Olimpia Milano, Ettore Messina now dreams of a hat trick

The words of Ettore Messina

Olimpia closes its 2022, a year that produced Scudetto and Coppa Italia. with round number 16 of EuroLeague, opponent Valencia, the fourth Spanish training team in the competition. Beating Barcelona in the last round, Valencia moved up in the standings and now figures in the playoff area where Olimpia, winner of the last two games, in Belgrade against Red Star and then in Milan against Monaco, is also trying to get back in, one step at a time. To try to climb back up the ladder, this game is crucial: it precedes the Athens-Olympiacos trip, which in turn precedes the doubleheader in Berlin plus the home game with Zalgiris. If an upward step is possible, it must be taken now in spite of the injury situation that has obviously not changed. Valencia is a deep team, which has in totem Bojan Dubljevic its leader, the most experienced and insidious player with his inside-outside game. Its point guard pair, Jared Harper-Chris Jones, also is worth about 25 points per game. Olimpia is riding the hot streak of Billy Baron, 20.0 average in the last three outings; but also Devon Hall, who in the two recent wins has averaged 11.5 points on 75.0 percent from two. Averaging 30.4 minutes, Hall is the team’s most employed player.

“Like all EuroLeague games, this one is also very important, all the more so coming from two consecutive victories,” Ettore Messina said on the eve of the game. “We would like to prolong the positive moment and once again the contribution of our public will be of great help to us, as will be commitment and attention to rebounding, which for example were fundamental in the championship game won against Varese. Valencia is a team well coached by Coach Mumbru, able to effectively use their outside players and the atypical talent of Bojan Dubljevic, who is one of the best shooting centers in Europe. We will try to play the best game we can, knowing that it will not be easy at all.”