After a very tough battle in Belgrade, a physical, exhausting game, mentally draining, with small leads and resolved only in the end, by pushing back the last attempt at a comeback mounted by Red Star, Olimpia is back on the road in the Italian league, direction Brescia. It will be a round trip in the same day of course, before the schedule proposes another crucial EuroLeague battle, in Paris. Finding the energy to face all these battles, all of them really important, is obviously not easy. Above all, it is not easy now that the EuroLeague is coming fast and furious with playoff games disguised as routine games. Olimpia is in the middle of four games that are going to affect the season outcome. It has won the first and there are still three to go. The game in Brescia, against the Italian league leader, deservedly, a solid team that has clear hierarchies and set rotations, would have been complicated regardless of the circumstances. So, it is even more hard to play. Olimpia has beaten Germani twice this season, but this time the game is being played on the road, in a sold-out arena, and with prudent choices that had to be made in terms of roster. Before leaving for Brescia tomorrow, the available players will be counted, who should be spared to avoid trouble, who will be ready to give battle. “Recovering energy will be the hard part and we know that in Brescia you have a chance to win only if you take there your A-Game,” assistant coach Mario Fioretti said.
BRESCIA OUTLOOK – Brescia won the Italian Cup two years ago, last year they played in the playoff semifinals and this year, in addition to reaching the Italian Cup semifinals against Olimpia, this current season, they are keeping up an impressive pace and enter this game at the top of the standingsm tied with Virtus Bologna, two wins ahead of Milan. There is no doubt that they are now a top-tier team in Italy. The most relevant aspect is that when he had the entire roster available, Coach Peppe Poeta always used the same starting lineup and when he didn’t haveMaurice Ndour he used Joseph Mobio as a starter, not the designated sixth man Jason Burnell. The main player is always Amedeo Della Valle, who is producing 16.2 points per game, shooting 41.4 percent from three on 6.3 attempts and is almost infallible from the free throw line (91.0 percent, 6.9 trips to the line on average thanks to 3.9 fouls drawn per game). The Montenegrin Nikola Ivanovic is averaging 14.5 points per game on 38.8 percent shooting from three and 58.9 percent on twos. Miro Bilan at the center position is another veteran of the Italian league, a very high level low post player, averaging 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He is also a sort of added playmaker, averaging 4.0 assists per game. The starting small forward is Demetre Rivers, 11.2 points on average on 44.7 percent three-point shooting. The power forward is Maurice Ndour, who has energy and athleticism, averages 9.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per games. The sixth man Jason Burnell plays both small forward and power forward positions: off the bench he brings to the team 12.2 points per game, with 56.7 percent from two, and 4.6 rebounds per game. Another crucialplayer off the bench is the third guard Chris Dowe, who has already played in Sassari and Tortona, and in 17.5 minutes averages 6.9 points and 2.0 assists per game. The rotation is completed by David Cournooh among the guards (4.7 points per game) and Joseph Mobio among the big men. If needed, Poeta can also call on the experience of Giancarlo Ferrero.
THE BRESCIA CONNECTION – Head coach Peppe Poeta is coming off a two-year stint as assistant coach at Olimpia Milano where he won two Italian league titles. The Brescia team includes Amedeo Della Valle who played 48 league games in two seasons with Olimpia Milano. Giordano Bortolani played on loan in Brescia in the 2020/21 season with 161 points scored in 26 appearances. One of Brescia’s assistant coaches is David Moss, who played at Olimpia between 2013 and 2015, contributing to the team winning the 2014 championship.
