Olimpia is going to Kaunas, coach Messina: Passing and transition defense will be the keys

Olimpia is riding a four-game winning streak on the road, Monaco, Barcelona, Moscow, and Belgrade, but is coming off a home loss against Fenerbahce. Playing without Shavon Shields for the last six game and with no Dinos Mitoglou over the last 12 outings, Olimpia is struggling to be effective offensively as it is defensively, where it is first overall for points allowed (70.1 per game). The Kaunas make-up game is crucial to erase the last home loss and restart the path toward a playoffs berth, while the pressure behind is mounting. Zalgiris is historically dangerous especially at home and was a tough out during the recent Milano’s game between the same teams. In addition, Mantas Kalnietis, Josh Nebo, Paulius Jankunas and Joffrey Lauvergne, after a very long absence, have all recovered. All four played in their league game last Sunday, so it will be an objectively very different and deeper team the one that Olimpia will meet this time around. From its side, Olimpia won’t have available Gigi Datome, too, while Trey Kell is not eligible to play since he was yet to be registered when the game was originally scheduled.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "Zalgiris has recovered basically all of its players with the only exception fo Janis Strelnieks, so they are in a very better situation since the last time we faced them, ten days ago. It is a team based on defensive aggressiveness and the high tempo set by its point guards. For us it will be crucial to pay attetion to the quality of our passing and the defensive transition".

MALCOLM DELANEY – "We are going on the road to play on one of the best home court environments that there is in basketball. We have to be better than we were during the last EuroLeague game and be disciplined, if we want to get another road win."

THE REFEREES – Miguel Angel Perez (Spain), Mehdi Difallah (France), Seffi Shemmesh (Israel).

ZALGIRIS KAUNAS – Zalgiris is used to rotate four guards, Lukas Lekavicius (9.0 points and 3.9 assists per game, he was the best in the recent Milano game) who had played for Panathinaikos before returning to Kaunas, Mantas Kalnietis (5.9 points and 4.4 assists per game), Tai Webster (5.4 points per game), a New Zealander who spent the last two years at Galatasaray, and the Latvian Janis Strelnieks (8.2 points, 40.0 percent from three) who ha splaying sporadically lately because of some injuries. The forwards are Edgaras Ulanovas (6.1 points, 4.3 rebounds on average), Niels Giffey, a veteran coming from Alba Berlin (37.5 percent from three), and Arturas Milaknis, one of the greatest outside shooters in history (6.3 points, 42.5 percent from three, this season). Power forward Tyler Cavanaugh (8.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game) is capable of being dangerous as a shooter, while Josh Nebo (8.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 68.5 percent from two) is an energetic player, who plays strictly inside and was absent in the Milano game. Marek Blazevic (7.1 points per game) made himself ready to go during the absence of Joffrey Lauvergne, the guy the team was built around. Lauvergne has returned lately and at this he is averaging 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Paulius Jankunas is a veteran who is also the first ever in the EuroLeague for games played and rebounds grabbed.

HISTORY VS. ZALGIRIS – The two teams met 20 times splitting the all-time series 10-10, but it 8-7 for Zalgiris during the EuroLeague era. During the 1985/86 season, Arvydas Sabonis’ Zalgiris won 80-79 against Olimpia in Kaunas, but Milan made up for it at home by winning 95-66. The following season, when Olimpia was going to win the first of two consecutive European championships, Zalgiris was defeated twice, 75-71 at home, 100-85 in Kaunas. Zalgiris instead won the 1998 Saporta Cup final (82-67) against Olimpia in Belgrade. Last year, Olimpia won both games, in Milan 98-92, in Kaunas 69-64 with 23 points scored by Shavon Shields. The Milano game was won by Olimpia 67-58 with 12 points each for Devon Hall and Troy Daniels.

THE ZALGIRIS CONNECTION – Mantas Kalnietis, an Italian league champion with Olimpia in 2016 (he helped the team win two Italian Cups too), played 40 EuroLeague games for Olimpia with 278 points scored. Jure Zdovc, the Zalgiris coach, spent a year at Virtus Bologna as a player under Coach Ettore Messina. Janis Strelnieks has been a teammate of Nicolò Melli in Bamberg and played next to Kyle Hines in Moscow. Lukas Lekavicius has played along Dinos Mitoglou and Ben Bentil at Panathinaikos.

GAME NOTES – Kyle Hines just became the second player ever to grab 700 rebounds for his career. Now, he has 701. The first player to do that has been Felipe Reyes. He has 705. So, Hines is four offensive boards away from being the all-time leader. Nicolò Melli, 22 out of 22 games as a starter, is the eighth-best defensive rebounder in the EuroLeague with 4.4 per game. Gigi Datome is eighth in the three-point shooting with 44. 0 percent. Malcolm Delaney in Belgrade surpassed 500 points scored for Olimpia, now he has 527. Kaleb Tarczewski is seven field goals away from 300 and 11 rebounds away from 600, both for Olimpia and overall.