Coming off the big win against Panathinaikos, Olimpia with a slightly less short-handed roster (Diego Flaccadori, Pippo Ricci and Ousmane Diop are all available) left Milan for what is a week-long trip, three games in five days counting the Saturday night Italian league clash in Sassari. In the EuroLeague the race for the playoffs/play-in began some time ago and now approaches its crucial phase with ten games remaining. The first opponent of the week, Bayern Munich has one more win than Olimpia but won in Milan. So it’s not just a crucial battle between two teams very close in the standings. It’s a clash that will have serious implications on the final positioning. Bayern is a team that plays uptempo, shoots and makes a lot of threes (it is first in both category), uses big men who shoot from outside (including Oscar Da Silva), has just recovered Vladimir Lucic and has built its record on two pillars . The first is the home court advatage where it is 9-2 (the new SAP Garden will be sold out tomorrow night too) and the second is the ability to win close games. Bayern is 5-0 in games finished with 1 to 3 points margin; 7-0 including those that ended with margins within six points. The game in Milan is the real life picture of this statistic: Bayern won by one point. In the last round they won in Kaunas going away then prevailed in the German league against Alba Berlin in overtime without Shabazz Napier and after losing Devin Booker late in the game. Both are questionable for the game. Olimpia for its part is 10-1 when scoring 85 or more points. The magic number is this (against Panathinaikos, Milan scored 87). However, playing without Nikola Mirotic, the team’s leading scorer, and without Fabien Causeur, the best three-point shooter in the competition before being sidelined, clearly doesn’t help. A total game and solid defense will therefore be needed on Bayern’s many greatest scorers, led by three-point specialist Andreas Obst and one of the EuroLeague’s most lethal scorer, Carsen Edwards.

Tip off time in Munich on Tuesday, February 4th, will be at 20:45.

THE REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Jordi Aliaga (Spain), Saulius Racys (Sweden).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “It is obviously a very important game, but at this point, with 10 games remaining in the schedule, every single game is going to be crucial. Bayern is capable to play uptempo especially on its home court, they are aggressive defensively and can use multiple solutions offensively, with Booker’s inside game and the many shooters they have. For us, a good transition defense, rebounding control and a good shooting selection will go a long way in determining the outcome.”

Carsen Edwards is the EuroLeague leading scorer so far

BAYERN OUTLOOK – Bayern is the team that attempts the most three-pointers (31.6 per game) and hits the most threes (12.2) of the entire EuroLeague thanks to its pace and space type of play and the presence of excellent specialists on the roster including big men such as Johannes Voigtmann and Devin Booker. Compared to the Milan game, Vladimir Lucic has recovered and is going to play after remaining out due to injury for almost half of the season. However, Shabazz Napier is doubtful as he missed the last two games due to physical problems. The two starting guards are Nick Weiler-Babb and Carsen Edwards. Weiler-Babb has imposing physical size for his position on the floor, is an excellent defensive player and a versatile guy who can help the team in many ways (8.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists on average), but he has made the most obvious strides in his three-point shooting (now he is 42.6 percent on threes against his career 35.9 percent). Edwards is one the competition’s top scorers with 19.7 points per game and almost 29 minutes on the court. He’s shooting 35.2 percent from three but has already surpassed his personal best for threes hit in a season. The third guard is Napier, who normally comes off the bench, averaging 10.3 points and 3.1 assists per game. At small forward for half the season the starting choice fell on shooter Andres Obst, also used as a guard. He averages 10.8 points on 45.2 percent three-point shooting. With the return of Lucic, a sort of franchise player, Obst can be penciled as a sixth man to make room for the Serbian player who guarantees more physicality at that spot. In the four games that he played, he averaged 6.0 points and grabbed 4.0 rebounds per outing. Niels Giffey, a very effective player, also has minutes as a small forward: his 6.3 points per game are obtained by shooting over 60 percent from both two and three-point territory. Another option is represented by the Turkish Onuralp Bitim. The two big men are Johannes Voigtmann (6.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, 60.4 percent from two) and Devin Booker (15.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, 62.2 percent from two, 37.3 percent from three). Behind them, as a power forward, there is Oscar Da Silva (5.0 points on 64.5 percent shooting from two) and then occasionally Ivan Kharchenov, Kevin Yebo, Elias Harris and Danko Brankovic are providing depth.

Armoni Brooks shooting against Edwards and Nick Weiler-Babb

THE BAYERN CONNECTION – Diego Flaccadori has played two seasons in Munich from 2019 to 2021 with 44 EuroLeague appearances. Leandro Bolmaro spent the last season in Munich. He appeared in 30 games and scored 252 points. Freddie Gillespie spent one season in Munich in 2022/23, with 26 starts and 34 appearances. He scored 147 points and grabbed 204 rebounds. Shabazz Napier has appeared in 28 EuroLeague games over two Olimpia seasons with 355 points scored. Johannes Voigtmann has played 64 games with 384 points. Both helped the team win two Italian league championships.

THE SIGN OF ZACH –Zach LeDay was named EuroLeague Round 24 MVP following his career-high 33 points, eight rebounds, 5-of-7 three-point shooting performance against Panathinaikos. This season, LeDay was also MVP of Round 7, following the win against Virtus Bologna, and of Round 15 after the Barcelona triumph. It is the first time that an Olimpia player is named Round MVP three times during the same season.

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