Olimpia goes to Villeurbanne, coach Messina: We’ll use the game to get ready for the playoffs

Olimpia finishes its EuroLeague regular season in France against ASVEL Villeurbanne, who after a very interesting start of the season dropped down in the standings because primarily of injuries that prevented the team from competing for a playoffs’ spot, despite extremely talented and efficient guards (Chris Jones and Elie Okobo are averaging almost 30 points combined per game) and the extraordinary athleticism and length of the "big men". The game also has limited significance for Olimpia, who is certain of at least finishing in fourth place, but can only improve it if Real Madrid lose to Bayern Munich at home. For the rest, the last round is crucial only to understand who the opponent of the playoffs will be. There is also a bit of prestige involved: Olimpia have won 20 of the 31 games played in the EuroLeague, counting the four played against Russian teams, so by winning in France Olimpia would reach 21 wins like the last season but with two fewer games. Even if the final position will stay the same – fourth – the percentage of games won would be higher. Speaking of numbers, Olimpia could win its 10th road game tying last season’s all-time record. It should be remembered that despite the exclusion of the Russian teams, Olimpia has played all its scheduled 17 road games, but only 15 of the home games. Unfortunately, the team that traveled to Villuerbanne will be limited. The list of unavailable players is long: Sergio Rodriguez, Trey Kell, Troy Daniels, Shavon Shields and Gigi Datome won’t be playing.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN – Olimpia can finish in 3rd place only by winning in France and with the help of a Real Madrid home loss to Bayern Munich. In any other case, it will finish 4th and will face the 5th-placed team in the playoffs. As of now, Efes has a tie-break advantage over Maccabi Tel Aviv.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "It is a game we’ll play a limited roster due to Covid-19 problems, however we’ll use it to get ready for the playoffs and in general for the next few games, giving playing time to the guys who didn’t have many minutes lately, and especially to Nik Melli, who had missed our last EuroLeague game".

DEVON HALL – "Our goal is to end the regular season on a high note and taking another step toward improving ourselves for the playoffs. We are aware of the challenge because Asvel is a very athletic and talented team with a lot of size and depth".

ASVEL – The team is built around the two guards, Chris Jones, who has always started, is scoring 13.2 points per game with 3.6 assists and shooting 40.7 percent from three; Elie Okobo, who has missed four games, averages 14.8 points per game with 4.0 assists and is making 37.2 percent of his threes. Among the guards, there are also Matthew Strazel (3.5 points per game), Antoine Diot (only 15 appearances), Marcos Knight, who came late in the season (averaging 8.2 points and 4.6 rebounds) has been stopped due to injury, and Paul Lacombe (5.5 points per game). David Lighty (8.3 points per game, 55.0 percent from three) only played 10 games due to physical problems. Among the forwards there are Charles Kahudi (4.9 points per game, but he was verry efficient in the Milano game), William Howard (47.6 percent from three), a tremendous shooter, and Dylan Osetkowski (6.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game). The centers are the veteran James Gist (6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game), the 2.21 mt tall Youssoupha Fall (5.9 points per game, 70.6 percent from two) and Kostas Antetokounmpo (5.6 points per game, 71.9 percent from two). Finally, power forward Raymar Morgan returned and immediately scored 12 points in his debut, and compared to the Milano game, the 2.20, 18-year-old prospect Victor Wembanyama is now fully involved (5.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in 12 appearances).

HISTORY – During the EuroLeague era, Olimpia and ASVEL Villeurbanne have met only four times. Two years ago in France, ASVEL won 89-82 thanks to 19 points from David Lighty and 18 from Jordan Taylor, while Olimpia had 13 points and 10 assists from Sergio Rodriguez. Last year in Milan, Olimpia won 87-73 with 17 points and seven rebounds by Shavon Shields. In France, ASVEL prevailed 78-69 despite Shields’s 18 points. This season, Olimpia defeated ASVEL 73-72 with a big three by Devon Hall at the end. However, in their history they faced each several more times: during the 1966/67 European Cup (the reigning champion Simmenthal lost the final to Real Madrid), Milan won on the road 86-66 (23 points were scored by Gabriele Vianello, Red Robbins had 21) and at home 103-85 (Steve Chubin 26, Robbins 21). In the 1995/96 Korac Cup, Olimpia eliminated ASVEL in the semifinals, winning 81-72 on the road and 73-69 at home. In the 1997/98 Eurocup, in which Olimpia reached the final losing it to Zalgiris, in the quarterfinals it eliminated ASVEL, winning away 67-58 (24 points were scored by Thurl Bailey) and surviving a defeat at home 70 -62 despite Flavio Portaluppi’s 17 points. Overall, so it’s 7-3 in Olimpia’s favor, 3-2 in Villeurbanne, it is 2-2 during the EuroLeague era.

THE ASVEL CONNECTION – ASVEL president Tony Parker played in San Antonio for Ettore Messina.

GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields has scored 22 points in each of the last two games with 10/17 from two and 6/11 from three. Kaleb Tarczewski enters this game two field goals away from 300 in career and in the Olimpia jersey (he is already the first ever). During the last round Ettore Messina coached the 400th game of his career in the EuroLeague with 283 wins. He is second behind Zeljko Obradovic in both rankings. He now has 497 appearances in international club competitions.