After a few days of work following some tough weeks, Olimpia left Milan to fly to Belgrade, the basketball hotbed where tomorrow will face Red Star. The game will be played in Stark Arena, where the local team is averaging more than 18.000 spectators per game so far. The atmosphere will be predictable, it was the same in the old, smaller Nikolic Hall, the former Pionir, abandoned this year to have more fans attending the games. Red Star has not started its season well, it has the same wins Olimpia has, but all the losses came at the end of close battles. Red Star experienced some injury trouble too: last week both Adam Hanga and Shabazz Napier were out. It is a crucial game for both teams. They both want to get closer to the playoffs/play-in area. Olimpia has not won on the road yet, but over the last three games emanated encouraging signals, winning comfortably against Valencia ad Efes, losing in Bologna only during the last minute of the game. A lot of storylines are surrounding the game, although the only Red Star former player wearing the Olimpia jersey – Billy Baron – is still not available. Stefano Tonut is back after some flu-like symptoms he had over the weekend. Besides Napier, another former Olimpia guys is playing for Red Star, the very talented Nemanja Nedovic, who is leading the team in scoring. Milos Teodosic, who Olimpia faced for three straight Italian league finals, is back home, another threat. Above all, a tough game is coming up. Looking at the sheer numbers: Olimpia is the team that allows fewer offensive rebounds and is fifth for points allowed (77.1). However, Red Star is second for offensive rebounds, with Luka Mitrovic getting 2.9 of them per game. It is second in steals (Davidovac and Napier are among the Top 10) and third in turnovers. Olimpia has improved offensively, now is fifth in two-point shooting, second in three-point shooting, right where red Star has been vulnerable so far (16th in both statistical categories). Oimpia has a recent favorable tradition against Red Star, but to face them in front of more than 18.000 people, on the road, raises the bar. The game will be a special one for the Captain: Nicolò Melli will tie up Kaleb Tarczewski for the most Euroleague games played for Olimpia, 157. Tip off on Friday, 24th of November, is scheduled to take place at 20:30.

REFEREES – Emin Mogulkoc (Turkey), Ioannis Foufis (Greece), Saulius Racys (Sweden).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Red Star is a very physical team, who attempts a high number of threes per game, pushing the tempo incessantly. So, more than ever the defensive transition and the rebounds will be the determining factor of the game, probably more than the shooting percentages.”

SHAVON SHIELDS – “We are facing a very deep and experienced tean, with talented scorers, in front of a big and tough crowd, so for us it will be crucial to play hard defense for the entire 40 minutes, with no letdowns, and to take care of the ball and rebounds”.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We

RED STAR OUTLOOK – Red Star has lost six games so far, but all of them by six points or less, so the has never given up, although Coach Dusko Ivanovic was replaced early by Ioannis Sfairopoulos (formerly of Olympiacos and Maccabi). So far, when they have been available, the starting lineup has always featured Shabazz Napier (10.9 points and 2.6 assists per game) and Rokas Giedraitis, a veteran of the competition, 9.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Giedraitis with 25.1 minutes per game is the most used player, but Red Star implements a real “platoon system” with 11 players averaging over 12 minutes per night. Milos Teodosic, only one appearance as a starter, averages 10.8 points per game with 5.2 assists over 22.3 minutes of playing time; Nemanja Nedovic is the leading scorer with 12.4 points per game plus 3.9 assists (he shoots 39.4 percent from three-point range). When Adam Hanga played, he brought to the table 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds per game and his usual suffocating defense. Branko Lazic (missed six games due to injury) and Stefan Lazarevic can also be part of the wing rotation. The wild card is the Brazilian point guard Yago Dos Santos (6.5 points per game, 42.3 percent from three). Dejan Davidovac plays the two forward positions, he is an athletic player with a defensive attitude but also a three-point threat (44.4 percent). Moving on to the big men, Joel Bolomboy is the usual starter (9.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 68.2 percent shooting on twos), an extremely athletic power forward; Mike Tobey is a dangerous shooter even though he is only playing 12.2 minutes per game for now; Luka Mitrovic is an atypical center, doesn’t have great size, but is tremendously effective (11.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 59.3 percent on twos). To these must be added Marko Simonovic, Dalibor Ilic and the experienced Ognjen Kuzmic

Olimpia won both games over Red Star last season: here Nicolò Melli

HISTORY VS. RED STAR– In 1972, Simmenthal defeated the Red Star 74-70 in the Cup Winners’ Cup championship game (23 points were scored by Arthur Kenney, the virtual MVP of the competition), held in Thessaloniki. The two teams had also faced each other during the preliminary round with two wins for the home team. The two teams also met in the 1973 European Cup, for two more Simmenthal wins. During the 1984/85 season, Olimpia eliminated Red Star in the Korac Cup semifinal winning both games and proceeding then to win the cup against Varese in the championship game. Two more games and two more wins came also during the 1988/89 Korac Cup. In the EuroLeague, Red Star has won six games in a row, including the Milan game of the 2020/21 season. Olimpia eventually broke the losing streak by winning in Belgrade in the return game of the 2020/21 season. Now Olimpia is riding a five-game winning streak over Red Star. The all-time record is 11-7 is the all-time record in favor of Olimpia; 7-6 counting only the top European competition; 5-6 counting the EuroLeague only.

THE RED STAR CONNECTION – Nemanja Nedovic has played 32 games with 307 points scored for Olimpia over two EuroLeague seasons. During his time in Milan, Olimpia won one Supercup. Shabazz Napier has played 12 EuroLeague games for Olimpia last season with 180 points scored. He helped the team win the Italian league championship. Billy Baron has spent two seasons in Belgrade playing for red Star and winning once the Adriatic League. He also made his EuroLeague debut during the 2018/19 season, scoring 301 points over 26 games.

KYLE HINES NOTES – Kyle Hines has become the first player ever to appear in 400 EuroLeague games. He is two rebounds away from reaching 1,000 defensive rebounds for his career, a milestone surpassed by only seven players so far, Nicolò Melli included.

NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES – With the next appearance Nicolò Melli will tie 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, 19 rebounds ahead of the Olimpia captain.

SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – Shields surpassed 1,500 career points scored in Berlin; in Bologna, he surpassed the 1.000-point barrier scored for Olimpia, the third-most after Bob McAdoo and Vlado Micov.

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