In Belgrade for the LeDay’s return, Olimpia will have Diop again

Olimpia spent a day in Berlin, practicing in the Alba’s facility where the team was joined by Ousmane Diop: the Senegalese center tomorrow will be available for being used against Partizan by Coach Ettore Messina (Shavon Shields and Josh Nebo will remain out). The team landed in Belgrade in time for one pregame practice. It had one more day than Partizan to prepare for it, but Partizan didn’t have to travel because on Wednesday the black and whites faced Barcelona at home. Both teams are going through a tough time; both teams changed a lot during the summer; both teams are coached by two of the winningest coaches of the competition, for championships won and single games won and coached. Ettore Messina and Zeljko Obradovic will face each other in a EuroLeague game for the 23rd time, the seventh since Messina came to Milan (4-2 is the record in his favor, 3-1 in Olimpia-Partizan and 1-1 in Olimpia-Fenerbahce), but they met in the Italian league too and leading their respective national teams. The game will be played in Belgrade Arena before 20.000 and more people, in a tough and still exciting environment. Olimpia is 3-6, a record that generates enormous regrets since two losses came after games largely dominated. But the Belgrade game, a tough one of course, represents one more opportunity to turn page.

THE REFEREES – Miguel Angel Perez (Spain), Ioannis Foufis (Greece), Sergio Silva (Portugal).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "As always it is a huge honor for me to coach against a team led by Coach Obradovic. We know well how difficult the game will be in a very hot environment and a fan base who will be very supportive of its team. As Olimpia we are close to the family of the fan that lost his life during the Barcelona game in Belgrade last night."

PARTIZAN BELGRADE OUTLOOK – Deeply rebuilt compared to the last season, Partizan is implementing a very extended rotation, and nobody stays on the court for at least 25 minutes per game. The most used players by Coach Obradovic are the Frenchman Frank Ntilikina, who came back to Europe after a multiyear NBA experience (he was selected 8th overall by the New York Knicks in 2017), and center Tyrique Jones. Obradovic often opts for playing "small" featuring one center and nominal power forward as the German, Isaac Bonga. The guard rotation involves the Danish, formerly with Virtus, Iffe Lundberg; the international South Sudanese point guard, Carlik Jones; the sharpshooting Sterling Brown, formerly in Berlin; and Ntilikina who has the size to play as a small forward too. At that position the rotation becomes even bigger to involve Vanja Marinkovic (who used to play in Baskonia). However, Marinkovic was not available in yesterday’s game against Barcelona. More options are Duane Washington and Isiaha Mike, and in the last game the 18-year-old Mitar Bosnjakovic was also used. Ntilikina is averaging 8.7 points per game on 48.0 percent three-point shooting, once his weakness now not so much. Lundberg averages 9.1 points per game and is very accurate from long distance (46.7 percent). Jones, almost always coming off the bench, has been the most prolific so far, with 11.4 points and 4.6 assists per game, 94.7 free-throw shooting. Brown is definitely a shooting specialist, contributing 9.9 points per game and converting 40.0 percent of his threes. Marinkovic adds 7.8 points per game on 39.1 percent three-point shooting. Washington has been seldom used so far, less than nine minutes per game, just like Mike, who had to sit out six games due to an injury. Bonga who spent four seasons in the NBA (Lakers, Washington, Toronto), was with Bayern last season and is a member of the German National team, averages 7.8 points per game, adds 3.9 rebounds and is shooting 44.8 percent on threes. Among the big men, Aleksej Pokusevski (2.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game), is a player with a weird story because he landed in the NBA when he basically had never played for the Olympiacos senior team. After spending four seasons in the US (168 games played, mostly at Oklahoma City), he has returned to Europa. The centers are Tyrique Jones (12.8 points per game), who grabs more offensive rebounds (3.0) than defensive ones (2.9), Brandon Davies (7.6 points per game), a big EuroLeague veteran; and finally, Balsa Korprivica, who hasn’t played much so far.

THE PARTIZAN BELGRADE CONNECTION – Zach LeDay left Olimpia in 2021 and moved to Belgrade where he spent the ensuing three seasons, the last two in the EuroLeague with 68 appearances on the court and 742 points scored. He returned to Milan at the start of the season. Brandon Davies, in his first season at Partizan, played for Olimpia two seasons ago (33 games, 336 points scored) before moving to Valencia.

GAME NOTES – Nikola Mirotic has made at least one three in 15 of his last 17 games and is five three-pointers away from 400 for his career. With 21.1 on average, he is second overall in rating, with 17.1 points he is the seventh-best scorer, and with 7.3 he is the fourth-best rebounder in the competition. With an average of 5.3 he is also the second-best defensive rebounder. Zach LeDay surpassed 500 two-pointers in his career during the Virtus Bologna game. Thanks to that performance he was named MVP of EuroLeague Round 7. With 18.9 per game, he is 8th in personal rating, he is also second for fouls received (6.1). Finally, with 57.1 percent he is second in three-point shooting behind Nikola Kalinic of Red Star Belgrade. With 55.6 percent, Pippo Ricci is sixth in the same category.