguez scored 13 points, Kyle Hines added 11 points and six rebounds.
THE MONACO CONNECTION – Mike James played in Milan for one year during the 2018/19 season, winning the EuroLeague scoring title. That season he played 30 games with 595 points and 191 assists. Leo Westermann played for CSKA Moscow during the 2017/18 season along Sergio Rodriguez and Kyle Hines and in 2019/20 he was at Fenerbahce with Gigi Datome.
GAME NOTES – Nicolò Melli is the third-best defensive rebounder in the EuroLeague with a 4.9average and the third best in total rebounds too with 6.7. Melli had his third double double against Bayern and the fifth double-digit rebounding game of the season. Kyle Hines just became the 11th player ever to score at least 3,000 points for his career. In addition, he passed Georgios Printezis of Olympiacos, who is also active, as the all-time leader for two-pointers made in his career. Shavon Shields just became the Olimpia 10th scorer ever, surpassing Arturas Gudaitis and his 701 points. Malcolm Delaney is two points away of 600 scored for Olimpia. Kaleb Tarczewski has grabbed more than 600 rebounds for Olimpia in EuroLeague and is two field goals made shy of 300. Sergio Rodriguez is the new all-time leader for Olimpia in three-pointers made in the EuroLeague with 163, one more than Vlado Micov’s 162.
