EuroLeague’s second leg begins on Thursday with a clash between Olimpia and Panathinaikos who is one win above Milan in the standings. Panathinaikos have won only two of its last five games, but the defeats came against Barcelona and Maccabi on the road, and against Real Madrid at home. Last week, Panathinaikos won in Moscow after an overtime with 22 points and 17 assists by Nick Calathes, who was named as the 17th round MVP with a personal index rating of 40 points. In that same game, Kostas Mitoglou shattered his personal bests by scoring 25 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.
CHACHO Vs NICK – On the court, there are two of the top five ever in assists in the EuroLeague. Sergio Rodriguez is third overall, Nick Calathes is fifth. With a 9.1 average, the Panathinaikos point-man leads the league again this season, while Rodriguez is sitting in sixth place. Calathes is only struggling from the line (55%) and is shooting below 30% from three, which did not prevent him in Moscow from making the three that forced the overtime. Rodriguez, who was the EuroLeague MVP of the month in October, has an active streak of 12 free throws made, but he hasn’t shot any in the last four games. His 94.87% places him in 4th place overall. Jimmer Fredette from Panathinaikos is one of the few better than him, with 95.52%.
OLIMPIA – Milan turned the mid-season mark with a 9-8 record, built over a 7-2 record at home. One of the road wins came in Athens. Olimpia faces the league’s best scoring team, with 88.2 points per game, and will try to use its perimeter defense that is keeping opponents below 34% from three.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face a very talented team, led by a great coach like Rick Pitino and coming off a big road win against CSKA. Obviously, against Panathinaikos the biggest issue is defending the Nick Calathes’ run pick-and-roll, but they have also a great amount of physicality and it’s important, considering their size, to keep control of the rebounds. We are fully aware of how important this game is, so we’ll do whatever it takes to try to win it”.
THE LAST TIME WE MET… – Olimpia turned a seven-point deficit in the fourth period by winning 79-78, thanks to a stellar game by Vlado Micov (18 points). The game was decided by two free throws made by Riccardo Moraschini with 8.8 seconds left. Calathes had one more opportunity, but the defense held up and protected the lead.
THE OPPONENT – For the second year in a row, Panathinaikos has changed its head coach in-season and again called the Hall of Famer, Rick Pitino with whom the current record is 4-3. The team leader is obviously Nick Calathes (14.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game). Jimmer Fredette is scoring 14.3 points per game and is a 43.1% three-point shooter. The starting lineup is generally completed by power forward DeShaun Thomas (13.8 points per game), small forward Ioannis Papapetrou (a 68.8% two-point shooter), and the former NBA first rounder, Georgios Papagiannis at center. But Panathinaikos is a deep team, with Kostas Mitoglou, Jacob Wiley and Tyrese Rice coming off the bench. Rice, who was the 2014 Final Four MVP with Maccabi, had a 41-point game against Olympiacos this season.
THE PANATHINAIKOS CONNECTION – DeShaun Thomas and Amedeo Della Valle played one year together at Ohio State. Vlado Micov and Ian Vougioukas played together at Galatasaray during the 2014/15 season. Michael Roll and DeShaun Thomas played for Maccabi together in the 2017/18 season.
