The defending European Champions of Panathinaikos are coming to Milan on a night of great emotions in which Olimpia – obviously without, among the others, its most experienced player, Nikola Mirotic – will have to play above its limits to try to win a game of enormous difficulty. Panathinaikos is dealing with some absences in a curious coincidence because they will not have the two centers chosen at the beginning of the season, Mathias Lessort and Omer Yurtseven, just like Olimpia will be without Josh Nebo and Ousmane Diop. So, the battle will be between the reserves, Gabriel and Antetokoumnpo on one side, Freddie Gillespie and Willie Caruso on the other even if both coaches will also revert to alternative solutions using two power forwards at the same time. The game will be played in a packed Unipol Forum, then Olimpia will have two consecutive road games in Munich and Kaunas before the break. The list of the unavailable players will include for this game Pippo Ricci, who reported a left thig trauma during the last Italian league game.
Tip-off will take place at 20:30 on Thursday, January 30.
REFEREES – Carlos Peruga (Spain), Milivoje Jovcic (Serbia), Carlos Cortes (Spain).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “The game might look to be prohibitive for us. However, in front of our people, we fully intend to play with courage, keeping out the sadness that afflicted us in Istanbul, and with the healthy players we will have, try to pose to the defending champions of Panathinaikos the best possibile challenge.”
PANATHINAIKOS OUTLOOK – Panathinaikos has lost two centers to injury in recent weeks, so, compared to the game in Athens, Mathias Lessort and Omer Yurtseven won’t be available. To strengthen the inside game, Wenyen Gabriel was acquired from Maccabi Tel Aviv (he is averaging 5.3 points and 4.0 rebounds on since he is with Pana, but he is shooting 71.4 percent from two), while another option for the position is represented by Kostas Antetokoumnpo, the younger brother of the great Giannis who missed a few games due to injury (3.3 points per game). But Coach Ataman can also go smaller by using Dinos Mitoglou as a nominal center, as he used to do sometimes in Milan. However, the reigning European Champion team has its strength in the perimeter players both in terms of quality and depth. Ataman normally starts with Kendrick Nunn and Jerian Grant, and they are interchangeable. Nunn is an incredible left-handed scorer, averaging 20.1 points on 40.7 percent three-point shooting, adding 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Grant is more effective defensively but is still averaging 8.5 points and 3.3 assists per game on 39.1 percent three-point shooting. But Kostas Sloukas and Lorenzo Brown can come off the bench. The level of experience is very high. Sloukas, only two appearances in the starting five but over 20 minutes of average playing time, has 7.9 points and 4.7 assists per game. Brown averages 7.6 points and 3.2 assists per game. The starting small forward, with Marius Grigonis out of action for some time, is the Turkish Cedi Osman (7.1 points on 39.1 percent from three), who boasts a long past in the NBA and returned to Europe at the beginning of this season. The back-ups are Ioannis Papapetrou and Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, a player of great competitiveness and defense. The power forwards are Juancho Hernangomez, also a long-time NBA player but in his second year at Panathinaikos, and Dinos Mitoglou. The Spaniard is expressing himself at higher levels than the last season when he had to re-adjust as demonstrated by the 25 and more minutes on the court in which he produces 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds, with great efficiency, 59.3 percent from two, 45.2 percent from three. Mitoglou plays less, 13.5 minutes on average with 4.2 points per game and 39.3 percent shooting on threes.
THE PANATHINAIKOS CONNECTION – Jerian Grant spent in Milan the 2021/22 season, helping the team win the Italian Cup and the Italian championship. While in the Italian Cup, he was barely used, his impact was huge during the playoffs. He appeared in 36 Italian league games, 11 in the playoffs. In the EuroLeague, he had 26 games, and 42 points scored. Dinos Mitoglou, over the same season, played 13 EuroLeague games with 99 points scored for Olimpia before his season was interrupted by a suspension.
