Next week Olimpia will take part in the 22nd playoff final of the Italian league in its history over 42 post-season participations. The record in the previous 21 finals is 11-10. The first finals dates back to the 1978/79 season when Olimpia lost 2-0 against the defending champions of Virtus Bologna. Olimpia played a record-eight finals in a row between 1982 and 1989, winning five of them. The current 4-final streak is the second longest in the club’s history. Dan Peterson is the club record holder among coaches with seven finals participations; with four, Ettore Messina is second; Franco Casalini coached two championships series. The late Casalini also boasts seven finals as an assistant to Peterson. Mario Fioretti precedes him: this will be his eleventh appearances.
COACH MESSINA NOTES – This is Coach Messina’s eighth finals ever in the Italian league: he has won six so far, three in Bologna, one in Treviso and two in Milan. Only once has he been defeated (in 2021). Overall, he now boasts a 30-9 record in single series. His record of playoff games won, 93, and coached, 137, is further strengthened. Since being in Milan, he is 12-0 in semifinal games.
NIK MELLI NOTES – For Nicolò Melli this is the fifth finals in the Italian league. The first dates back to the 2011/12 season, the first won to the 2013/14 season. In Italy, he’s played 17 playoff series with a record of 14-3. Melli rose to 16th place all-time in playoff rebounding and 15th in defensive rebounding. Meanwhile, he is just five defensive rebounds away from 1,000 with Olimpia, just one away from Bob McAdoo’s fourth place overall. Melli has appeared in four championship series, two in Germany and two in Turkey and won three of them.
SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – For Shields, the 17th scorer ever in the Italian league playoffs, this is the sixth finals. Every time he has played in Italy, he has reached at least the championship series. It happened twice in Trento and now four times in Milan. His record in the playoff series is 14-3. Shields played one more final in Spain with Baskonia and won it.
PIPPO RICCI NOTES – In Game 3 in Brescia, he set the personal record for points scored in a playoff game with 16. The previous one, 15, scored twice, dates back to his experience at Virtus Bologna. Ricci is playing in his fourth consecutive final but the first of this streak was played for Bologna. So, he enters the series with an 11-game playoff winning streak open and a career record of 11-1 series won-lost. The only series he lost was the first, in 2019 in Cremona in the quarterfinals. Ricci has a 36-7 personal playoff record over the last four years.
Billy Baron Let It Rain Tonight. Sorry, We meant Pippo Ricci ☂️☂️☂️#insieme #ForzaOlimpia pic.twitter.com/GN5dOB2evI
— Olimpia Milano (@OlimpiaMI1936) May 30, 2024
STEFANO TONUT NOTES – Stefano Tonut will play the fourth championship series of his career. The first two were played with Reyer Venezia, winning both, 4-2 against Trento in 2017, 4-3 against Sassari in 2019, the third was played with Olimpia last year. Overall, therefore, he is 3-0 in the final’s series, 12-8 in individual games.
KYLE HINES NOTES – Kyle Hines is the third foreigner ever to have reached four finals in his first four years in the Italian league (even though he played the A2 league twice). Ksystof Lavrinovic did it in Siena (five times) and then Shavon Shields did it, now reaching six appearances. The Lithuanian from Siena has played five consecutive finals; Shields reached the sixth on six seasons, but they were not consecutive finals. Hines is at four straight like him. Bob McAdoo reached the final in all of his first three Italian seasons. But the incredible aspect is another: Hines has reached the final of his national league for 13 consecutive years. He played one in Germany, two in Greece, six in Russia and now four in Italy. That’s 13 (in 14 seasons: in 2019/20 in Russia the league was interrupted due to Covid as happened in Italy).
NIKOLA MIROTIC NOTES – This is his first final in Italy, but Mirotic played seven finals in Spain, in all the seasons spent there, before leaving it, from 2012 onwards. He played three finals with Real Madrid (1-2) and four with Barcelona (2-2) including the one in the Valencia “Bubble” in 2020, lost in a single elimination game against Baskonia. Last year he won the Spanish title with Barcelona by beating Real Madrid 3-0 in the series and earning the MVP award.
