Olimpia is going to Tel Aviv, coach Messina: It is important to raise our attention to details

One of the great classics of European basketball, Maccabi-Olimpia, starts a key week to define the playoff grid. Olimpia is one win behind Olympiacos and three ahead of Efes, but still have five games to play. The Tel Aviv game (the next one will be in Istanbul against Efes) takes on enormous value at this point of the season. But the same is true for the opponent, who is 11-11, fighting for a post-season berth and with six games remaining in the schedule. It’s a difficult game: neither team played in the EuroLeague last week. Maccabi, however, has a double home round, the second game will be against Real Madrid: clearly, they are counting a lot on this week to improve their position and clinch a playoff berth. At home, Maccabi has won its last four games. The team is based on three key scorers, Scottie Wilbekin, with 6.8 per game is the player who attempts the most from three-point shots, James Nunnally and Ante Zizic, a center who has the highest average of two-point field goals made, 5.4 per game. To these must be added the overwhelming talent of Derrick Williams as a power forward. After more than three months, Olimpia will count on Shavon Shields for a EuroLeague game.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – "Maccabi is an extremely athletic team that after the coaching change is trying to find motivations and strength to change its season, and in addition will benefit from the support of their fans as always when playing at home. It will therefore be a difficult game, in which we will need both offensively and defensively to raise the level of concentration and attention mostly to details in order to think about winning this game."

 KYLE HINES – "It is the start of a very important week, with two very difficult away games. Maccabi is always a tough team to face and it is even more so in this moment when they are fighting for a playoffs’ berth and will have the support of their home court. We will have to play with great attention and look for the wins from here to the end that can give us the best possible position in the playoffs grid."

THE REFEREES – Sasa Pukl (Slovenia), Tomislav Hordov (Croatia), Saulius Racys (Lithuania).

GAME NOTES – Nicolò Melli and Nikola Kalinic of the Red Star are the only players with 27 starting lineup appearances so far in the EuroLeague. Melli is the fourth-best defensive rebounder in the EuroLeague with a 4.6 average and is sixth in total rebounds with 6.3. Melli is also seventh in steals, averaging 1.3 per game. Kyle Hines has surpassed 1,600 career rebounds and surpassed Ioannis Bourousis’ 1,603 to become the third-best ever. He is also 21 points shy of 3,000 for his career. In addition, he is six two-pointers away from the all-time first place that is currently held by Georgios Printezis of Olympiacos, who is also active. Sergio Rodriguez with an average of 4.8 assists is fifth overall in this category.