A great EuroLeague night is coming up at the Mediolanum Forum on Friday night, with Olimpia facing a top-level opponent such as Olympiacos Piraeus right after two defeats collected on the road. The two teams have great defensive numbers, Olimpia is allowing 71.1 points per game (second overall) and Olympiacos 73.7. And they are also the best teams at defending the three-point shot. Olympiacos is first with 29.5 percent, Olimpia is second with 30.1 percent. Another similarity: Olimpia is the team that has the lowest number of turnovers with 10.8, Olympiacos is second with 10.9. Olimpia in general is 7-0 when it can hold its opponents under 74 points scored, 1-1 when they scored exactly 74 points, 0-2 when they scored more. Olympiacos have been relentless defensively at home but has allowed over 84 points per game on the road. This too will be a key to the game. Two of the best playmakers of the latest European generation will be on the court, too, Sergio Rodriguez and Kostas Sloukas, who are both used to come off the bench. Olimpia is not in the greatest shape, because last week it lost Dinos Mitoglou, one of the most powerful weapons that it has, especially offensively and in the rebounds compartment, while Malcolm Delaney will return after missing six straight games (it is also true that with Delaney available, Milan is 5-0). Olimpia is coming off a large Italian league win, while Olympiacos played the derby last Monday with Panathinaikos, losing in the closing minutes.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face an extremely solid and consistent team, capable to hurt us both with the pick and roll and the post-up game of a player atypical and still very efficient like Fall. They have depth and a tough defense, a trait typical of any Bartzokas coached team. We are coming off a tough week in Russia and we’ll try to do everything we can to get back on a winning track, but we know that the game will be a difficult one.”

MALCOLM DELANEY – “We are playing against a dangerous, well coached team. They are ambitious while we are working to get back on the right track in the EuroLeague so we have to come ready to play a 40-minute game. Also, I’m very excited to be back with my guys, with only a few days of practice I have a long way to go but I just want to try my best to pick up where I left off and keep having fun with the guys.”

THE REFEREES – Ilija Belosevic (Serbia), Damir Javor (Croatia), Tomasz Trawicki (Poland).

HISTORY VS. OLYMPIACOS – There have been 21 previous games between these two teams in the EuroLeague. Olimpia have won seven times and lost 14. In Piraeus the record is 9-2 for Olympiacos, including the 86-75 of last season’s games with 16 points scored by Aaron Harrison and Georgios Printezis, while there were 18 points from Sergio Rodriguez and 16 from Michael Roll for Olimpia. Milan won in Piraeus on March 6, 2014, 88-86, with Keith Langford scoring 20 points in that game including the decisive three-pointer. The second win dates back to the first leg of the 2018/19 season, in which Olimpia won with a resounding 99-75. There were 22 points by Mike James, 20 coming from Nemanja Nedovic and 19 from Vlado Micov. At home, Olimpia has won on January 29, 2009, 76-74, top scorer Luca Vitali with 15 points; during the 2013/14 season, when Olimpia won 81-51 with 29 points by Keith Langford; during the 2015/16 season in which it came back and prevailed 99-83 with 15 points and six rebounds by Davide Pascolo; during the 2018/19 season, 66-57 with 27 points scored by Mike James and 13 by Vlado Micov; and last season in which it won 90-70 with 27 points by Kevin Punter, 16 by Malcolm Delaney and 14 by Sergio Rodiguez. There are two games prior to the existence of the EuroLeague. During the 1996/97 season, Olympiacos won 87-84 at home; Olimpia won in Milan 73-71. So the overall record is 15-8 for the Greek team.

THE OLYMPIACOS CONNECTION – Christos Stavropoulos, general manager of Olimpia Milano, spent 19 years at Olympiacos, winning the EuroLeague twice, among other things. Both triumphs featured Kyle Hines who played for Olympiacos for two years before moving to CSKA Moscow. During his two years at Olympiacos, Hines played 53 EuroLeague games scoring 503 points and grabbing 286 rebounds. Olympiacos coach Georgios Bartzokas also coached the same team under Stavropoulos. Kostas Sloukas won the EuroLeague at Fenerbahce playing with Gigi Datome; in the same team he had Nicolò Melli as a teammate for two years. Coach Bartzokas worked with Malcolm Delaney at Lokomotiv Kuban.

GAME NOTES – Sergio Rodriguez has scored 816 EuroLeague points with Olimpia and passed the 800-point barrier during the last round in St. Petersburg after Shavon Shields had just crossed the 600-point barrier. Rodriguez’s next EuroLeague game will be the number 77 for him with Olimpia which will allow him to tie Mike D’Antoni at the fifth-place all-time. Chacho is also 11 points away from Alessandro Gentile’s second place for points scored in the EuroLeague, while he is fifth considering the previous competitions. He just overtook Roberto Premier. Gigi Datome played his 250th game in Istanbul. He was the 26th player to reach this milestone, but the first Italian to do so. Datome has scored 2,157 career points, six behind the Italian record holder, Gianluca Basile.

Share the article with your friends and support the team

Share the article with your friends and support the team
URL Copied to clipboard! Copia link