A hot Partizan team is coming to Milan, Coach Messina: We need to do even better than in Valencia

The second EuroLeague game of the week takes Olimpia back to the Mediolanum Forum where the team has won its last four games and built its current streak of five consecutive wins. But the opponent, although defeated in Belgrade earlier in the season, proposes a very high level of difficulty, because Partizan has won six of its last seven games and has turned its ranking upside down not only by breaking into the playoff area but even attacking one of the first four ranking positions. The last win came last Tuesday in Bologna just as Olimpia conquered its fifth win in a row in Valencia. The one seen in Spain was an unprecedented Olimpia that had 41 points from the two point guards, who were also used together especially in the second half, five men scored in double figures and many different line-ups were used. In addition, Shavon Shields has returned after more than four months out. He was under minute restrictions but was still able to lend a hand in small things. Everyone’s contribution will be needed in a game that has suddenly become a very interesting challenge given the momentum of the two teams and Partizan’s renovated ambitions. There are also many other reasons for attraction such as the presence in the Belgrade team of Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay or on the two benches of the two coaches who have won the most titles and the most games in the EuroLeague as well as having coached the most games, Zeljko Obradovic and Ettore Messina. For Olimpia, Devon Hall, Gigi Datome and Paul Biligha are still unavailable. 

THE REFEREES – Olegs Latisevs (Latvia), Emilio Perez (Spain), Hugues Thepenier (France).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "Partizan is probably the hottest team in the entire EuroLeague as shown by its position in the standing, its confidence is very high after the win in Bologna. Obviously it is a well-coached team, with clear rules, a lot of athletic players and many shooters at every position starting with Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay. A very high-level defensive game will be essential for us and it will be equally important to control our board against the best offensive rebounder in the competition, Matthias Lessort. We are improving and we want to continue to improve. We come off a very good game in Valencia, but against Partizan we need to do even better to try to win it."

PARTIZAN – Enjoying the competition most productive offense, Partizan is one of the hottest teams in the EuroLeague. They have won seven of the last 10 games, has won six road games and are fully immersed in the playoffs’ area. Although Coach Obradovic usually adapts its starting line-up to the circumstances, the most used line-up is the one with Dante Exum (13.1 points, 2.6 assists per game, 39.1 percent from three), Kevin Punter (15.5 points per game, the 41.7 percent on threes), Ioannis Papapetrou (5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game), Zach LeDay (11.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, 40.7 percent from three-point range) and Matthias Lessort (12.8 points per game, 68.2 percent two-point shooting, 7.3 rebounds per game of which 3.2 are offensive rebound). James Nunnally is also playing over twenty minutes of per game (averaging 8.2 points per outing), while point guard Aleksa Avramovic (5.6 points and 1.7 assists per game), guard Yam Madar (6.4 points per game, 39.6% from three) and shooter Danilo Andjusic (7.1 points, 44.6% from three) are all averaging between 10 and 14 minutes per game. Power forward Alen Smailagic (4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds per game) and small forward Uros Trifunovic are also part of the rotation.

OBRADOVIC Vs MESSINA – The game also features the two most decorated coaches in EuroLeague history. Zeljko Obradovic has coached 480 EuroLeague games (1st ever) while Ettore Messina has 431, second all-time. Obradovic is first for games won, 327, Messina is second with. 297. And again Coach Messina has won the modern EuroLeague three times against Obradovic’s four but considering what happened before 2000 there are four more wins for the Cacak’s coach and another one for Messina, who first became a head coach in 1989 at the age of 30. Obradovic became the Partizan head coach in 1991 at 31. So far they have faced each other 26 times. Twice they faced each other at the helm of their respective national teams (1-1) with Coach Messina in his last season with Italy in 1997 and Obradovic in his debut with Serbia. It was the 1997 European Championships. Before that they had met in the 1992 Euroleague playoffs (2-1 Obradovic) when Partizan eliminated Virtus Bologna and then went on to win the championship in Istanbul. When Obradovic coached in Treviso for two years, they met five times (4-1 Messina, the record), but not internationally. In 1998, when Coach Messina won his first European title, Obradovic led Benetton to the Final Four but was eliminated by AEK Athens in the semifinals. During the years Obradovic spent with Badalona and Real Madrid, the two never crossed paths. Three times, Coach Messina has lost a EuroLeague final to a Obradovic-led team (2002 when he was in Bologna; 2007 and 2009 when he was at CSKA). They met twice when Obradovic moved to Fenerbahce: in 2013/14 the Serbian coach won the two face-offs, but did not make it to the playoffs, contrary to what Messina did in Milan with CSKA. The following summer, with Coach Messina working for the San Antonio Spurs, the paths remained separate, until the latter returned to Europe to coach Olimpia (1-1 in the 2019/20 season). Earlier this season, Olimpia prevailed in Belgrade and now the total score is 16-14 in favor of Obradovic.

KYLE HINES NOTES – Kyle Hines just became the third player ever to accumulate at least 300 blocked shots for his career after Bryant Dunston and Walter Tavares. He also surpassed Kaleb Tarczewski to become first ever in the club’s history for two-point field goals made, 309. He has an open streak of 102 consecutive games with Olimpia in the EuroLeague and is 23 defensive rebounds shy of 1.000 for his career.

NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES – Nicolò Melli is 10 defensive rebounds shy of 1.000 over his career. He can be the sixth player all-time to reach the milestone. Ante Tomic is sitting in 5th place with 1.025. Melli is also the Olimpia’s second-best rebounder ever with 625, one less than Kaleb Tarczewski’s 626. He has also scored 849 points, fifth place all-time. He is 10 points shy of 2.000. He has the chance to be the 20th player ever to have at least 2.000 points and 1.000 rebounds.