After reaching the finals with a win over Panathinaikos, The Yellow & Blue will play against the up and coming Italian team under new head coach Ettore Messina. (Live on Sport5)
As for the opponent, Olimpia Armani Milano rallied back from an early deficit to beat Fenerbahce 79:75. Sergio Rodriguez, who joined the Italians this summer from CSKA Moscow, scored a game-high 26 points over the Turkish team. Shelvin Mack added 15 points for Milano under coach Ettore Messina, that decided to come back to Europe after five years as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.
Other than Rodriguez and Mack, you can find on the Italian’s capital squad Ex Maccabi SF Michael Roll, SF Vladimir Micov, PG Riccardo Moraschini, PG Andrea Cinciarini, PG Nemanja Nedovic, PG Amedeo Della Valle, PF Aaron White, PF Jeff Brooks, PF Cristian Burns, C Kaleb Tarczewski, C Paul Biligha and C Arturas Gudaitis that is recovering from a torn ACL.
“We need time to play all together.” said coach Giannis Sfairopoulos after the win over Panathinaikos. “We indeed won this game but what’s important now is to build our game, learn each other, and play together”.
Tyler Dorsey, who finished as the top scorer for Maccabi with 18 points, described playing in Athens for the first time: “I’m used to playing in tough environments, I like it because it brings a competitive spirit out of me. Our first two EuroLeague games are on the road, so it’s great to get used to that.”
After the game, Maccabi will take part in the closing ceremony as they will fly back to Israel tomorrow (Monday). On Tuesday they will face Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Winner Cup quarter-finals at the Drive-In Arena.
