It is the last match at the Forum of 2023, the year of the third star. It is also the last of the first round of the EuroLeague in which Olimpia collected less than it would have liked and perhaps should have given the two defeats in extra time or the epilogue of the Berlin match. But precisely for this reason it would be important to be able to beat Baskonia in the last outing without Shabazz Napier among the usable players (he will become one on January 2nd in Athens). Mid-season challenge but very important for Olimpia who have won two of the last three, play four of the next five at home and therefore must make their move now to move up the rankings. Baskonia, however, is a treacherous opponent. After replacing coach Joan Penarroya by bringing the seasoned Dusko Ivanovic back to Vitoria, he won six out of seven races and has just conquered Istanbul. In the last few races he hasn’t had the long shooter Matt Costello but he will be there in Milan. Ivanovic’s team counts on the best rebounder in the EuroLeague at the moment (Tadas Sedekerskis), on the second scorer (Markus Howard) and on two multidimensional players such as guard Codi Miller-McIntyre and Chima Moneke, former MVP of the FIBA BCL then briefly in Sacramento and last year he passed from Monaco, a big energy forward who has a few centimeters but a lot of liveliness and now also shoots threes effectively. Olimpia will have to play another match with very limited wing rotation, with Diego Flaccadori in control (10.0 points, 3.0 assists and 10/18 from two in the last three), supported by the various Devon Hall, Billy Baron although not at his best and Giordano Bortolani.
NOTE – EA7 Emporio Armani Milano-Baskonia will be played on Thursday 28 December, at 8.30pm, at the Mediolanum Forum. Click here to purchase tickets.
THE REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Gytis Vilius (Lithuania), Josip Radojkovic (Croatia).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Baskonia is a healthy team, which plays with confidence, very aggressive in defense and prefers high pace in attack where it receives a lot from the two top shooters, Howard and Marinkovic, who make 16 three-pointers per game. We are in emergency conditions, so we will be called to another test of extreme sacrifice in which we will have to help each other both in defense and in attack, play with precision and try as much as possible to control the rebounds”
THE BASKONIA – The first point of the attack is the striker Markus Howard, who does not always start in the starting five, but scores 18.6 points per game with 39.2% shooting from three. The other point of reference is Chima Moneke, an undersized power forward but with great energy and leading numbers, i.e. 14.8 points on average, 6.5 rebounds, 57.9% from two and 43.2% from three, the great novelty of the repertoire. Moneke also never starts in the quintet. In the starting five Coach Dusko Ivanovic uses Codi Miller-McIntyre, 28 minutes of use, 8.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists on average, a multidimensional player. As a guard, if Howard is not there, Vanja Marinkovic will be in the first team, another shooter who averages 10.8 points and shoots 38.9% from three. Tadas Sedekerskis is the most used player, close to 30 minutes per game, a defender who produces 10.3 points shooting with high percentages (66.2% from two, 47.6% from three) and is above all a great rebounder (8.2 on average, 2.1 in attack ). The power forward is Matt Costello (7.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game), who has missed the last few games due to injury, but should return. The starting center is Estonian Maik Kotsas (6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds per game). The rotation is completed by Sander Raieste, Dani Diez, sometimes in a wing quintet, and Khalifa Diop. The backup point guard behind Miller-McIntyre was Nico Mannion, but he was released after Baskonia long ago signed Chris Chiozza (2.8 assists in less than 12 minutes).
THE PREVIOUS Vs BASKONIA – The balance between the two clubs is 12-11, in favor of Olimpia. At home, Olimpia is 9-3 against the Vitoria team, while away it is 3-8. Olimpia has won three times in Vitoria, in the 2013/14 season in the Top 16, 83-65 with 17 points from Curtis Jerrells, in 2017/18, 83-82 with 16 points each from Andrew Goudelock and Jordan Theodore (who scored the winning basket in penetration) and in 2021/22. 78-64 with 12 points and 10 rebounds by Shavon Shields, 13 by Malcolm Delaney, 12 by Devon Hall. Last year there was one victory for each side with home advantage always respected.
LA BASKONIA CONNECTION – Shavon Shields played two years in Vitoria winning the Liga ACB in 2020. Shields played 59 EuroLeague games in Vitoria, scoring 569 points. He played another 63 in the Spanish league with 711 points. Johannes Voigtmann played three seasons in Vitoria with 100 EuroLeague appearances with 876 points scored. Assistant coach Peppe Poeta was a player in Vitoria in the 2013/14 season.
MESSINA Vs IVANOVIC – Ettore Messina and Dusko Ivanovic will coach against each other for the 24th time in a EuroLeague game. The story of the two coaches of Olimpia and Baskonia is one of the most significant in the competition. In 2000/01 when the modern EuroLeague was born, they created the first and only final not in a single match but played through a best-of-five series. In the end, however, it ended in a single match which Virtus Bologna coached by Messina won 82-74 to win the trophy. In that season, Messina and Ivanovic faced each other seven times with five victories for the current Olimpia coach. They then faced each other eight times with Ivanovic again at Baskonia and Coach Messina in Treviso with a 4-4 score. In the 2004/05 season, in the playoffs, Baskonia eliminated Treviso by beating them 2-0 in the best-of-three series. Ivanovic took his team to the Final Four. The following year, Messina moved to Moscow and Ivanovic to Barcelona. The challenge materialized again at the Final Four level, in Prague: CSKA won 84-75 and then won the European title. With Messina at CSKA and Ivanovic at Barcelona the overall score is 3-0 for the Olimpia coach. Thursday’s match will be the sixth since Messina has been in Milan. In the first three matches Ivanovic was at Vitoria, in the last two he was at Red Star (overall score 3-2 Messina). This, in fact, is Ivanovic’s fourth experience in Vitoria. In the EuroLeague, he also coached at Barcelona, Khimki Moscow and Panathinaikos. He started this season at Red Star before moving to Vitoria. With 210 matches won, he is sixth overall in the history of the competition behind Zeljko Obradovic, Ettore Messina, Xavi Pascual, Pablo Laso and Dimitris Itoudis.
NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES – Nicolò Melli, after having put Georgios Printezis behind him by climbing to fourth place ever in the EuroLeague for defensive rebounds captured, is now 20 points away from Felipe Reyes and third place ever.
SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – The match against Panathinaikos was Shavon Shields’ eighth consecutive match with at least three triples. His best is 54 triples in a season. He currently has 51 in 16 games. In the last nine, Shields has always had at least 17 points rating, he has always reached double figures, he has made 21/22 from the foul line.
2023-12-27 16:15:10
#Ettore #Messina #Rebounds #precision #sacrifice #needed #Baskonia
