The Israeli teams from Tel Aviv travel for road games against the Italian sides from Milan and Bologna, hoping for a pair of victories. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of EuroLeague Gameday 12.

We’ve barely recovered from the incredible derby which ended in an 85-80 win for Hapoel Tel Aviv and already the focus has shifted to an Italian-flavored EuroLeague week. The Reds (8–3), who want to get back on the winning track and spend another week at the top, will meet Armani Milano (6–5) on Thursday at 21:30. The Italians aren’t letting injuries (or Olympiacos) slow them down. Maccabi Tel Aviv (3–8) came out of the derby with compliments only and travels to play on Friday at 21:30 at the Paladozza in the center of the city as they will look to try and build some momentum against Virtus, who are 14th (5–6), in poor form and just as desperate for a win as the Yellow-and-Blue’s are.

Staying stylish at the top
After the recent loss to Fenerbahçe, Hapoel Tel Aviv showed tremendous character and clutch shooting in the derby, overcoming an excellent night from Roman Sorkin with a fantastic finish. They proved yet again that when their stars heat up and the 3’s begin to fall, no one can keep up with their pace.

But the Reds don’t have much time to rest on their laurels, because on Thursday awaits a very tough away game against Armani Milano. The fashion-capital team recorded its fourth consecutive win last Friday after surviving a thriller against Olympiacos (which kept Hapoel Tel Aviv on top of the standings).

The Italians are playing fast, fluid, versatile basketball despite significant injuries and missing, besides familiar faces like Lorenzo Brown and Josh Nebo, their top scorers Shavon Shields (expected to return) and Zach LeDay. It’s still unclear who will be back for the matchup with the EuroLeague leaders, but Ettore Messina’s squad has plenty of players able to step up.

British guard Kevin Ellis and Armoni Brooks have taken charge, leading Milan to a dream double-week: 29 points, 16 assists, and a PIR of 35 against ASVEL, and then 31 points, 8 assists, and a PIR of 39 against the team that held Hapoel to just 58 points. Alongside them are, of course, Bolmaro, Ricci, Guduric and Devin Booker (not the one from Phoenix), all contributing to Milan’s 7th-place standing with basketball that’s both attractive and effective, often against deeper, more talented teams, which is a fitting description of Itoudis’s side.

Worth a look
If a global pandemic were to abruptly stop the season after 11 games, there’d be a solid case for Elijah Bryant to be named EuroLeague MVP. Hear me out: the guard, who also owns an NBA championship ring, is putting up tremendous numbers and is everywhere on the floor for the league leaders.

His averages are excellent: 14.7 points, 5.7 rebounds (EuroLeague leader among guards), 3.4 assists, and a 20.4 PIR (5th in the EuroLeague). He leads the Reds in scoring and rebounding (!), is second in assists and steals, and does all this next to one of the league’s most dominant guards. With Micic showing inconsistency in recent rounds, Bryant has become the go-to guy, putting up numbers that wouldn’t embarrass LeBron James. Will he continue this explosion against Milan? If he does, Coach Messina has a problem.

Weak spot
In their last four games, Armani Milan have been running in more ways than one. It’s clear to the naked eye that Ellis, Brooks, and Leandro Bolmaro are fast players who know how to push the pace and attack the rim. The numbers show that during their current winning streak, with these speedsters leading the offense, Milan averages nearly 10 fast-break points per game, compared to 5.25 by the Reds—almost double. Hapoel is not exactly known across the continent for disciplined defensive transition and they’ll have to be extremely careful with Milan’s fast breaks.

Maybe the third time
One cannot say that Maccabi Tel Aviv’s win over Baskonia suddenly sent the fans dreaming of a EuroLeague playoff, but the team is definitely showing signs of life. The Yellow-and-Blues played three and a half quarters of organized, methodical, correct basketball in the derby until Antonio Blakeney entered his red zone and erased Roman Sorkin’s monster performance in the paint.

Despite the encouragement from the last two games, the standings remain bleak, the roster remains unbalanced and unstable and the mood around the team is cloudy fitting for 18th place in the EuroLeague.

Maccabi knows that to climb the standings, you must beat teams above you and Friday’s matchup in Bologna is an excellent opportunity to create their first winning streak on their third attempt. The law-enforcement statements about game time and location aren’t the only unstable thing in the city of Bolognese sauce; on the one hand, Virtus has managed to beat and hold Monaco, Panathinaikos and Real Madrid under 75 points, but on the other hand looked bad in losses to Bayern and Baskonia.

Dusko Ivanovic’s team is in poor form with only one win in their last five games and they will try to recover against Maccabi’s defense, which still holds the dubious title of worst defense in the competition heading into Round 12.

Worth a look
Maccabi Tel Aviv doesn’t have a center but it does have six power forwards, so it puts three on the court and hopes nobody notices. Defensively it’s hit-and-miss, but offensively it works great. Sorkin, Hoard and Leaf feasted on Baskonia’s pale front-court with 49 points, 27 rebounds (12 offensive) and 8 assists.

Maccabi also has Brissett, Santos, and Gur Lavi with some contributing more, some less. This abundance of bigs gives them a size advantage, helps create mismatches and adds quality minutes while Niang and Jaiteh catch their breath on the bench. If they can also hit some shots from deep, all the better.

Weak spot
The ultimate barometer for Virtus is their combo guard Carsen Edwards (27) small in height (1.80), but not in impact. He doesn’t hesitate to take over games, averaging 15 field-goal attempts per game, second in the EuroLeague only to Nadir Hifi of Paris. His numbers often tell the story of Virtus’s season:

In their five wins: 23.4 points per game (15.6 attempts)
In their six losses: 12.3 points (14.5 attempts)

Maccabi Tel Aviv knows Edwards will shoot a lot on Friday night; they just need to make sure he doesn’t heat up too much. Will Rayman, that’s going to be your mission.

Outside of Israel
If you’re craving more heated games featuring Fenerbahçe, on Friday at 22:00 they’ll visit the Belgrade Arena to face Partizan Belgrade, coached by former Fener legend Željko Obradović, in what might be the hottest game yet. The hosts come in tense after a loss to last-place ASVEL, which dropped them to 17th. On the program will be 20,000 Serbian fans, low scoring, elbows, fouls and screaming. In short: madness.