Olimpia ends its 2022, a year that produced the Italian league championship and the Italian Cup with the 16th round of the EuroLeague regular season, against Valencia, the fourth Spanish team in the competition. By beating Barcelona in the last round, Valencia has risen in the standings and is now around the playoff area where Olimpia, winners of the last two games, are also trying to come back, one step at a time. To try to really get back on track, this game is essential: it precedes the road game in Athens-Olympiacos which in turn precedes the double round of Berlin plus the home game against Zalgiris. If a move up is possible, it must be done now in spite of the injury situation which has obviously not changed. Valencia is a deep team, whose cornerstone is Bojan Dubljevic, its leader, the most experienced guy and a very tough player to prepare for, because of his inside-out game. The point guards, Jared Harper-Chris Jones, are worth about 25 points per game, too. Olimpia rides the big wave of Billy Baron’s shooting: he is averaging 20.0 points per game over the last three outings; but also, Devon Hall over the last couple of wins has averaged 11.5 points per game with 75.0 percent shooting from two. With 30.4 minutes on average, he is the most used player on the team.

REFEREES – Sasa Pukl (Slovenia), Jakub Zamojski (Poland), Hugues Thepenier (France).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “This game will be very important, just like any EuroLeague game, especially because we are coming off two wins and would like to prolong our good stretch. One more time, our people support could help us a lot and so effort and attention to the rebounds. We know Valencia is a very good team, well coached by Coach Mumbru, a team capable to use efficiently its perimeter players and the unusual talent of Bojan Dubljevic, who is one of the best shooting centers in the league. We’ll try to play the best possible game, knowing very well that it won’t be any easy.”

DEVON HALL – “We are coming off two good wins in the Euroleague and we intend to keep the momentum going. We need to take one game at a time, one possession at a time for 40 minutes. We know Valencia is coming off a big win over Barcelona, so their confidence is high and we got to be prepared for a tough night.”

VALENCIA – It has some kind of record for games finished with a one-point margin, for the good or the bad: four. But we should add those closed within four points and we reach number eight and if we expand the range to a five-point margin the total become 10. So, Valencia is a team used to play very close, and contested, games. Last week’s home win against Barcelona was no exception (Chris Jones was decisive, hitting three out of four free throws in the closing seconds preserving the lead). Jones, who played in Tel Aviv and Villeurbanne before joining Valencia, is the team leading scorer averaging 14.4 points and 5.1 assists per game. He and Montenegrin center Bojan Dubljevic are the players most often featured in the starting lineup (11 times each) by Coach Alex Mumbru. Dubljevic is in his eleventh season in Valencia. He’s averaging 12.9 points per game (60.9 percent from two, 43.3 percent from three) and 4.4 rebounds per contest. The other center is the Cuban Jasiel Rivero (11.6 points per game, 60.0 percent two-point shooting). At the power forward, James Webb generally gets the nod to start (8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds on average) and is also a dangerous shooter (44.7 percent from three). The other American Kyle Alexander (averaging 4.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game) is an inside kind of player. Victor Claver (5.3 points, 66.7% from two) occupies the two wing positions bringing experience and defense. The backcourt is very deep: in addition to Jones, the small point guard Jared Harper coming off the bench produces 10.0 points and 3.9 assists per game; Slovenian Klemen Prepelic is a dangerous and experienced shooter; Jonah Radebaugh is an up-and-coming big-time athlete; Josep Puerto guarantees one more alternative at the guard especially considering the absences, from the beginning of the season, of Martin Hermansson and Sam Van Rossom. As a small forward, Xavier Lopez-Arrostegui has room to operate (6.0 points, 3.0 rebounds per game).

HISTORY VS. VALENCIA – Olimpia has played eight times in its history against Valencia with a favorable record, 5-3. During the 2010/11 season, Olimpia won in Valencia 80-69 with 26 points from Jonas Maciulis, 18 from Marjonas Petravicius and 17 from David Hawkins. In the second leg, which however was played in Biella, Valencia took revenge by winning 75-60 with 20 points from Rafa Martinez. In 2017/18, Olimpia won 103-98 after two overtimes in Valencia coming back from a 17-point deficit in the third period, making a team-record 17 3-pointers. In the return game, in Desio, Valencia won 93-89. In that game, Vlado Micov scored 27 points, a personal best in the EuroLeague. In 2019/20, Olimpia won in Milan 78-71 with 15 points from Amedeo Della Valle, 13 and 10 rebounds from Kaleb Tarczewski, 10 and eight assists from Sergio Rodriguez. In the second leg, Olimpia won in overtime 83-81 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Vlado Micov (13 points and seven rebounds). Sergio Rodriguez had 16 points with nine assists, 11 points were scored by Michael Roll. In 2020/21 the two teams met twice with one win for each team and home court was respected. Overall, Olimpia is 2-2 at home and 3-1 on the road against Valencia.

THE VALENCIA CONNECTION – Sam Van Rossom, however injured, has been under contract with Olimpia earlier in his career but he was loaned and therefore never wore the red and white jersey.

HISTORY VS. VALENCIA – Olimpia has played eight times in its history against Valencia with a favorable record, 5-3. During the 2010/11 season, Olimpia won in Valencia 80-69 with 26 points from Jonas Maciulis, 18 from Marjonas Petravicius and 17 from David Hawkins. In the second leg, which however was played in Biella, Valencia took revenge by winning 75-60 with 20 points from Rafa Martinez. In 2017/18, Olimpia won 103-98 after two overtimes in Valencia coming back from a 17-point deficit in the third period, making a team-record 17 3-pointers. In the return game, in Desio, Valencia won 93-89. In that game, Vlado Micov scored 27 points, a personal best in the EuroLeague. In 2019/20, Olimpia won in Milan 78-71 with 15 points from Amedeo Della Valle, 13 and 10 rebounds from Kaleb Tarczewski, 10 and eight assists from Sergio Rodriguez. In the second leg, Olimpia won in overtime 83-81 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Vlado Micov (13 points and seven rebounds). Sergio Rodriguez had 16 points with nine assists, 11 points were scored by Michael Roll. In 2020/21 the two teams met twice with one win for each team and home court was respected. Overall, Olimpia is 2-2 at home and 3-1 on the road against Valencia. THE VALENCIA CONNECTION – Sam Van Rossom, however injured, has been under contract with Olimpia earlier in his career but he was loaned and therefore never wore the red and white jersey.

GAME NOTES – Brandon Davies passed the 2,000 career points during last week’s game against Monaco and is three defensive rebounds shy of 500 for his career. His seven assists against Red Star are a career high. Nicolò Melli has started in all 15 Olimpia games (15 players has always started so far in the league) and in all the last 47 Milan games in which he was able to play. Melli with 1.263 rebounds for his career is now the 11th ever: a Top 10 spot is 24 rebounds away (Mirsad Turkcan with 1.287). Billy Baron has averaged 16.0 points per game in Olimpia’s five wins; 7.8 in the six games that he played in, and Olimpia lost. He has hit at least a three in 14 of his last 15 appearances. Kyle Hines is four blocks away from 300 for his career. Since he has been in Milan in the EuroLeague he has played 91 games out of 91.

Kyle Hines

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