{"id":69265,"date":"2024-01-25T14:52:31","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T13:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.olimpiamilano.com\/?p=69265"},"modified":"2024-01-25T15:31:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T14:31:04","slug":"barca-is-coming-to-milan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olimpiamilano.com\/en\/barca-is-coming-to-milan\/","title":{"rendered":"Barca is coming to Milan, Messina: “We’ll give our best, Maodo Lo is available”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Barcelona is coming to Milan, second in the standings by making the most out of its home court. Currently, Barcelona is 11-1 at home and has built its position around this record. But Olimpia has been the only team to win at the Palau Blaugrana and on Friday at the Forum in Assago it will try to complete the third double against Barcelona in history<\/strong>, in front of 12.000 perople. Both teams come from a painful round of the EuroLeague, Barcelona was clearly beaten by Efes in Istanbul, Olimpia lost in Valencia a game brilliantly led for the first 26 minutes and lost in the last four, but two good away wins in their domestic league (Barca in Granada, Olimpia in Pesaro). The injury situation appears to be improving: Barcelona has played the last few games without Nicolas Laprovittola and Alex Abrines, but only the shooter who played in the NBA in Oklahoma City is to be considered out for this Milan game; Olimpia reintroduced Shavon Shields after five games of absence, made Rodney McGruder debut in Valencia, brought back Giordano Bortolani, who was out in Spain, in Pesaro, and Maodo Lo will be available too. For Olimpia it will be a special game, because during the halftime one of the greatest American scorers in the history of European basketball will be celebrated, the great Keith Langford. On top of it, Ettore Messina’s top assistant, Mario Fioretti, will sit on Olimpia’s bench for the 400th in his remarkable career. Tip-off time is 20:30 on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE REFEREES<\/em><\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Mehdi Difallah (France), Milan Nedovic (Serbia), Josip Radojkovic (Croatia)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COACH ETTORE MESSINA<\/em><\/u><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cWe face a high-level opponent and the kys will be working well on our transition defense and against their pick and roll solutions. We will have Maodo Lo available, so it is one more option to implement in a game we will approach ready to give up our best to try to win and gft our fanbase a big night in a packed Forum.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Johannes Voigtmann during the Barcelona game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BARCELONA OUTLOOK<\/u><\/em><\/strong> \u2013 Coached by its former player and first-year coach Roger Grimau, Barcelona is using a consistent starting line-up, featuring two point-guards, Tomas Satoransky (7.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists on average) and Nicolas Laprovittola (13.4 points and 5.8 assists per game, 40.4 percent three-point shooting), who has missed the last few games due to an injury. The starting small forward is Nikola Kalinic (8.6 points per game, an amazing 48.8 percent from three). The two starting big men are Oscar Da Silva (5.0 points on average, 65.0 percent from two) and Jan Vesely (12.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, 63.5 percent from two, not even one three-point attempt), who used to play along Kalinic with Nik Melli at Fenerbahce. The second unit counts on the Lithuanian Rokas Jokubaitis (5.5 points and 3.2 assists on average), who plays two positions, the Spanish international Dani Brizuela (5.1 points per game), the lethal shooter Alex Abrines (6.6 points per game, 55.0 percent from two, 44.7 percent from three), who is doubtful because of an injury, the aggressive power forward Joel Parra (3.2 points and 2.4 rebounds on average), Willy Hernangomez, who returned to Europe after a long NBA experience, who in 16.4 minutes of playing time is scoring 11.4 points, grabs 4.9 rebounds and is shooting 55.0 percent on twos, and finally Jabari Parker, a former Duke standout and second player drafted in 2014. Parker is a power forward who appeared in 310 NBA games and average 14.1 points per game during his career. Right now, in Barcelona, he is averaging 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on 40.8 percent shooting on twos. Oriol Pauli, an eclectic swingman, and James Nnanji, an explosive center, complete the roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DID U KNOW ? In Round 14, Olimpia won in Barcelona 90-86. Devon Hall scored a career-high 21 points and Shavon Shields added 19 tying his career high with 5 3s made. In that win, Diego Flaccadori had career-highs in points (15) and PIR (15)
Tickets \ud83c\udfab https:\/\/t.co\/jai4BJ6Icv<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ynH1QkcAUa<\/a><\/p>— Olimpia Milano (@OlimpiaMI1936) January 24, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>