The last October game is “On The Road” again: Olimpia will play in Berlin in the first of the seven “double rounds” of the European season. The team flew from Rome directly to Germany, landed in Berlin Sunday evening and had the last practice on the floor of the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Olimpia played in this arena only once, in 2016 in the Eurocup. It lost the game, however, the rebounded, won its group and qualified for the next round.
OLIMPIA – Milan will try to extend the streak of three consecutive EuroLeague wins, while Alba Berlin has lost the last three games, including the last home game against CSKA Moscow before of over 13,000 fans. Shelvin Mack, who played in Rome after three weeks, returned to Milan to complete the recovery ahead of Friday’s game against Barcelona. Nemanja Nedovic, who returned almost five months since the last, is available. Arturas Gudaitis joined his teammates directly in Berlin. The Lithuanian has at least one block in seven of the last eight games he has played in the EuroLeague. Vlado Micov appears in Berlin with an active streak of 12 free throws made. Sergio Rodriguez scored a three in 10 of the last 11 games that he played and is 11 points shy of 2,500 in his career.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Alba is a team that plays with great energy, especially at home it can play uptempo, creating many opportunities for threes, so the defensive transition, a balanced offense and limit turnovers will be the key factors to try to win a road game that is going to be very difficult, as all the EuroLeague games are.”
THE OPPONENT – Alba Berlin was admitted to the EuroLeague through the German league and its second place behind Bayern, but it was also a Eurocup finalist last season: Luke Sikma – son of the great Jack Sikma, an Hall of Famer from the 80s – he was MVP of the competition. He is one of the team’s key players (9.3 points, 5.3 rebounds per game), which relies on point-guard Peyton Siva – an NCAA title winner in Louisville – who is averaging 7.0 assists per game, on the Lithuanian swingman Rokas Giedraitis (14.3 points per game) and on center Landry Nnoko (10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds per game). At the power forward position there is also Tyler Cavanaugh, who has had some NBA experience (50 games between Atlanta and Utah) and is shooting incredibly well from three (8/13 so far). During the summer, the team signed Marcus Eriksson, an exceptional shooter (ha made the 16 free throws) and last year was excellent in Gran Canaria, also in the EuroLeague. Among the returning players, in addition to Giedraitis, Niels Giffey and Martin Hermannsson who is a great passer. The coach is Aito Garcia Reneses, the charismatic coach of FC Barcelona in the 90s, and eventually in Badalona, Malaga, Seville, Gran Canaria, in addition to the Spanish national team. Aito was named coach of the year the last season in Eurocup: he is 74 and is the oldest coach of the competition.
GLI ARBITRI – Boris Rhyzhyk (Ukraine), Emilio Perez (Spain), Josip Radojkovic (Slovenia).
MISCELLANEA – Arturas Gudaitis has blocked at least 1 shot in seven of his last eight appearances…. Sergio Rodriguez has scored in double figures in five of his last six games and has made at least one three-point shots in 10 of his last 11 games. Vlado Micov has made 12 consecutive free throws… Kaleb Tarczewski ranks fourth this season with 7.5 rebounds per game… Sergio Rodriguez ranks sixth this season with 5.5 assists per game… Sergio Rodriguez ranks fifth all-time with 1,115 assists; Milos Teodosic is fourth with 1,126. Rodriguez ranks seventh all-time with 385 three-pointers made. His former teammate, Rudy Fernandez of Real Madrid, is sixth with 405 and counting. Rodriguez is 11 points shy of reaching 2,500 for his career… Luis Scola ranks eighth all-time with 827 two-pointers made.
