Olimpia landed in Munich on Sunday evening, finding cold temperatures, below zero, and a snow-covered city, so much so that Bayern requested and obtained the postponement of the Bundesliga game that was supposed to be played in Berlin. So, Bayern will play tomorrow evening in his ready for retirement arena (Bayern will soon move to a new building, much bigger and modern, leaving behind the 1972 Olympics sports Hall) with fresh legs and high morale after the big win, secured in the final quarter last Thursday against Virtus Bologna. Bayern has clear characteristics: they are last in three-point shooting, in part because the specialist Andreas Obst has missed some games including the last one, but they are the best team in rebounding, especially under the offensive board, thanks to the presence not only of specialists such as Serge Ibaka (MVP of the previous EuroLeague round) and Devin Booker, who are combining to get around 14 rebounds per game, but also of very physically strong wings such as Isaac Bonga and Nick Weiler-Babb. Obviously, Olimpia is not going through a brilliant time. In Munich, there is no Billy Baron, no Nikola Mirotic and the last losses have taken a toll mentally that the team needs to fight.
THE REFEREES – Sasa Pukl (Slovenia), Uros Obrknezevic (Serbia), Saso Petek (Slovenia).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face a team coming off a good win and clearly in a good moment. They are a physical and great offensive rebounding team. We need to play with sense of urgency and to make sure we will protect our board. This is our first goal in order to have the chance to compete for the win on a very tough court.”
BAYERN MUNICH OUTLOOK – Coached by Pablo Laso, the third coach all time in the EuroLeague for games won (241, the same number of wins scored by Javi Pascual), Bayern has changed a lot over the last couple of seasons. The veterans are Vladimir Lucic, who has yet to play a game because of injury problems, and the combo guard Nick Weiler-Babb, who is averaging 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Among the perimeter players, during the summer, Sylvain Francisco (10.0 points per game on average), Carsen Edwards from Fenerbahce (he is scoring 9.6 points per game) and the former NBA player Leandro Bolmaro came aboard. Bolmaro is averaging 10.4 points and 3.4 assists per game. The two World Champions, the impressive shooter Andreas Obst (6.5 points per game) and multidimensional Isaac Bonga (8.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game) complete, along Weiler-Babb, a very deep roster. Niels Giffey is another dangerous shooter, who is providing 4.9 points per game. Among the big men, Serge Ibaka is the star, a former NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors, he used to be a big star at Oklahoma State and originally with Real Madrid. Ibaka can play two positions and as of now is averaging 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over 23 minutes. Ibaka is shooting 46.7 percent on threes. Next to him there is the veteran Devin Booker, who is averaging 10.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. They are sustained off the bench by the very athletic and vertical center Freddie Gillespie.
HISTORY VS BAYERN – The two teams faced each other 17 times, seven of them during the 2020/21 season when they squared off in the playoffs. The overall record is 11-6 in Olimpia’s favor, 8-1 in Milan and 3-5 in Munich. Olimpia won both games during the 2014/15 season and lost both times during the 2018/19 season. In the 2019/20 season, Olimpia won in Milan 79-78 coming back from 13 points behind in the fourth quarter and 20 points down in the second half. Vlado Micov scored 16 points. In 2020/21 season, Olimpia won in Munich 81-78 after an overtime with a Shavon Shields’ three with nine seconds left. Kyle Hines had 16 points and went 5-for-5 from the field. In the memorable 2021 playoff series, Olimpia won Game 1, 79-78, coming back from a 19-point deficit. The winning basket was scored by Zach LeDay who converted an alley-oop pass from out of bound by Malcolm Delaney. After winning Game 2, 80-69, and losing Game 3 85-79, Olimpia lost 85-82 Game 4 when it was its turn to give up a lead in the closing seconds. Game 5 was one for the ages. Shavon Shields had a 34-point career night, Olimpia dominated before attending the furious Bayern rally in the closing seconds that was stopped by the iconic Kyle Hines block over Wade Baldwin. Last season, Olimpia prevailed in Munich 83-81 thanks to a corner three-pointer made by Billy Baron. Nicolò Melli had 17 points and 29 of index rating. Eight of the 16 games played between these two teams have ended within a 3-point margin.
THE BAYERN CONNECTION – Diego Flaccadori played 44 EuroLeague games with Bayern from 2019 and 2021. Maodo Lo spent two seasons in Bayern from 2018 to 2020 winning the German championship in 2019. Lo played 57 EuroLeague games for Bayern with 344 points scored. He and Johannes Voigtmann were part of the German National Team that won the World title along Isaac Bonga, Niels Giffey and Andreas Obst.
KYLE HINES NOTES – Kyle Hines has surpassed the 1,000 defensive rebounds milestone for his career, a feat achieved by only seven players so far, Nicolò Melli included. He is also five total rebounds shy of the second place all-time that currently belongs to Felipe Reyes.
NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES –Nicolò Melli has just passed Kaleb Tarczewski’s 156 games played as the All-Time leader for Olimpia in the EuroLeague. Meanwhile, he has put Ante Tomic behind him as the sole holder of fifth place All-Time in the defensive rebounds list. The fourth place belongs to Georgios Printezis with 1,065, 11rebounds ahead of the Olimpia captain.
⚪️All-Time Olimpia Leader Games Played 🔴
— Olimpia Milano (@OlimpiaMI1936) December 2, 2023
Capitano ❤️🏀#insieme #olimpiamilano #ForzaOlimpia pic.twitter.com/4lx7WuSgno
SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – Over the last three games, Shavon Shields has scored 58 points (19.7 on average), with 12 rebounds (average: 4.0), 8-for-11 from two, 12-for-19 from three. Shields has career averages of 11.7 points and 11.8 index rating per game. This season: 16.0 points and 15.8 index rating per game.
MAODO LO NOTES – His 32 points and his 38 of index rating made in Belgrade are both career highs. His previous high-scoring game was against Olympiacos when he played for Alba Berlin, with 27. Lo is the 21st Olimpia player to have scored at least 30 points in EuroLeague or Champions’ Cup game. The club record belongs to Bob McAdoo and Paolo Vittori with 43. It was the 55th 30+ point performance by an Olimpia player. The 38 points of personal index rating are the third highest value after Samardo Samuels’ 47 (2014/15) and Shavon Shields’ 41 (2020/21).
