After a seven-year hiatus, Olimpia is going to play a EuroLeague playoff game in what looks like an unprecedented series, tomorrow night at the Mediolanum Forum (20:45 tip-off time). If Milan’s experience at this stage is limited to four games, Bayern Munich is making its absolute debut. However, the concept does not apply to many players (Kyle Hines, James Gist and Sergio Rodriguez are among the top 50 ever for playoff appearances). The two teams have met twice this year, but a long time ago, in Munich it happened during the season opening night. Then they finished with the same number of wins, 21, and were part of the playoff picture for the length of the season. Olimpia will have home-court advantage, but it is a very relative concept in a season in which the two teams, together, have won 18 road games out of 34.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “It’s going to be a difficult, very close series, between the two teams that probably surprised the more during the course of the season. Bayern is a team well-coached, very disciplined, and a high-level defensive organization. It’s going to be a series decided by details, we’ll need to be patient and focus only on the first game and right now nothing more.”

GIGI DATOME – “Each playoff series unveils itself along the way, it is very important how you respond to the opponent’s moves and, to do so, it is necessary to rely on eight months of common work. They have had a similar path to ours, they are very physical, they play every possession in an intense way, and they count on several key players such as Reynolds, Lucic and Baldwin.”

KYLE HINES – “They are athletic, physical and disciplined. Against them, we only have to worry about playing our best basketball and doing well what we have done well all year. This is what you want before a playoff series, because it is obviously not possible to change overnight at this point.”

SERGIO RODRIGUEZ – “We have built our confidence throughout the year and now we are ready to face a team that deserves to be in this position because it has shown it throughout the season. We have to think about ourselves and be ready for anything that might happen, knowing that Bayern have many players who can be dangerous.”

ZACH LEDAY – “Bayern is a team that plays extremely hard, play together, and have won many close games. We will have to play as hard as possible and stick with the game plan from start to finish. What the Coach is telling us is that in the playoffs every game will be different, so we will need to be able to make the necessary adjustments on the fly. It will be important to adapt better and faster than them, but the main key will be playing as hard as possible.”

GAME 1 REFEREES – Juna Carlos Garcia (Spain), Fernando Rocha (Portugal), Tomislav Hordov (Croatia).

BAYERN BY THE NUMBERS – Bayern is the team that shoots the most two-pointers in the whole EuroLeague, but at 51.02 percent it is the least accurate among playoff teams (Olimpia is shooting  51.8 percent), and consequently it is last for three-point attempts (7.24 per game against Milan’s 9.50) while converting 38.38 percent of them. It is also the team that allows more free throws among those playing in the post-season (15.44 on average) and is second on the perimeter defense behind only Barcelona. Bayern holds its opponents at 34.72 percent from three which goes directly against Olimpia’s best weapon (41.57 percent).

BAYERN MUNICH – Three guys are, by the numbers, the main Bayern players: Wade Baldwin (15.2 points per game), who is the first team scorer and also the point guard, Vladimir Lucic at small forward (13.8 points on average, 43.9 percent from three, 61.6 from two, 4.8 rebounds) and center Jalen Reynolds (14.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 61.4 percent from two). The latter very often comes off the bench and is replaced in the lineup by Leon Radosevic (3.8 points per game, but now he also can shoot from three-point range). The starting lineup often includes Nick Weiler-Babb (6.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game) as a guard and JaJuan Johnson at the power forward position (3.6 points, 2.5 rebounds). DJ Seeley (7.8 points per game, 46.4 percent from three) and Zan Sisko, another 40 percent three-point shooter also are part of the rotation. Among the bigs, a key role is taken by James Gist (5.2 points, 3.1 rebounds on average), second only to Hines among the Americans for appearances in the EuroLeague. Paul Zipser, a German who has been in the NBA in Chicago, plays both forward positions and is a tremendous shooter (44.5 percent on 119 attempts). All-around Nihad Dedovic has only appeared in 15 games because of injuries this season and only one in the second half of the season.

Breaking down a key match up in the @OlimpiaMI1936 vs @FCBBTogether encounter… pic.twitter.com/QqCh2oQPRs

— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) April 18, 2021

OLIMPIA TEAM NOTES – Olimpia finished the regular season in first place for the lowest number of turnovers per game, an average of 10.94. It was also second in the three-point shooting, at 41.57 percent which is the best numbers among playoff teams. Olimpia is also in fourth place, with an average of 81.38 points per game, and fifth at 81.21 percent in free-throw shooting. Finally, it is the team that allows the fewest steals to their opponents, 5.79 per game.

OLIMPIA PLAYERS NOTES – Gigi Datome finished the regular season in second place, behind only Kyle Kuric (Barcelona) in three-point shooting at 53.09 percent. Zach LeDay was sixth at 49.18 percent. Shavon Shields has an active streak of 12 consecutive double-digit games, in 13 of the last 14 he has had a double-digit rating. Kevin Punter hit 28 consecutive free throws before missing the 29th; scored at least 13 points in seven of the last eight games played; had at least one steal in eight consecutive games. Vlado Micov after having exceeded 700 rebounds in his career, is now within six of 300 with Olimpia. Jeff Brooks has grabbed now more than 300 rebounds for Olimpia and 500 rebounds for his career. Kaleb Tarczewski has surpassed 700 career points, all scored with Olimpia. Sergio Rodriguez is 14 assists away from 1,400 for his career, and seven shy of 300 with Olimpia. He is 18 made threes away from 500 in his career.