After beating Alba Berlin in the sixth round of the EuroLeague regular season, which gave Olimpia its third consecutive win, Panathinaikos Athens is coming to the Mediolanum Forum. Olimpia held Alba to 55 points, the lowest since the 2013/14 season when Olimpia defeated Olympiacos 81-51. He did so by conceding just 22 points in the first half, only nine in the second period when Milan got its hands on the game, thanks to a 16-0 run. Coach Ettore Messina rotated 12 players, and none stayed on the court more than Malcolm Delaney’s 22 minutes. A strong defense will be necessary against Panathinaikos which is coming off a severe loss in Villeurbanne against a team looking great and on a wild hot-shooting night. The Greek team will recover Shelvin Mack, who couldn’t play in France because he was not yet registered at the time of the postponement of the game.
OLIMPIA – The game against Panathinaikos is the last at home before 23 December. In between there will be four consecutive road games, at Khimki, Barcelona, Fenerbahce and Efes. But for now, there is only Panathinaikos to face. Olimpia has won three of the last four games against the Greek powerhouse, including the last two played in Athens. Obviously, it is a very different team, with three Olimpia former players: besides Mack, there are Aaron White and above all Nemanja Nedovic. Olimpia practiced at home late in the morning.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “We face a very deep Panathinaikos team with a lot of physical talent and well-organized. Just last week, they played a great game against Bayern. So far, they didn’t get the results they have the ability to get. Besides, they are coming here with three players who has been here and will be very motivated to do well. Rebounding and one on one defense will be the absolute key factor for us in order to try to win.”
GIGI DATOME – “We intend to build over the very good games we have played lately. Panathinaikos is going to be a hard opponent to face, so it’s very important for us to stay focused and to play the way we are prepared to play with a lot of attention to detail and a clear mind.”
THE REFEREES – Miguel Angel Perez (Spain), Sreten Radovic (Croatia), Milan Nedovic (Slovenia).
PANATHINAIKOS – Coach Georgios Vovoras has been Rick Pitino’s assistant for the past two years. His Panathinaikos team has a good component of high-level Greek players, such as Ioannis Papapetrou (11.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game), Kostas Mitoglou (7.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game) and Georgios Papagiannis, the 2.20 mt. center, who was an NBA first-round pick, in Sacramento where he spent two years. Papagiannis is producing 9.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Among the guards, along Shelvin Mack (10.0 points, 70.0% from three), there is Nemanja Nedovic, who is averaging 13.9 points per game with 3.6 assists, and Marcus Foster, an athletic guard who shoots over 42% from three-point range. Among the bigs, there is Zach Auguste, who has returned to Athens, where he had already played in the past, along the powerful Ben Bentil and Aaron White (7.0 points per game). Defensive specialist Howard Sant-Roos came from CSKA Moscow in the summer, but he is still averaging 8.6 points per game.
THE PANATHINAIKOS CONNECTION – Nemanja Nedovic played for two years in Milan, winning a Super Cup during his stay. Shelvin Mack and Aaron White were with the Olimpia in the early part of last season before moving, the first to Jerusalem and the second to Tenerife. Now they found themselves with Nedovic at Panathinaikos.
NOTES – Gigi Datome has an open streak of 21 free throws made. Sergio Rodriguez has scored at least one three in 21 of his last 22 appearances and has gone into double figures in the index rating in nine of the last 10 games. Kevin Punter has scored a triple in each of his last 16 EuroLeague games, more than one in 11 of his last 12, and has an open streak of 13 double-digit games. Olimpia used 11 different players in the starting lineup. Zach LeDay had started all the first eight games. The streak was interrupted against Alba. LeDay has gone into double figures in six of the last eight games. Meanwhile, he is nine rebounds sky of 300 in his career. Kyle Hines is nine two-pointers shy of 1,000 in his career. The Olimpia center is second ever in the EuroLeague in offensive rebounds. With 593 he is seven shy of 600 for his career. Against Alba he has reached 300 assists in his career. Finally, Kaleb Tarczewski entered the Top 10 of the all-time EuroLeague Olimpia scorers (including FIBA competitions). Kaleb has 91 appearances in the EuroLeague with Olimpia.
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