Olimpia is traveling to Vitoria-Gasteiz for the first of two weekly rounds, coming after the win over Napoli, the fourth in a row in the Italian league. Olimpia moved to Spain encouraged by the performance of the less used Italian players, who were ready to go, from Diego Flaccadori to Giordano Bortolani to Guglielmo Caruso, who in recent games has found a lot of playing time as a center due to the problems plaguing the position, with two players out (Ousmane Diop and David McCormack) and one who has just returned but with playing time under control (Josh Nebo). Also out in the Vitoria game will be Fabien Causeur, who is recovering from a back problem but is not yet able to play, and Shavon Shields, who is out with a right groin injury which is under evaluation. The consequences are that both the wingers and centers positions are decimated, and the coaching staff will have to be creative, playing without a center (with Zach LeDay as we have seen from time to time) or with three small players or three bigs. Without Shields, out on the perimeter, problems are amplified even if Armoni Brooks has scored 52 points in the last three games across the two competitions (17.3 on average). Last week, Baskonia played well and won by a large margin against Alba Berlin at the Fernando Buesa Arena, but last Saturday it paid the price in the Spanish league (2-3, its record) by losing at home against Joventut Badalona, saving the playmaker Trent Forrest due to turnover, playing without Tadas Sedekerskis, injured, and in the second half also without Markus Howard, who got injured too. The Olimpia team will be coached on the bench by assistant coach Mario Fioretti since Coach Ettore Messina is not with the team for sickness.
REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Milos Koljensic (Montenegro), Kristaps Konstantinovs (Latvia)
ASS. COACH MARIO FIORETTI– “First order of merit for us is to produce a very aggressive game, on a traditionally difficult court. Defensively, getting back quickly and defending carefully in half court especially against Howard, Cabarrot and Moneke will be essential. So far, Baskonia has had the second-best defense in the EuroLeague, and was able to defend intelligently and aggressively, taking away the opponent’s offensive flow. Against this kind of defense, we will have to play under control and use the passes correctly.”
FABIEN CAUSEUR – “It is a tough game for us, on the road and after a couple of EuroLeague losses. We are going to play on a difficult court that I know very well since I used to play there for four seasons. We need to stay focused for forty minutes. Baskonia is tough team to beat on its home court and in front of their fans. Pablo Laso, I know him very well after spending five years playing for him in Madrid. They are very talented, with two great scorers like Markus Howard and Chima Moneke and some more guys who are doing really well, like Donta Hall, Ndiaye, Baldwin. It is a difficult game, but we have to stay together and try to come out with a win. I had some back problems that I’m solving, I returned to practice with the team and I’m ready to help the team.”
BASKONIA OUTLOOK – Coached by Pablo Laso, a real Vitoriano who spent most of his career as a coach at Real Madrid and last year was at Bayern Munich, Baskonia has used only one player in the starting line-up so far, the center coming from AS Monaco, Donta Hall, a vertical player who is averaging 8.2 points, 5.2 rebounds per game on 75.0 percent two-point shooting. In the last few games, the choice at the guards has fallen on shooter Markus Howard, who in previous seasons used to come off the bench, a shooter with an unlimited range who is producing 14.4 points per game (40.5 percent from three), and on the former Trento player, Kamar Baldwin (6.2 points and 3.2 assists on average), an Olimpia’s opponent in the Italian league playoffs last season. The department is completed by Trent Forrest, a combo-guard with four years of NBA experience under his belt (Utah and Atlanta) and 151 appearances on the court, and Ognjen Jaramaz, coming from Partizan. Forrest is scoring 7.4 points and dishing out 3.2 assists per game. Tim Luwawu-Cabarrot plays both at the guard and small forward positions, sometimes he is starting and averaging 10.0 points per game on 42.9 percent three-point shooting. Another dangerous player on the perimeter is the Greek Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos, who is averaging 5.5 points. The wingers are the Lithuanian Tadas Sedekerskis (10.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 77.8 percent on two-pointers) who however missed the last two games due to an injury, and Chima Moneke, an energy player, averaging almost 30 minutes on the court, 13.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 66.7 percent two-point shooting. Another power forward that Laso often uses in the starting line-up is the 2.10, 20-year-old Senegalese Ousmane Ndiaye (3.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game). The second center, behind Hall, is Khalifa Diop, who is averaging 3.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
GAME NOTES – Nikola Mirotic has made at least 1 three-point shot in 12 of his last 13 games. He needs 16 three-point shots made to reach 400 for his career. Zach LeDay scored at least 10 points in nine of his last ten games and has made at least 1 three-pointer in six of his last seven games. He needs 4 two-pointers to reach 500 for his career.
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