Messina: We prepared well in order to approach the final EuroLeague stretch in the best possible way

With eight games left in the EuroLeague’s regular season there’s no need to emphasize how much every one of them will be important. With some scattered exceptions, all the teams are still fighting for some relevant goals. Olimpia is entering the game, the first of four home games remaining, with a 14-12 record, the same that Barcelona and Partizan have and as of now is good for a place between 8^th and 10^th, all of them good for a play-in spot, though the positions are all not all equal (right now, Olimpia is 1-1 but down in the point differential with Partizan; it has still to face Barcelona at home after winning on the road; Partizan-Barcelona is another game still to be played). At the same time, Olimpia is one win shy of the favorable 7^th place now belonging to Paris Basketball and one loss away from Real Madrid’s 11^th place. Right now, Real Madrid would be the first of the teams eliminated from the post-season. Clearly, with eight games left, everything is still up for grabs. It is true for tomorrow’s opponent, AS Monaco, 16-10 in the win-loss column, a record good to finish everywhere between third and sixth place.

Both teams are coming off a painful break. Both qualified but lost the National Cup championship game, Olimpia was beaten by Trento, Monaco lost to Le Mans. So, we have two hurt but determined teams. The Principality team added during the break its fourth center, who is showing the pedigree of a great star, the German big man Daniel Theis, coming back to Europe after eight seasons in the NBA.

Olimpia, compared to the last few EuroLeague outings, recovers Nikola Mirotic (second-best in index rating, fourth in scoring, fifth in rebounding) but won’t have Leandro Bolmaro available, due to the right shoulder injury that he reported after the Italian Cup final.

The tip-off time at Unipol Forum will be at 20:30 on Thursday, February 27.

THE REFEREES – Emin Mogulkoc (Turkey), Carlos Peruga (Spain), Arturas Sukys (Lithuania).

COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “We are both teams disappointed by the epilogue of their respective National Cup torunaments. However, we prepared well in order to approach this final EuroLeague stretch in the best possible way, knowing how important every game is from now to the end. Returning to a good ball circulation and to a defense capable to generate transition opportunities will be crucial to defeat a team extremely deep and with great aspirations.”

AS MONACO OUTLOOK – Monaco is fighting for the third consecutive season for a playoff’s berth with a solid chance of finishing among the top four teams and having home court advantage in the post-season. However, it is a close race, and the Principality team will have to play five of the last eight games on the road. Compared to the team that beat Olimpia in the opening night, Furkan Korkmaz left Monaco, Jordan Loyd returned, Nick Calathes recovered from an injury, coach Sasa Obradovic was replaced by Vassilis Spanoulis, and right during the break the German center, an 8-year NBA veteran, Daniel Theis, was added. The consequence is that the team’s depth among the big men is impressive: Spanoulis can rotate up to four centers, Donatas Motiejunas, Georgios Papagiannis, Mam Jaiteh and Theis (4.5 points and 4.7 rebounds on average in New Orleans this season). Despite this depth, Monaco remains a team around a talented back-court: Mike James, the only player to have scored more than 5,000 points in the EuroLeague, is producing 15.3 points and 5.6 assists per game at 34; Nick Calathes, who is first ever in assists (2,121 in his career) has played only seven games so far with 6.3 points and 5.1 assists on average in 22.2 minutes on the court, at 36: he is also shooting 72.2 percent on twos and 26.1 percent from three-point range; Elie Okobo, who has never started so far, brings to the team 12.9 points per game on 42.4 percent three-point shooting off the bench; Jordan Loyd adds 10.2 points per game on 35.1 percent shooting on threes; and French international Matthew Strazel averages 8.8 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting from three. Coach Spanoulis can rotate these five players and occasionally employ three guards at once. At small forward, Jaron Blossomgame is averaging 7.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, on 63.6 percent two-point shooting, and Alpha Diallo, an extremely consistent player is averaging with 11.6 points per game, shooting 60.5 percent from two and 44.4 percent from three, while grabbing 4.4 rebounds per game. The power forward spot is the one where Spanoulis, like his predecessor, changes the most, being able to opt for two centers or four wingers (Diallo as a nominal 4). The power forwards are Vitto Brown, averaging 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13.6 minutes on the court, and Petr Cornelie, 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 12.5 minutes. Finally, the centers. Motiejunas produces 6.8 points and 3.5 rebounds as a starter but with under 16 minutes per game on the court. The Lithuanian shoots 60.6 percent from two and 43.7 percent from three. Papagiannis has the same playing time as the Lithuanian but comes routinely off the bench (7.2 points and 3.5 rebounds but above all 1.4 blocks per game). Jaiteh has seven appearances as a starter but always as a power forward, with 7.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, 68.9 percent on twos. Theis will make his debut in Milan. For the rest, Terry Tarpey, a swingman, averages 2.7 points per game with 50.0 percent shooting from three, and small forward Juhann Begarin occasionally can play a bit.

AS MONACO CONNECTION – Mike James spent the 2018/19 season with Olimpia- During that season, he led the EuroLeague in scoring and finished the season with 30 appearances, 595 points and 191 assists.

LEDAY FROM THE LINE – Zach LeDay is currently riding a 39 made free throws streak. The last miss dates back to the fourth quarter of the Lyon game, with 8:40 remaining in that game. LeDay missed the first of a couple, then made the second and started the streak. The 39 free throws made in a row surpassed the previous record streak that Nikola Mirotic had earlier in the season when he made 35 free throws in a row between the Barcelona’s road game and the Partizan home game.

MIROTIC FOR 4.000 – Nikola Mirotic is approaching the 4.000-point milestone. He has currently 3.940 points scored for his career. Mirotic has scored 758 points for Olimpia so far; 1.046 for Real Madrid; 2.136 for Barcelona. As of now, Mirotic is the seventh-best scorer in the competition history. Six players before him scored more than 4.000 points: Mike James, Nando De Colo, Vassilis Spanoulis, Juan Carlos Navarro, Sergio Llull and Jan Vesely.