Coming off a big win in Lyon, Olimpia remains on the road for the third time in eight days, this time in Pistoia, another team that against Milan will enjoy the benefit of a sold-out arena, a venue where traditionally the crowd provides a great emotional boost to the home team. With the two recent Italian league wins, Olimpia has corrected its place in the standings and clinched a berth for the Italian Cup. It was a formality probably but it is now mathematically in, so the last two games of the first half of the regular season will essentially serve to try to improve the record looking very well ahead. On the eve of another crucial EuroLeague road game, in Belgrade against Maccabi Tel Aviv, the need to win in Pistoia is combined with the obligation of being prudent. For this reason, since Shavon Shields and Zach LeDay have been left in Milan to nurse some musculat overload, it will be crucial to get the contribution that Stefano Tonut gave to the team against Trapani and Diego Flaccadori provided in Treviso. “We know they have one of the most effective home court advantage in the league – assistant coach Mario Fioretti said – so every possession will be crucial to keep their perimeter players to to tutn their play on and to limit the versatility of their big men.”

PISTOIA OUTLOOK – Pistoia’s losing streak reached seven games entering Sunday’s clash, but it looks a lot like a travesty since Pistoia has never lost by more than seven points (last Sunday in Brescia) and four times the defeat came within a four-point margin. The Tuscan team started the season with Dante Calabria as coach, then replaced him with Zare Markovski and now the Slovenian Gasper Okorn has taken the team over. The roster is also adapting to a series of changes, the latest involves the signing of veteran center Derek Cooke, who will not yet be available against Milan. The six foreigners used in the last round are the three pillars of the team: Semaj Christon, Michael Forrest and Maverick Rowan, plus Eric Paschall, Maurice Kemp and Karlis Silins (Andrew Smith is also available). Christon, who arrived when season had already started, has played in Pesaro, Tortona and Brescia, and is averaging 15.0 points and 5.8 assists per game. Forrest is another guard, from Florida Atlantic (he finished as the school’s all-time second-best scorer), in his second year as a pro is producing 15.2 points on 46.8 percent three-point shooting (he is also averaging 3.2 assists per game). Rowan, a 2.01 forward, son of Ron Rowan, a great scorer in Pistoia (current owner of the club) in the 90s, played at North Carolina State and then spent many seasons in the American minor leagues. Currently, he is averaging 14.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Karlis Silins is a Latvian center-forward who also played at Florida Atlantic and last year was in Germany in Gottingen. He averages 14.5 points per game on 41.4 percent shooting from three (also 6.4 rebounds per game). Kemp is a 33-year-old, experienced power forward who has played all over the world and most recently in China. He came four games ago, and now he averages 13.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, including three offensive rebounds per night. Paschall is the biggest name: he won the 2018 NCAA Tournament with Villanova playing alongside Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, then played 158 NBA games between Golden State and Utah. In Pistoia, he has 11.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. The rotation is completed by Gianluca Della Rosa and Lorenzo Saccaggi among the guards, plus Micheal Anumba among the wingers.