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Two points behind
Although “Žalgiris” occupies only ninth place before the mutual duel, and “Olimpia” shares third place, these teams from Kaunas and Milan are separated by only two points. The situation in the Euroleague table is tense: no team has yet secured a berth to the playoffs, and there are many who are willing and can still advance to the quarterfinals.
With 6-7 games before the end of the regular season, Barcelona feel calmer. He won 19 of 27 games and is in first place. Second place is held by CSKA Moscow, who have won 18 out of 27 games, and the difference between the teams chasing the two leaders is much smaller.
After 17 of the 27 games, Olimpia, Anadolu Efes from Istanbul and Bayern Munich won, 17 from 28 – Real Madrid, 16 from 27 – Istanbul Fenerbahçe and Saint Petersburg Zenit.
These teams are in the top eight and would not give up if the tournament table did not change significantly at the end of the regular season.
However, the nearby team is eager to change it: Žalgiris (15 of 27), Baskonia de Vitoria (14 of 27) and Valencia (14 of 28).
The twelfth place is occupied by Vilerbano ASVEL, who has won 12 of the 27 games and will have a hard time intervening in the fight for the right to play the playoffs.
Best played in January
Although Olimpia is the most titled Italian club (they have become the national champion 28 times), at the beginning of this century they experienced a significant decline and had lost the title of the country’s basketball leader. However, a few years ago, Milan basketball recovered, and the leaders of the “red shoes” have been talking about high goals for several seasons not only in the Serie A competition, but also in the Euroleague.
However, there is no way to implement all the plans. During the entire period of modern Euroleague, Olympia reached the quarter-finals only once, in 2014.
The Milan team, currently ranked in the top eight, has a good chance of replicating the best result. It is true that the first part of the season was changeable for the leaders of Italian basketball and they marched for a long time among the Euroleague average, but in January, Olimpia achieved six consecutive victories and began to think about the leading Barcelona on their heels.
On the other hand, the goal has not yet been achieved. Since the beginning of February, Olimpia has won much less often and has only won two in the last five matches. Milan’s basketball players were recently defeated by Vilerban’s USEL, Saint Petersburg’s Zenit and Istanbul’s Fenerbahçe.
On Wednesday, on the last day of the Euroleague, Olimpia recognized the 92-100 advantage of Fenerbahçe, who played without Edgar Ulanov. Milan’s Kevin Punter (20 points), Luigi Datome (16), Shavon Shields (14) and Sergio Rodríguez (13) were the most prominent.
American team
Olimpia played without two top basketball players in Wednesday’s first game of the week. Zach LeDay and Malcolm Delaney were unable to help their teammates due to injuries.
Delaney underwent knee surgery this week, which will prevent him from playing for at least a month. It was not announced when Z.LeDay, who stretched the thigh muscle, will return to the lineup.
These Americans are among the five Olympia basketball players with a double-digit average performance in the Euroleague. Kevin Punter (14.3 points), Shavon Shileds (13.1 points), M. Delaney (10.9 points, 3.9 points), Sergio Rodríguez (10.7 points) are the ones with the most points in this team points, 4.5 points) and Z.LeDay (10.3 points, 4.7 res.).
Slightly lower contributions from Kyle Hines (8.6 points, 4.3 rebounds), Luigi Datomė (8.2 points) and Vladimir Micov (6.6 points).
By the way, up to nine Americans play for the Milan team (three of them have European or North African passports). They scored nearly three-quarters (72.7 percent) of the team’s points.
Italian basketball players scored just 11.4 percent. points, but most of the “Italian” points were scored by L.Datome (197 points). Other Italians with radon shoes, Riccardo Moraschini (50), Paul Biligha (4), Davide Moretti (2) and Andrea Cinciarini (0), are rarely allowed on the field during Euroleague matches and are more useful in the Italian league, which has a limit of six legionnaires.
The importance of the walls of the house
Kaunas basketball players visited Milan in mid-November. The “Žalgiris” suffered three consecutive defeats before the trip to Italy and did not break the chain of failures. Olympia defeated Kaunas 98:92.
The Milan team led most of the time, leading by 20 points in the middle of the third half 62:42. The Kaunas basketball players did not give up and in the 34th minute they tied the score 77:77, but there was no more strength and in the end they played Olimpia better again.
Lukas Lekavičius (16 points), Rokas Jokubaitis (15), Augustine Rubitas (13) and Marius Grigonis (10) played more productively for the Kaunas team, Kevin Punter (22), Zach LeDay (20), Shavonas Shields ( 170) played in Milan and Malcolm Delaney (13).
During the entire period of the modern Euroleague, Žalgiris and Olimpia played 13 matches. Kaunas residents scored 8 victories through them.
Since 2018, all six mutual matches, three in Kaunas and three in Milan, have been won by the hosts.
A collection of landslide victories
Although Olimpia has been by far the richest club in Italy since the mid-1990s, it has not always been able to beat its competitors in the Italian league in recent seasons. Raudonieji bateliai became national champion only three times in the last decade: in 2014, 2016 and 2018. On other occasions, the Milan team was frustrated by the Dynamo of Sasario (2015) and the Reyer of Venice (2017 and 2019 ), and the Italian champions were not announced last season.
Everything is going well this season. Olimpia has won 16 games in 18 matches and is firmly in first place. Milan basketball players often don’t even notice their opponents – they have already won by 20 points or more six times. Olimpia achieved their sixth landslide victory last weekend, when they defeated club Bologna Fortitudo 98:72 at home (K. Punteris 25, M.Rollas 16, V. Micovas 14).
However, the Brindisi and Trieste teams managed to prove that Olympia is not insurmountable. By the way, both Brindisi and Trieste won the tournament at their home ground in Milan.
The second-place teams Brindisi, Dinamo (played by Eimantas Bendžius) and Bologna Virtus won by 13 wins and are three points behind the Milan team.
Zach LeDay (16.3 points, 7.2 rebounds), Sh.Shields (14.3 points), S.Rodriguez (11.1 points, 6 res. Ed.), M.Rollas 911.1 points, K.Punter 911 points) and L.Datome (10 , 4 points).
Recover the Italian Cup
In mid-February, Olimpia demonstrated her overwhelming power during the Italian Cup. In it, the Milan basketball players won all three games by 28-31 points.
Even in the final, the advantage of “Olimpia” was more than clear: the team of “Victoria Libertas” from Pesha was crushed 87:59 (Z. LeDay and K. Punter after 13, M. Delaney 10).
When the winners won every game “in one basket,” it was not easy to decide who was most worthy of the most useful player award. However, the personal award was presented to his own friend Luigi Datome, an Italian.
Olimpia won the national cup for the seventh time. But in this century, the award for “red shoes” was awarded only for the third time (the last two, in 2016 and 2017).
