The penultimate regular season game in Milan is the Easter Friday clash, at the Unipol Forum, against Vanoli Cremona, the sixth Lombard derby of the season (Olimpia’s record is 4-1 so far). The game is of particular relevance for Olimpia, which needs to continue winning, in its pursuit of home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Vanoli is close to reaching the season goal of keeping its spot in the Italian league, but probably needs one more win to declare itself safe. Vanoli lost the last game, at home against Trento at the buzzer, but had won the two previous games. Olimpia, after the victory over Pistoia, worked all week in its facility. No injured players are expected to ruturn compared to the last outing.
Tip-off time is scheduled for Friday, April 18, at 20:30.
CREMONA OUTLOOK – Vanoli has changed its configuration compared to the game that Olimpia won in the first half of the season in Cremona. In particular, it has added the experienced point guard Semaj Christon, making the guard department even more offensive powerful and talented, counting on the former Armoni Brooks’ teammate at Houston University, Corey Davis (14.2 points and 5.7 assists per game) and the former Pistoia sharpshooter Payton Willis (15.5 points per game) who attempts more than seven three-pointers per game. Christon is producing 9.0 points and 2.9 assists on average. Another experienced player is forward Trevor Lacey, 6.2 points per game on 39.8 percent three-point shooting. The other forwards are Stefan Nikolic (8.7 points on 58.6 percent two-point shooting and 3.4 rebounds on average) and another veteran like Christian Burns, who came from Cantù midseason and averages 4.9 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in addition to his energy and aggressive play. Cremona also implements a three-guard line-up adding to the rotation Federico Zampini, a guard who averages 4.8 points per game on 42.2 percent three-point shooting. The center is the former Varese and Napoli player, Tariq Owens, 10.0 points and 6.5 rebounds on average, 67.3 percent on twos and 1.4 blocks per game. His back-up is Godwin Omenaka, a Nigerian center with a Hungarian passport, who just came from the Chinese league.
THE CREMONA CONNECTION – Pippo Ricci made his Italian league debut with Cremona. He palyed 70 games over two seasons and won an Italian Cup. Christian Burns had 55 games and 211 points scored for Olimpia over two seasons, between 2018 and 2020.
