Ettore Messina compares his Olimpia to Panathinaikos

The words of Ettore Messina

Olimpia won the last two games played in the EuroLeague, both at home against Baskonia and Red Star, before observing a round of stop due to the postponement of the Istanbul game with Fenerbahce. The opponent, Panathinaikos, one of the superpowers of European basketball in the past two decades, is having a complicated season: it has the same number of wins as Olimpia, eight, one game played more and an away record of 2-10 (wins in Belgrade-Red Star and Kaunas); in the league it is second behind Olympiacos with 13 wins and two losses; in the Greek Cup it lost the semifinal, also to Olympiacos. In recent days it also alternated coach Dejan Radonjic with Christos Serelis, formerly of Lavrio. Compared to the first leg game, won after an overtime comeback, Panathinaikos got back Marius Grigonis and added shooter Matt Thomas. Olimpia unfortunately experiences another contest in an emergency situation: with Kevin Pangos and Shavon Shields not yet ready to return, they will also be without Devon Hall, who had played all games so far and was over 30 minutes of average usage. Pippo Ricci and Paul Biligha, who are busy with the national team, will also be unavailable in this contest.

“We face a team that, like us, is going through a complicated season, in which they had to change so much and lost numerous games with minimal spreads. In Athens, we had controlled the game for a long time, so we have to restart from those first 35 minutes, play an intense contest, pay great attention especially to the offensive talent of Dwayne Bacon, the shooting of Matt Thomas and the athletic strength of their longs starting with Derrick Williams. We come from the bad test provided in the Italian Cup and there was also the loss of Devon Hall, who always gave us a lot in terms of defense and versatility, but regardless of who will go on the court, we feel the duty to play a level game,” said Ettore Messina.