After a 21-win season, 10 of them earned on the road, and after achieving the stated goal of clinching a playoff berth for the second consecutive year, and again with home court advantage, Olimpia will attempt to clear the highest hurdle and conquer its second straight Final Four trip by beating the defending champions of Efes Istanbul, the team that took part in each of the last two championship games and won 66 out of 84 games over the previous three regular seasons. The grade of difficulty is sky high since, during its dynasty, Efes has kept its core group of players virtually intact under Coach Ergin Ataman. Compared to the team that won the EuroLeague in Cologne, the only missing player is center Sertac Sanli, replaced by Filip Petrusev, while during the season Elijah Bryant came to fortify a guards’ rotation historically lethal (Micic and Larkin are combining for 32.7 points per game).
Olimpia has won the two regular season games, although the first one was way back in time. Last month Istanbul’s game was won with a prodigious second half comeback. It was an exceptional feat that offers a correct idea of how well it is required to play to try to beat Efes, the EuroLeague second best team in scoring (83.1), third best in two-point shooting and fifth best in three-point shooting, equipped with depth and experience. Olimpia had the best EuroLeague defense: it allowed 72.0 points per game, was also second best in three-point shooting defense and third best in two-point shooting defense. The team that won in Istanbul had Gigi Datome who is not going to be available this time around. Olimpia is also coming off a tough time, playing in the midst of a dangerous Covid outbreak within the team. Overall, it won six of the last 10 games and was consistent throughout the season; Efes’ record during the same span was identical (among playoff’s teams Olympiacos and AS Monaco were the best with a 8-2 record and they are facing each other. The series is at the best of five with the first two games to be played in Milano. Should Game 5 be necessary it will be played in Milano again on Wednesday 4 May. Since the playoffs are played with this five-game format, 13 times a Game 5 has been required, three of them last season alone, an all-time high. Game 1 tip-off time is 19:00, on Tuesday, April 19.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “It is the moment for which we have worked hard all year long, after another wonderful regular season that we are greatly satisfied with. Qualifying for the playoffs was our primary goal because we want to give consistency to our presence at these levels now and in the future. We face the European Champions with great respect, knowing that the two wins achieved during the regular season must not deceive us but at the same time they can give us the confidence of knowing that there are probably things we dan do well and can help us try to win this first game. Even if it’s a series, it will be important to mentally face one game at a time.”
NICOLO’ MELLI – “We are facing a team that has a lot of talent and experience. Efes is the reigning European Champion and we know well that it is able to beat any opponent. But we can do the same, so I expect a nice series. They are a complete team, it’s not just a couple of great players, so we will have to help each other, knowing that the teams will decide this series.”
SERGIO RODRIGUEZ – “We are entering the decisive moment of a long season, everyone has had ups and downs, we are facing a very strong team, with great talent, but we have to think about ourselves, because we have experienced, we are ready and we count on our people in these first two games: if there is an exciting atmosphere inside the Mediolanum Forum we will have a better chance “.
THE REFEREES – Robert Lottermoser (Germany), Juan Garcia Gonzales (Spain), Damir Javor (Croatia).
GAME NOTES– Sergio Rodriguez is entering in the playoffs with 95 career games for Olimpia. Only three players have more than 100: Kaleb Tarczewski (152), Vlado Micov (115) and Nicolò Melli (112). Chacho is also 27 points shy of 1.000 with Olimpia. Only Bob McAdoo (1.292) and Vlado Micov (1.232) are ahead of him. Finally, he ranks seventh this season in assists with 4.6 per game. Kaleb Tarczewski has 298 career two-pointers, an all-time high for Olimpia. Nicolò Melli has grabbed more than 5 rebounds in nine straight games and ranks third in rebounding this season with 6.7 per game. Coach Ettore Messina has surpassed 400 career EuroLeague games coached. Now he has 498 in international competitions, counting the 78 that he coached during the FIBA era and the 19 he coached in other international club competitions. Ben Bentil ranks fourth in the league in three-point accuracy at 45.5%. Shavon Shields ranks ninth in minutes played this season with 29:27 per game. Kyle Hines ranks eighth in offensive rebounds this season at 2.2 per game.
TEAM NOTES – Olimpia tied the 21 wins it got one year ago in spite of playing 32 games and not 34. It tied the 10 road win record with a all-time best five road wins streak: Montecarlo, Barcelona, Moscow, Belgrade and Kaunas. The 43 points it allowed in Istanbul vs Fenerbahce represented a club record, like the three points allowed during the entire first quarter. Olimpia finished the regular season first for point allowed per game, 72.0.
PLAYOFF NOTES –It is Olimpia’s third participation to the EuroLeague playoffs. Efes is the third different opponent, after Maccabi and Bayern. Olimpia has always had home court advantage. Overall, it is 1-1 in the series, 4-5 in single games, 4-1 at home, 0-4 on the road. Kyle Hines enters the playoffs tied with Georgios Printezis of Olympiacos Piraeus for fourth in playoff history with 149 total rebounds. Ioannis Bourousis is third with 161. Hines ranks second in playoff history with 69 offensive rebounds. Felipe Reyes is the all-time playoffs leader with 80. He is also tied for third in playoff history with 21 blocks. Ioannis Bourousis is second with 26. Sergio Rodriguez ranks ninth in playoff history in scoring with 324 points. Dimitris Diamantidis is eighth with 328 and Nando De Colo of Fenerbahce Istanbul seventh with 329. Rodriguez ranks fourth in playoff history with 57 three-point shots made. Vassilis Spanoulis is third with 63. He finally ranks ninth in playoff history in assists with 114. Theo Papaloukas is eigthh with 115.
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