basketball | Friday, December 23, 2022 12:57 PM

Olimpia Milano vs Monaco Best Bet: Milano to Escape the Bottom

Aleksa Drobnjak

Olimpia Milano vs Monaco Best Bet: Friday, December 23rd

Ettore Mesina’s team won their last away game against Crvena Zvezda, and will now try to build a winning streak to escape the lower dome of the Euroleague standings. Monaco has shown consistency, they are still in the 2nd spot in the competition with 10W 4L.

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Olimpia Milano vs Monaco Preview
Olimpia Milano vs Monaco Best Bet

Olimpia Milano vs Monaco Preview

Fri, Dec 23rd. 18:30 (UK time)

The city of fashion will be the battlefield tonight between the Italian and French powerhouse. Ettore Mesina’s team is sitting in the dead last spot in the competition, and although they have been plagued by injuries, hardly anybody expected them to have only 4 Wins after 14 games in the EL.

Milano is playing the slowest basketball in the competition with only 79 possessions on average per game whilst they are scoring only 68.9 points per game. It is not hard to conclude what are their problems going into the second half of the season. Their percentages are good, they are 10th in the Euroleague in making shots behind the arc with 34% for and 41% from the field. Milanos’ biggest issue was injured players, so for tonight, they will not count on S. Shields and K. Pangos whilst L. Datome is “questionable” due to illness.

Monaco has shown strong character and persistence. After their strong start, everyone thought they were a fluke, but they were the only team to stay in the top dome after a strong start. (Unlike ALBA, for example) They are scoring 84.5 points per game which is almost 20 points more on average than their opponent, but they are also playing on a very high number of possessions with 90+ per game. Monaco will be missing J. Loyd with a broken nose tonight.

The key for Milano tonight will be to slow the game state down and try to play positional offence.
The visitors will try to outrun them since they have young and athletically capable players.

The moneyline opened on 2.35 for the home team which is accurate in our eyes. Although we do not see any particular value in the moneyline, we believe the sense of urgency for Milano will make them play well tonight and clinch the win. The pressure is good for veterans in Milano’s roster and especially coach Mesina. We believe they will slow the game down, drop down possessions to 75-85 for both teams and try to find their way of winning in this type of match.

Olimpia Milano vs Monaco Best Bet

Interestingly enough, these teams have only clashed 2 times in the past and both times the visitors have won the game. We believe tonight is the end of this run and Milano will be able to clinch their 5th victory that will help them escape from the dead last spot of the competition.