{"id":45093,"date":"2020-09-11T15:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.demo.olimpia.iquii.info\/olimpia-is-testing-itself-in-a-very-competitive-euroleague-tournament-in-kaunas-2\/"},"modified":"2020-09-11T15:00:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T13:00:18","slug":"olimpia-is-testing-itself-in-a-very-competitive-euroleague-tournament-in-kaunas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olimpiamilano.com\/en\/olimpia-is-testing-itself-in-a-very-competitive-euroleague-tournament-in-kaunas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Olimpia is testing itself in a very competitive EuroLeague tournament in Kaunas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A preview of the upcoming EuroLeague season will be staged at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas during the weekend<\/strong> (a second \u201cWe\u2019Re Back” tournament is scheduled in Valencia). Olimpia will play on Saturday 12 September at 3.00 pm Italian time against Alba Berlin. In the second semifinal, Zalgiris Kaunas will face Panathinaikos Athens. For Milan, it is a sort of warm-up event before the Supercup Final Four scheduled in Bologna the following weekend. It is played according to the EuroLeague rules, so all the nine foreigners will be available at the same time. Olimpia comes to Kaunas for this tournament after winning six games out of six in the Supercup qualifying round.<\/p>\n

COACH ETTORE MESSINA \u2013<\/strong> “It\u2019s a very important time because this tournament allows us to recreate some kind of enthusiasm and self confidence after a long and hard period, for the World, the sport, and in this case for the EuroLeague basketball,. For that reason we are very proud to be part of this competition, and hopefully i twill be only the start of another exciting EuroLeague season\u201d.<\/p>\n

KYLE HINES<\/strong> \u2013 “It’s good to be back and to have the opportunity to go to Kaunas and compete so the fans can appreciate the EuroLeague basketball return. After a long time and the COVID-19 situation, this is a goo way to return to what we do best and hopefully we’ll give to the people a good show that they can appreciate.”<\/p>\n

GIGI DATOME<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cWe are very happy to be back on the court, it gives us some sense of return to a normal life. From a basketball perspective, it\u2019s positive and good to get a taste of what the EuroLeague season is going to be\u201d.<\/p>\n

ALBA BERLIN –<\/strong> Berlin team won the German championship for the first time since 2008 and last year was 9-19 in the EuroLeague before the season was stopped. Olimpia had beaten Alba in Berlin, but in turn Alba had won in Milan in the second game. During the summer, Alba changed several players: Rokas Giedraitis, who moved to Vitoria, Martin Hermansson (Valencia) and Larry Nnoko (Red Star) are among the most relevant players who left. However, two point-guards arrived, the experienced Jayson Granger and Maodo Lo (who will play for the third German EuroLeague team, after Bamberg and Bayern), and also center Louis Olinde and the shot-blocking ace Ben Lammers, who came from Bilbao. The latest signing was Simone Fontecchio, who played for two seasons in Milan and was in Reggio Emilia last year. A seven-footer \u00a0Shevon Thompson, a center, who had been in Ostend lately, will tryout for the team.<\/p>\n