Coach Messina: “Concentration and attention to details are the keys to compete”

Olimpia’s EuroLeague begins in the Principality of Monaco against one of the great teams of some of the most recent seasons. AS Monaco has an open streak of three consecutive participations to the post-season, with an increasing number of wins for each season: 15 in the 2021/22 season; 21 in the 2022/23 season; 23 in the 2023/24 season. In recent years the team has always raised the level of its ambitions, as demonstrated last summer by signing the point guard with the most assists in the history of the competition, Nick Calathes, a perimeter player with seven years of NBA experience, Furkan Korkmaz, and a center used to play at the highest level, Georgios Papagiannis. The season of the Principality team began with a defeat in St. Quentin in the French league, which was however corrected last Sunday at home against Strasbourg, despite playing without Mike James and Calathes himself (he’s been announced as out for 3-4 weeks). Mike James, coming off a minor back surgery, has not yet played but should be available against Olimpia. In turn, Olimpia played an excellent preseason and then won the Super Cup by defeating a EuroLeague team, Virtus Bologna, on the road before taking a step back in the road game in Trieste last Sunday. In Monte Carlo, however, Milan will be able to play with the full roster, therefore with a more balanced set-up. The game is obviously difficult, even though in Monte Carlo last year Olimpia played one of the best offensive and defensive games of its season, winning by a huge margin.

REFEREES – Carlos Peruga (Spain), Milan Nedovic (Serbia), Kristaps Konstantinovs (Latvia).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "We are about to start a very high-level competition, very tough one. Each one of us will have to play for 34 games with concentration, attention to detail and with the best interests of the team at the top of his mind. During the preseason and up to the first Italian league game we demonstrated a good potential. However, we have to show it every game and for 40 minutes especially on the road, especially against top level teams as Monaco, our first opponent, is."

NENO DIMITRIJEVIC – "It will be a tough game against a very competitive team, one of the best over the last three seasons. They made the Final Four a couple of years ago. They are a very physical team, with talented players. We need to approach this challegen the right way and try to get out of Monaco with a win. I was waiting the opportunity to play in the EuroLeague for some time and to do that with a club like Olimpia is a privilege."

AS MONACO OUTLOOK – Two years ago, Monaco reached the Final Four, last year reached the playoffs and for the third consecutive season Sasha Obradovic starts the season with the Principality team. The core of the group has remained largely intact: Mike James, Elie Okobo, Alpha Diallo, Jaron Blossomgame, Donatas Motiejunas have been in Monaco for at least three seasons now. The newcomers are Nick Calathes at the point guard, Furkan Korkmaz who has replaced Jordan Loyd, power forward Vitto Brown and center Georgios Papagiannis who has replaced Donta Hall. Mike James (16.4 points and 4.6 assists averages in his career), the EuroLeague all-time leading scorer, is the star of the team, a creative offensive talent, gifted with speed and athleticism even now that he is 34 years old. He has not played so far this season due to a minor back surgery that should be resolved. If James is the all-time leader for points scored, Calathes – who has played along with him at Panathinaikos – is the all-time leader in assists (9.0 points and 5.4 assists per game during his career) and last year eliminated him from the playoffs when he led Fenerbahce to the Final Four. The third point guard is Matthew Strazel, usually scarcely used in the EuroLeague (last year 223 minutes and 17 appearances) but is coming off a good summer with the national team that included an Olympic silver medal and the pearl of scoring the decisive three in France’s overtime win over Japan. Furkan Korkmaz is one of the most anticipated players of the upcoming season. He played 40 games in three years at Efes but the last one dates to 2017 when he was 20 years old. Eventually, he played for seven years in Philadelphia with 328 appearances. At 27 years of age, he returns to the EuroLeague. In fact, he replaces Loyd, next to another French international, the left-handed Elie Okobo, a 12.5-point per game career scorer. The two wingers – but Obradovic can also implement a line-up with three small players – are Alpha Diallo and Jaron Blossomgame. The first is a physically strong player with great consistency (he averages 10.3 points and 4.4 rebounds for his career); the other is a defender who is shooting 61.1 percent on twos for his career. The perimeter players department is completed by Terry Tarpey, who played for the national team at the 2022 European Championships, and Juhann Begharin, who came from Nanterre. The power forward, Vitto Brown, comes from Karsiyaka in Türkiye where he stayed for two years. The reliever is Petr Cornelie, in his second year in Monaco, a fearsome perimeter shooter. The center is the experienced Donatas Motiejunas (61.2 percent two-point shooting in his career). Donta Hall was replaced by the Greek Georgios Papagiannis from Fenerbahce, who is a 64.7 percent two-point shooter in his career, dangerous from the outside and a great shot-blocker. The third center is Mam Jaiteh, who played two Italian championship finals with Virtus Bologna.

OLIMPIA’S OPENING NIGHT STORY – Olimpia is 9-9 in its openers in their previous EuroLeague appearances of the so-called modern era. The game in Monte Carlo represents the tenth road opener and the record currently stands at 4 wins and 5 losses. At home Olimpia is 5-3 with an open streak of five consecutive wins. However, last year Olimpia lost in Istanbul-Fenerbahce in overtime. The last win dates back to the 2022/23 season against Asvel Villeurbanne.

GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields will play his 99th EuroLeague game with Olimpia in Monte Carlo, tying Sergio Rodriguez. Meanwhile, he is 84 points away from scoring 2,000 in his career. Shields is riding an active streak of seve double-figure games and he’s had at least one steal for 12 straight games. Nikola Mirotic has an active streak of eight double figure games and in each one of them he made at least one three. Josh Nebo is 31 points away from 1,000 for his career.