Ettore Messina: “Physical and mental thougness crucial against Paris”

An unprecedented match-up is awaiting Olimpia for the first EuroLeague home game of the season. Over the course of its history, Olimpia has never faced Paris Basketball in an official game. This is not a surprise since the team was founded just in 2018 by the former general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, David Kahn, after acquiring the rights of the Hyeres-Toulon club to begin its journey right from the French second division. In short, Paris Basketball climbed the hierarchy to win the 2024 Eurocup, a season in which it reached the French league championship series (losing against AS Monaco) and won the Leaders Cup. By virtue of the success obtained in the Eurocup, Paris was admitted to the EuroLeague where it made its debut, losing at home in the closing possessions against Red Star. In the French league, after losing in Gravelines, Paris won two consecutive games in Chalon and at home with Stade Rochelais, a game played without TJ Shorts, the team’s star who had slightly injured his ankle in his EuroLeague debut game. The only time the two teams faced each other dates back to the 2021 pre-season in Paris.

Olimpia has been very up and down so far: it played a great Super Cup tournament in Bologna, defeating Venezia and Virtus Bologna on its court, then it took a step back, losing its debuts in Trieste and Montecarlo, but last Sunday Olimpia was brilliant against Sassari despite the absence of Josh Nebo. The center who last year was the best rebounder of the entire EuroLeague will also be out against Paris Basketball, while Leandro Bolmaro – who injured his ankle against Sassari – will be evaluated immediately before the game. Olimpia will feature Armoni Brooks again, the sharpshooter who scored 16 points in his EuroLeague debut and will try to repeat against a team that plays at a high pace and has creative and fast guards, not only Shorts but also Nadir Hifi.

REFEREES – Juan Carlos Garcia (Spain), Saulius Racys (Sweden), Vasiliki Tsaroucha (Greece)

COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “We face a team that has had an impressive growth in recent years, as a club and from a basketball standpoint, reaching deservedly the right to compete in the EuroLeague while maintaining a very specific style of play, made up of aggressiveness and speed. We want to start well in front of our fans, trying to play with the physical and mental toughness as well as the discipline necessary in any EuroLeague game, as we understood well in the Monaco’s first half. The team has been preparing scrupulously since day one and will continue to develop, even if every now and them we are aware that there will be difficulties to overcome all together, both on and off the court.”

ARMONI BROOKS – “For us, it is important to play possession after possession, both ends of the floor, approach the game with strenght and make sure we are always on the same page. For me, personally, it is adjustment period: this league is tough and highy competitive. The difference is that at any possession there are multiple actions so defensively you need to stay alert all the time and offensively you are much more involved every time out.”

PARIS BASKETBALL OUTLOOK – The Paris team is making its debut at the EuroLeague level, after earning the right to be here by winning the Eurocup last season. The core of that triumph has remained unchanged except for Tuomas IIsalo’s departure for the NBA. The Finnish coach was replaced by Tiago Splitter. The team leaders are TJ Shorts, a mercurial point guard who debuts in the EuroLeague but was MVP of both the BCL and the Eurocup before (18.0 points, 7.3 assists on average), and Nadir Hifi, one of the rising stars of French basketball (16.6 points per game in the Eurocup). The small forward is Tyson Ward, a multifunctional player with great athleticism (11.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in the Eurocup), while Daulton Hommes, who had already been in Vitoria in the EuroLeague, has been added to the power forward slot. The center is another new player, Kevarrius Hayes, who spent the last two seasons at Zalgiris (91 appearances in the competition overall). Beyond them, among the guards, the experience of Maodo Lo as a point guard and Yakuba Ouattara as a shooter (he was in Monaco last year) stands out, as well as Sebastian Herrera, another excellent shooter. Among the wings, both Collin Malcolm (last year he averaged 11.5 points and 70.8 percent on two-pointers in the Eurocup) and the Finnish international Mikael Jantunen, another fearsome shooter (41.5 percent from three-point territory), have been retained. Germans Leon Kratzer and Michael Kessens are tasked with supporting Hayes in the middle.

GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields will play his 100^th EuroLeague game with Olimpia. He is the fifth player to reach the milestone. Sergio Rodriguez is now behind him. He is also 74 points away from scoring 2.000 for his career. He has a running streak of eight games scoring in double figure and 13 games with at least one steal. Armoni Brooks and TJ Shorts are the top scorers among the players who appeared in a EuroLeague game for the first time last week with 16 points each. Among the top 25 scorers, the only other rookie is Maccabi’s Jaylean Hoard.