Efes is in Milan, Hines will play his 400th game, Messina: “We need togetherness and toughness”

There is no time to breathe: Olimpia has to put the Bologna battle aside, a game that was approached correctly, that Olimpia led for most of the time with not enough consistency at both ends of the floor, in order to focus on Anadolu Efes. The opponent brings back a lot of memories, including the playoffs series fought two seasons ago, on its way to the second EuroLeague championship in two years. Kruno Simon was part of that team and will be honored at halftime for his induction in the club’s Hall of Fame. Efes is coming off a statement win in Monaco. It is a team going through a transition period, but with a strong group of veterans such as Shane Larkin, Rodrigue Beaubois, Will Clyburn and impressive depth among the centers, with three possible, high-level options between the shooter Pleiss, the croat Zizic and the big American leaper, Tyrique Jones. The new coach Erden Can was for years an assistant at Fenerbhace and spent one season at Utah. Olimpia came back from Bologna during the night and practiced in its facility today. Obviously, Billy Baron is still not available. For Kyle Hines it will be another historical night. He will become the first player ever to play in his 400th EuroLeague game. Tip off time is 20:30 in Thursday, 16, November.

REFEREES – Sreten Radovic (Croatia), Uros Nikolic (Serbia), Robert Vyclicky (Czech Rep).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "Efes is a team that plays with rhythm, shooters and big men used based on their needs, like Tibor Pleiss who can open up any defense for his teammates because of his shooting range. For us it is a moment we are not capable to close games and to stay consistent troughout the game like we’d like to. When the things are not going well, it is important to play humble, play tough and desire to help each other.”

EFES ISTANBUL OUTLOOK – Efes changed its look over the last couple of summers after winning back-to-back EuroLeague titles. Coach Ergin Ataman left and so did Vasa Micic (Oklahoma City), Bryant Dunston, Chris Singleton, Kruno Simon. However, the team is still very competitive with Shane Larkin, Rodrigue Beaubois, Elijah Bryant, Tibor Pleiss, all of them have won the EuroLeague championship in Istanbul, and Will Clyburn, who was the 2019 Final Four MVP while playing in Moscow. Important players came during the last few months, particularly Darius Thompson, Derek Willis and Tyrique Jones joining Ante Zizic who was signed during the previous summer. The team’s tendency to rely on perimeter play in terms of scoring remained consistent. Shane Larkin is averaging 13.1 points and 5.7 assists per game; Darius Thompson is adding 11.6 points per game on 42.9 percent shooting from three-point range; Rodrigue Beaubois averages 10.4 points per game. The fourth guard, Bryant, is averaging 9.0 points per game but he was available only for three games out of eight because of some injuries. Will Clyburn is scoring 11.1 points per game on top of grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game. He is used also at the power forward spot when Efes is featuring a small-ball line up with three guards on the court at the same time. The starting power forward normally is Derek Willis, who used to play in the Italian league, in Brindisi and Venice, and is averaging 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, with 37.8 percent three-point shooting. Where Efes is really deep is among the centers: Coach Can is using the Croat Ante Zizic (8.4 points per game, 73.5 percent on twos, 3.6 rebounds), a potent low-post scorer, and the super athletic Tyrique Jones (7.1 points and 3.0 rebounds per game), a vertical player. The third option is the veteran Tibor Pleiss, an experience shooting big man who is playing under nine minutes per game and averaging 4.5 points per outing.

HISTORY VS. EFES – Olimpia have played against Efes 38 times in the EuroLeague since 2005/06 with a record of 13-25 which includes a 1-3 loss in the 2022 playoffs. There was no lack of weird and amazing moments. In the 2013/14 season, Milan won 77-73 with a sensational comeback over the last quarter, 26-11, with 22 points from Keith Langford. In the first game of the 2018/19 season, Olimpia won 81-80 with a three basically at the end made by Mike James. Three years ago, Olimpia won the first game, in Istanbul, 72-69 with 18 points by Kevin Punter, after a weird trend. A second period won 26-11 launched Olimpia 15 points ahead, but Efes responded with a 21-6 third period only to succumb again in the closing minutes. Two seasons ago, Olimpia won in Milan 75-71 with 16 points from Malcolm Delaney, then won again in Istanbul 83-77 with a 47-26 impressive second half. In the playoffs, Olimpia won Game 2, 73-66, after losing Melli in Game 1, Delaney and Rodriguez in Game 2, with 21 points scored by Shavon Shields. In the 2013/14 season, one of the games also included Zoran Planinic’s Efes win in Istanbul thanks to a three at the end from 25 meters. The overall record is 26-14 for Efes and includes the 1996 Korac Cup.

KYLE HINES NOTES – Kyle Hines has played 118 EuroLeague games for Olimpia so far, the third-most game for any Olimpia player, behind Kaleb Tarczewski and Nicolò Melli. Besides, he is two rebounds away from reaching 1,000 defensive rebounds for his career, a milestone surpassed by only seven players so far, Nicolò Melli included. The next game will be his 400th for his career, the first player to reach the threshold.

NICOLO’ MELLI NOTES – Nicolò Melli is two appearances away from reaching Kaleb Tarczewski’s 156 as the All-Time leader for games played in the EuroLeague with Olimpia. Meanwhile, he has put Ante Tomic behind him as the sole holder of fifth place All-Time in the defensive rebounds list. The fourth place belongs to Georgios Printezis with 1,065, 28 rebounds ahead of the Olimpia captain.

SHAVON SHIELDS NOTES – Shields surpassed 1,500 career points scored in Berlin; in Bologna, he surpassed the 1.000-point barrier scored for Olimpia, the third-most after Bob McAdoo and Vlado Micov.