Olimpia remains “on the road” to face the reigning European Champions. Efes, fresh from a comeback victory over Real Madrid, have won their last seven home games (two of which have been won by one point and one by three) and is 11-3 in in its building. The difficulty level is obviously very high. Efes is climbing the standings. It is now sitting in fifth place, two wins behind Olimpia, who won the Milan game 75-71, a four-point difference. The team left Tel Aviv in the late morning and then practiced in Istanbul in the afternoon. Efes is third for points scored, but first for average rating, third in assists and is one of the few teams with a lower turnovers average than Olimpia. The turnovers were decisive in the Tel Aviv game. Olimpia is still first in terms of points allowed, 71.4 on average, about nine less than those allowed by Efes, a team used to play uptempo, around its four guards, Shane Larkin, Vasilije Micic, Rodrigue Beaubois and Elijah Bryant who made the decisive three against Real Madrid. Olimpia, who holds its opponents at 32.9 percent from three, will have to produce another exceptional defensive effort against the Efes shooting specialists that includes Kruno Simon, who has just returned from an injury, but also Adrien Moerman and Tibor Pleiss. Tip-off time is at 18:30, Italian time.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We are going to face the European defending Champions coming off a very good win over Real Madrid, while we had a couple of subpar games. Apparently, the outcome of this game should be clear, but for us it is a very nice opportunity to regroup, get back on track and play a good game.”
NICOLO’ MELLI – “We are coming off a bad outing in Tel Aviv, so our main goal entering this game is to find a way to redeem ourselves. Obviously, we are aware of how difficult this road game, against a top team, is going to be, but playing a good game is what we are looking forward to.”
ANADOLU EFES – Efes is the EuroLeague defending champion and to be honest it was leading, almost dominating the league in 2020 when the season was cancelled. In 2019, it was able to reach the championship game, although it lost to CSKA Moscow. The team has slightly changed since last season: Sertac Sanli has been replaced by Filip Petrusev, a second-round pick by Philadelphia, and has added during the season Elijah Bryant. Efes started the season 0-4, in part because of a tough schedule, then it improved and now is chasing a very good playoffs position. The team coached by Ergin Ataman is counting on three high-level guards, Shane Larkin (who is averaging 14.2 points, 5.4 assists), Vasilije Micic, the incumbent MVP who is scoring 17.3 points per game plus 4.6 assists, and Rodrigue Beaubois (10.7 points per game, 40.0 percent from three). Elijah Bryant completes the guard rotations (he is averaging 5.0 points per game) along Dogus Balbay and Erten Gazi. The small forwards are the very experienced Kruno Simon (7.6 points per game) and James Anderson (2.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 50.0 percent from three). The power forwards are Chris Singleton (3.6 points, 2.4 rebounds per game) and Adrien Moerman (8.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 42.1 percent from three-point range). The centers are Bryant Dunston (7.0 points per game, 70.3 percent from two) and the German shooter Tibor Pleiss who is averaging 9.2 points per game and is shooting 45.5 percent from three and 58.3 percent from two (he is averaging also 4.4 rebounds per game). Petrusev is finally a player with clear offensive traits who is averaging 5.4 points per game and shooting 62.5 percent from two.
HISTORY VS. EFES – Olimpia have played against Efes 31 times in the EuroLeague since 2005/06 with a record of 11-20. During the 2010/11 season, it won 84-70 in Milan with 24 points from David Hawkins; in 2012/13, again in Milan it won 80-75 with 23 points from Ioannis Bourousis (8/10 from the field and 7 rebounds) and 16 from Keith Langford; in 2013/14 it won twice, 77-73 with a sensational comeback in the last quarter and then in the Top 16, 76-69 with 17 points scored by Curtis Jerrells; in 2015/16, Olimpia won in Milan 88-84 with 26 points from Jamel McLean; in 2016/17 it won 105-92 with 22 points from Rakim Sanders. Three years ago, Olimpia won 77-64 at home. In the first leg of the 2018/19 season, Olimpia won 81-80 with a Mike James three at the end. Last year, Olimpia won the first leg in Istanbul 72-69 with 18 points from Kevin Punter and then won again in Milan, 98-75 with 19 points from Shavon Shields. Earlier in the season, Olimpia prevailed 75-71 with 16 points scored by Malcolm Delaney. The overall record is 21-12 for Efes and includes the Korac Cup. Anadolu Efes Istanbul, in fact, in 1996 won the first continental trophy of a Turkish team by winning the Korac Cup against Bogdan Tanjevic’s Stefanel Milano.
THE EFES CONNECTION – Krunoslav Simon played in Milan for two seasons, winning an Italian championship, two Italian Cups and a Super Cup in which he was named MVP of the competition after scoring 25 points in the championship game against Avellino. He is in his fifth season at Efes. Bryant Dunston played a year in Varese in 2012/13, then moved to Olympiacos, playing for the current Olimpia’s general manager, Christos Stavropoulos. Malcolm Delaney and Chris Singleton played together at Lokomotiv Kuban reaching the EuroLeague Final Four in 2016.
GAME NOTES – Nicolò Melli is the fourth-best defensive rebounder in the EuroLeague with a 4.8 average and is fifth in total rebounds with 6.5. Melli had his second double double in Tel Aviv and the fourth double-digit rebounding game of the season. Kyle Hines is 16 points shy of 3,000 for his career. In addition, he is five two-pointers away from the all-time first place that is currently held by Georgios Printezis of Olympiacos, who is also active.
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