Asvel in in town, Shields: “We want to keep our momentum going”

19/12/2023 20:42
Ciamillo-Castoria
Ciamillo-Castoria

Messina: We are happy to welcome back the National Team coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco, who helped us win the Italian championship two years ago

After three road games, Olimpia returns to play EuroLeague basketball at the Mediolanum Forum for three consecutive home games (Asvel Villeurbanne, Panathinaikos and Baskonia). The first is against the French team coached by Gianmarco Pozzecco. After the coaching change, they won two of the first four games, now they have lost six in a row even if some could have rewarded them like the one against Bayern (a tough loss by one) and Maccabi (another tough one by three). The French team is better than its record says: it has experienced players who have achieved great results in this competition such as the guard Nando De Colo and Joffrey Lauvergne, seasoned Americans such as Paris Lee and David Lighty, as well as obviously Tim Luwawu-Cabarrot and power forward Mike Scott, a man with 555 NBA appearances. At Virginia University he played one year along Billy Baron. It is a crucial game, because Olimpia has to build over the Barcelona big win and also the two good, albeit unsuccessful, performances in Munich and Belgrade. Compared to the team that scored 90 points in Catalonia, Pippo Ricci is missing. With his gritt, especially in rebounding the ball, he had given great help to the team. On the other hand, Billy Baron will make his debut in the competition. In Varese, last Sunday, he struggled to find room naturally but gradually he will be increasingly useful to the team by spreading the floor and scoring firsthand (in 13 of his last 14 appearances in the EuroLeague he has hit at least one triple). His return is great news. Johannes Voigtmann is also expected to play. Tip off time on Wednesday is at 20:30

THE REFEREES – Miguel Angel Perez (Spain), Uros Nikolic (Serbia), Eduard Udyanskyy (Great Britain)

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face a competitive team, who has always been in the game until the end, winning some games and losing others with minumum deficit. They are very athletic, have a lot of size and quality among the big men, they are well organized, so we’ll need to pay great attention to details. We are happy to welcome back the National Team coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco, who helped us win the Italian championship two years ago.”

SHAVON SHIELDS – “We are playing an athletic team, better than its record indicates, with several experienced players and well coached. Our goal is to keep building over the last few games, keep our momentum going and move another step forward in the right direction.”

ASVEL OUTLOOK – Villeurbanne made two significant adjustments since the beginning of the season, replacing the last seasons coach TJ Parker with Gianmarco Pozzecco, and releasing the combo guard Frank Jackson. The starting point-guard, Paris Lee (formerly with Monaco and Panathinaikos) has started every single game so far and is producing 8.9 points and 5.6 assists per game on top of averaging 2.1 steals per game with his relentless ball pressure. The two wings in the starting line-up normally are David Lighty, 35-year-old, five seasons with ASVEL, and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, the team leading scorer with 14.8 points per game. The two big men are in truth two centers, Joffrey Lauvergne (13.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, 2.2 board are grabbed offensively), who is capable to shoot 43.8 percent from three, and Youssoupha Fall, a 2.21 mt tall player, who is averaging 8.5 points and 6.1 rebounds (2.5 offensive) per game and is shooting 66.2 percent on twos. Coming off the bench but with starters’ minutes are the great Nando De Colo, on his way to replace Vassilis Spanoulis as the all-time EuroLeague leading scorer, who is averaging 12.8 points per game, and power forward Mike Scott, 10.6 points per game on average, shooting 39.1 percent on threes. The veteran Edwin Jackson, Charles Kahudi (3.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game) e the Jamaican center John Egbunu are completing the regular rotation.

Devon Hall shoots over David Lighty

HISTORY VS. ASVEL – The history between these two teams is made up of 13 games, seven of which date back to the EuroLeague era. Olimpia faced Asvel for the first time during the 1966-67 season in the European Cup beating them 86-66 (23 by Gabriele Vianello, 21 by Austin Robbins) in France and at home 103-85 (Steve Chubin 26, Robbins 21). In the 1995/96 Korac Cup, Olimpia eliminated Asvel in the semifinals by winning 81-72 away and 73-69 at home. Finally, in the 1997/98 Eurocup, in the quarterfinals, Olimpia eliminated Asvel by winning 67-58 (24 points by Thurl Bailey) on the road and surviving a home defeat 70-62 (17 points were scored by Flavio Portaluppi). Curiously, on all these occasions Olimpia then reached, but lost, the final of the competition. In the EuroLeague there are seven previous games with four wins by Olimpia and three by Asvel. The first four clashes always rewarded the home team then Olimpia won in France on the last day of the 2022 regular season and on the first round of last season (69-62 with 18 points from Billy Baron and 16 from Nicolò Melli). Asvel returned the favor in Milan, prevailing 79-73. Overall, Olimpia is 9-4 all-time against Asvel, 4-2 at home, 5-2 on the road.

Kyle Hines going to the rim against Charles Kahudi

THE ASVEL CONNECTION – ASVEL’s head coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco, has been the assistant coach in Olimpia during the 2021/22 season, when the team won the Italian Cup and the Italian championship. As the Italian National Team head coach, during the last World Cup, he coached three Olimpia players, Nicolò Melli, Pippo Ricci and Stefano Tonut. Tim Luwawu-Cabarrot spent a few months last season playing for Olimpia.

DEVON HALL NOTES – Devon Hall’s 21 points scored in Barcelona are his new career-high. The six two-pointers that he made are also a new career-record.

NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES – Nicolò Melli has just passed Georgios Printezis and is sitting in 4th place all-time for defensive rebounds grabbed in the EuroLeague. He is 28 defensive rebounds shy of the 3rd place that belongs to Felipe Reyes (1.094).

NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES 2 – With the 16 points scored in Barcelona, Nicolò Melli became the fifth 1.000-point scorer for Olimpia in the EuroLeague/Champions’ Cup after the milestone has been reached by Bob McAdoo, Vlado Micov, Shavon Shields, and Sergio Rodriguez.

SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – Over the last seven games, Shavon Shields has scored 143 points (20.4 on average). He has made five threes in each of the last three games. In Barcelona, he had the seventh consecutive games with more than one three-point field goal made. His career-high is 54 threes in a season. He has 45 over 14 games so far.

KYLE HINES NOTES – Kyle Hines has passed Felipe Reyes and now is the 2nd best rebounder in the history of the EuroLeague behind the leader Paulius Jankunas (2.010) with 1.803 rebounds grabbed. Hines is already the best offensive rebounder in EuroLeague history.

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