For the first time Olimpia will play in Istanbul at the Basketball Development Center, which in truth is the reconstruction of the old Abdi Ipekci, the arena demolished a few years ago and rebuilt to become the home of the Turkish Federation and Anadolu Efes again. It is the arena where Olimpia played an unlucky edition of the Final Four, in 1992, with Mike D’Antoni calling plays from the bench, Ricky Pittis, Antonello Riva and Darryl Dawkins on the court (the team was defeated in the semi-final by Partizan Belgrade who then won the European title). It is a very important game on paper, this one in Istanbul, with great implications for the standings. Coming off five consecutive defeats, Anadolu Efes is no longer in a position to make mistakes as its 10-12 record suggests. Olimpia is in full playoff/play-in battle but unfortunately enters the game with a roster limited by injuries and forced to invent line-ups and essentially the game plan. Olimpia will be without Josh Nebo, Ousmane Diop, Fabien Causeur and obviously Nikola Mirotic, the second-best player for personal rating, the third-best rebounder and the fifth-best scorer. However, both Leandro Bolmaro and Zach LeDay came to Istanbul with the intention of trying to play tomorrow. Efes won the game in Milan, earlier in the season, 96-84.
Tip off time on Thursday, January, 23, will be 18:30 Italian time.
REFEREES – Miguel Angel Perez (Spain), Joseph Bissang (France), Jakub Zamojski (Poland).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “Tomorrow morning we’ll make a decision about Bolmaro and LeDay who came out hurt from the last game. However, we intend to play with cohesion and keep improving at every possible turn. Efes has the talent level of a Final Four team, so we know how hard this game is going to be”.
ANADOLU EFES OUTLOOK – Darius Thompson is the usual Efes’ starter at the point guard position. The former Italian league’s star at Brindisi, is the only Efes player who started every single game. He is averaging 10.8 points per game on 60.5 percent shooting on twos and 44.2 percent on threes. He is also dishing 4.9 dimes per night. The other guard is chosen among three options, but new Coach Luca Banchi in the last game inserted Shane Larkin, a EuroLeague’s former MVP, who is averaging 10.5 points and 4.7 assists per game. The other very experienced guards are Rodrigue Beaubois (8.8 points per game, 57.1 percent on twos and 45.0 percent on threes) and Elijah Bryant (13.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assist per game), a two-way, athletic perimeter player who can be used at multiple positions. Larkin, Beaubois and Bryant have 698 EuroLeague games combined under their belts. Efes signed two small forwards from the NBA during the summer and a third was signed over the last few days. Jordan Nwora, who has started 14 games out of 22, is averaging 8.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He is a 3-man with huge size for his positions. Stanley Johnson’s had a minor role so far, a little bit under eight minutes per game on the court, with 1.9 and 1.1 rebounds per game. PJ Dozier, who spent the last season at Partizan and was in Dallas earlier in the season, just made his season’s debut last week in Barcelona. In second EuroLeague season, Ercan Osmani has doubled his minutes on the court and right now is normally starting at the power forward position, averaging 7.0 points per game on 57.8 percent two-point shooting. His back-ups are Rolands Smits (6.0 points per game, 62.0 percent on twos) and Derek Willis (3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game). The Frenchman Vincent Poirier, another EuroLeague veteran, is usually starting at center and is providing 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, shooting 66.9 percent from two-points distance. His reliever is Dan Oturu who is playing a little les but produces the same number, 9.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game on 70.4 two-point shooting.
ANADOLU EFES CONNECTION – Efes’ head coach, Luca Banchi, used to coach Olimpia for two seasons, from 2013 to 2015. He led the team to an Italian league championship and a playoff’s EuroLeague appearance.
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