It is already time to get back on the road: Olimpia’s Christmas was spent in the European skies, from Malpensa to Kaliningrad, where on Thursday 26th of December the team finishes its 2019 EuroLeague by facing the defending Champions of CSKA Moscow. It’s a game with a thousand different angles: CSKA won the last eight games against Milan, is riding an active streak of eight consecutive Final Four appearances, 16 of the last 17, the two coaches have won six titles together; Ettore Messina has coached six years at CSKA where his seat was taken – when he decided to go to the NBA, at San Antonio – by Dimitris Itoudis. Vlado Micov and Sergio Rodriguez are two former CSKA players: the Spanish point guard was decisive in the Vitoria Final Four triumph of last May. Mike James, winner of the last two MVP of the week awards, and Daniel Hackett are former Olimpia stars.
OLIMPIA – It has just returned from a positive week: the team won two Italian league games, suffered an acceptable loss in Madrid and defeated Valencia. CSKA is the best three-point shooting team in the league, but Olimpia is in third place and is better at defending on threes. Nemanja Nedovic joined the group so Olimpia will enjoy the opportunity of playing with the full roster.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “It’s an honor and a great challenge to face the defending champions and measure ourselves against what I consider the best European club in terms of management ability, organization, quality players and consistency from a basketball standpoint. Obviously, it’s an extremely difficult game that we’ll play with the enthusiasm of a team who knows that it will face the best”
SERGIO RODRIGUEZ: “It’s a very special game for me, I have great memories of my two years spent as a CSKA player. We won everything and so it’s amazing to be back, meet a lot of friends and talk to a lot of them. Unfortunately, we won’t play in Moscow, but I’m still excited to face my former team”.
WHY KALININGRAD – CSKA will host Milan at Yantarny Sports Palace in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave of nearly 1 million people located on the Baltic Sea coast between Lithuania and Poland. The 7,000-seat Yantarny Sports Palace was built in 2009 in what is Russia’s westernmost city. Since Kaliningrad has no professional basketball club this week’s game will mark the first time that Yantarny Sports Palace will host any basketball game at all. For that reason, CSKA is sending from Moscow the floor, baskets and all other equipment necessary to make the arena into a basketball court.
THE OPPONENT – CSKA Moscow has retained eight players from the team that won the EuroLeague, but one of them – Will Clyburn – is out for the season due to an injury. Many key elements of that team have left, including Sergio Rodriguez, Nando De Colo, Cory Higgins and Othello Hunter. Experienced EuroLeague players came aboard, Mike James, Darrun Hilliard and Johannes Voigtmann from Vitoria, Janis Strelnieks from Olympiacos as well as two former NBA players, like Ron Baker and the Greek center Kosta Koufos. Mike James is scoring 20.2 points per game and with an average of 4.1 assists he is the best passer too. Voigtmann is the best rebounder, Kyle Hines – an amazing defender – is the third best shot-blocker ever. Hilliard is averaging 10.8 points per game. But at the moment CSKA’s confidence at shooting threes is tremendous: James (11/14 in the last two outings) and Nikita Kurbanov are over 50% for the season, Strelnieks is shooting over 40%. Among the most important returning players, in addition to Kyle Hines, are Kurbanov, the athletic big man Joel Bolomboy and of course Daniel Hackett.
THE RODRIGUEZ CONNECTION – Sergio Rodriguez played two years at CSKA, winning twice the VTB League and the 2019 EuroLeague. He played 71 EuroLeague games with the Moscow team, with 852 points scored and 237 assists. Rodriguez will reunite with many of his former teammates, including Kyle Hines, Andrei Vorontsevich, Nikita Kurbanov, Daniel Hackett, as well as Coach Itoudis. His 13.8 points per game average for the 2017/18 season is his career best in the EuroLeague.
THE MICOV CONNECTION – Vlado Micov played 61 EuroLeague games for CSKA Moscow in 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons. In both cases CSKA reached the Final Four. In two years, he has won the VTB league twice. He was a teammate in both seasons of Andrei Vorontsevich and spent one year with Kyle Hines and Nikita Kurbanov.
THE HACKETT CONNECTION – Daniel Hackett played two years in Milan between the 2013/14 season (not entirely) and the 2014/15 season. He won the 2014 Italian championship. At the end of his experience in Milan, he played two years for Olympiacos and one for Bamberg, before moving to Moscow. He played 42 EuroLeague games with Olimpia, scoring 10.5 points per game in the 2014/15 season, during which he made a walk-off three-pointer to beat Bayern Munich.
THE JAMES CONNECTION – Mike James played the 2018/19 season in Milan. He was the EuroLeague top scorer with 595 points scored in 30 games, He also tied the club assist record in a game with 12 against CSKA Moscow. James had among his teammates Cinciarini, Nedovic, Micov, Brooks, Burns, Gudaitis and Tarczewski.
THE MESSINA CONNECTION – Coach Ettore Messina spent six seasons as the CSKA Moscow head coach: he led the team to the Final Four six times, winning the EuroLeague in 2006 and 2008. He left CSKA in 2009 after four years, then he returned in 2012 for two more years during which he won the VTB League twice. In both 2006 and 2008 he was named EuroLeague Coach of the Year. His record in the EuroLeague at CSKA Moscow is 123-33.
