Can Milano survive to Olympiacos, in spite of the injuries?
Milan-Olympiacos will be a duel between the weakest offense, Milan (71.9 ppg), 14th place 9-15 and the best offense, Olympiacos (85.6 ppg), 1st place 18-7 in Mediolanum Forum on March 3.
Reasons for concern in Milan, Kevin Pangos is a long-term injury, Shields is still not fully recovered, he will probably return to the Euroleague next week, Hall suffered an injury to his right knee on February 15 and will be forced to stop for a month and undergo therapy before being reevaluated. Datome was injured again and it is not known when he will return while Paul Biligha suffered an injury to the medial collateral of his right knee and must be reevaluated. However, Milan is going through a very good period with 6 wins in the last 7 games, a special merit having the newcomer NBA guard Shabazz Napier with 10.3 ppg and 4.3 ast in his first 3 Euroleague games. In the absence of Shields alongside Napier, the Milan offense will be led by Brandon Davies with 11.4 ppg and Billy Baron with 11.2 ppg.
Olympiacos, probably not even their fans dreamed of such a thing, but they are the team of the moment in Europe. They have already won the national cup after 3 easy victories with Aris 82-51, Panathinaikos 81-65 and Peristeri 85-57, in the Greek championship they are leaders “15 to love”, tennis score. These results are largely due to the form of Vezenkov, who finished the month of February ranking as the league’s leader in the three major statistical categories, with 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 23.5 PIR per game. Kostas Sloukas seems to be in a race for the 6th man of the season, 21 games, no starter and he is the second scorer with 11.6 ppg. “Together We Fight, Together We Fly, Together We Win” is the program of the Greeks for their fans and for the match in Italy is already sold out.
It looks like a David vs. Goliath duel, can a Milan full of injuries beat an Olympiakos that seems invincible?
Valentin Petruta
Photo credit: EuroLeague
