The victory over Partizan put Olimpia back into rhythm but to validate the impact of that success it will be necessary to reiterate it against Baskonia in the first of two fundamental matches for the team’s future in the EuroLeague. Baskonia is a treacherous team because it plays at a high pace and after having at least partially overcome the injury emergency that affected it in the first part of the season, it now also appears in good form as it demonstrated by beating Zalgiris in the last round. The story of Baskonia’s season is easily recognizable: they pay for the initial 0-6. Then they became a very difficult team to beat on their own pitch (8-4), less solid away where they won only one match out of thirteen. Olimpia faces the match in a situation of relative emergency due to the loss of Leandro Bolmaro, a key player in the team’s balance due to his dual impact, energy and ability to play practically in four different roles. Without him, defense, versatility and depth are lacking. It’s up to those available to take a step forward: even in the most difficult moments Olimpia has almost always shown moments – not brief ones – of excellent basketball. The key would be to avoid drops in performance, blackouts, and be able to limit the minutes of difficulty. But as Coach Poeta said after the defeat suffered by Brescia in the championship, we need to come out of it all together, as a team, not individually.
NOTE – Olimpia Milano-Baskonia will be played on Tuesday 3 February at 8.30pm at the Allianz Cloud in Milan. Click here to purchase tickets.
THE REFEREES – Emin Mogulkoc (Türkiye), Borys Ryzhyk (Ukraine), Steve Bittner (Germany).
COACH PEPPE POETA – “Baskonia is a team that has a strong identity, which likes to play fast and very aggressive basketball. For us it will be important to be able to have continuity of performance throughout the entire 40 minutes of the match, which is the aspect we are missing most in this period.”
BASKONIA OUTLOOK – The Vitoria team was heavily affected by injuries during the season, with the two starting guards, Trent Forrest and Markus Howard missing around thirty games as a pair, and Hamidou Diallo preferring to leave the team mid-season to go and play in China. Another key player who missed many matches (12) is Lithuania’s Tadas Sedekerskis. Now, the situation has returned to normal so much so that in the last round the Basque team beat Zalgiris once again taking advantage of the field factor: at the Buesa Arena, Baskonia has a top-place pace. Trent Forrest, a sophomore in Vitoria, is a point guard with impressive physical size who is producing 9.9 points, 6.0 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. He’s not a shooter but for this specific task there is Markus Howard, in his fourth season in Vitoria, this year averaging 11.6 points with 34.3% from three points, numbers below his usual standards. His offensive potential is tremendous as demonstrated by his 33-point performance with six out of seven threes a few weeks ago in Barcelona. The other guards are Kobi Simmons, who arrived at the start of the season, who has 10.6 points and 3.2 assists per game, and Matteo Spagnolo, who averages 6.2 points and 2.2 assists in less than 16 minutes on the court, but was the protagonist in the first leg in which he scored 18 points. Markquis Nowell (6.1 points and 3.6 assists per game) is also part of the roster, but he has not played the last few games. The small forward is Timothè Luwawu-Cabarrot, a veteran who is producing the best season of his career, he has scored in double figures 23 times in 24 games played, he shoots 40.9% from three and averages 19.0 points. In Vitoria, he scored 21 points, one of his ten games with twenty or more points this season. The alternative is the Lithuanian Gytis Radzevicius, in his debut season in the EuroLeague, taken from Vilnius in the middle of the season, now averaging 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Power forward Tadas Sedekerskis was averaging 8.0 points and 4.8 rebounds before sitting out. Rodions Kurucs (7.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game) who is shooting 40.4% from three or even the Frenchman Clement Firsch (3.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game) can play in the role. The centers are Mamadi Diakite, who has enough outside shooting to be able to play minutes even as a power forward (6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds on average), the Canadian Eugene Omoruyi, a physical player (8.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game) who also has a decent shot from distance, and the title player Khalifa Diop who scores 4.2 points per game but with 71.0% from the field and adds 4.4 rebounds in 17.2 minutes on the field. He is particularly effective as an offensive rebounder (1.9 per game).
THE PREVIOUS Vs BASKONIA – The balance between the two clubs is 14-13, in favor of Olimpia. At home, Olimpia is 11-3 against the Vitoria team, while away it is 3-10. Olimpia won in Vitoria in the 2013/14 season in the Top 16, 83-65 with 17 points from Curtis Jerrells, in 2017/18, 83-82 with 16 points each from Andrew Goudelock and Jordan Theodore (who scored the winning basket) and in 2021/22, 78-64 with 12 points and 10 rebounds from Shavon Shields. In the last three seasons the two teams have always respected the field factor, as also happened in the first leg.
LA BASKONIA CONNECTION – Shavon Shields played two years in Vitoria winning the Liga ACB in 2020. Shields played 59 EuroLeague games in Vitoria, scoring 569 points. He played another 63 in the Spanish league with 711 points. Nico Mannion played in Baskonia in the 2023/24 season with eight EuroLeague appearances and 48 points scored. Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot played 24 games for Olimpia in the 2022/23 season with 226 points scored. Finally, Peppe Poeta played in Vitoria in the 2013/14 season with 10 appearances and 39 points in the EuroLeague. Baskonia’s coach, Paolo Galbiati is a product of the Olimpia youth team, where he coached for years, winning the Under 17 scudetto in 2013, before joining the first team staff with Jasmin Repesa in 2015. As a coach he won the Italian Cup with Torino in 2017 with Poeta as playmaker. They also worked together in Cremona in the 2021/22 season.
GAME NOTES – Zach LeDay is 13 points away from 2,500 for his career. Devin Booker is 13 minutes away from 2,000 in his career and the next game will be his 200th career game. Armoni Brooks is third overall in average triples scored per game with 2.8, but of the top ten in this ranking he is the best in terms of achievement percentage, 44.4%. He has made at least one triple in 16 consecutive games. Against Partizan, Pippo Ricci played match number 144 in the EuroLeague with Olimpia and joined Kyle Hines as fourth ever behind Nicolò Melli, Kaleb Tarczewski, Shavon Shields. Shavon Shields is 22 points away from 2,000 in the Olimpia jersey. Josh Nebo is seventh overall in two-point shooting at 75.0%. Marko Guduric sank the last 29 free throws he attempted.
