Will Crvena zvezda mts extend their impressive home-court winning streak vs. Cedevita Olimpija?

AdmiralBet ABA League Playoffs, Semi-finals, Round 1, Thursday, 12 May 2022:

CRVENA ZVEZDA MTS - CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA

Where? Aleksandar Nikolić Hall, Belgrade

When? 19:00

Story of the game: Crvena zvezda mts will host Cedevita Olimpija on Thursday evening in Game 1 of the 2022 AdmiralBet ABA League Semi-Finals.

Everyone knows how important Game 1 is in every Playoffs round, especially in the series that are being played in the best-of-3 format. Whoever takes the lead will come just a win away from advancing to the Finals and that is why the upcoming match is so valuable to each side.

And that is why we are all expecting a big battle and a true basketball spectacle at the start of the series between Crvena zvezda mts and Cedevita Olimpija.

Crvena zvezda mts will have a home-court advantage in this series and that is definitely a big thing for the red-and-whites. Not just that they have won every single home-court game in the regular season (13-0), but they also have been undefeated at home court in the AdmiralBet ABA League Playoffs since 2018.

To be fully precise, Crvena zvezda mts have won the previous 11 home-court games in the AdmiralBet ABA League Playoffs. And their plan is to keep their Aleksandar Nikolić Sports Hall a real fortress.

At the same time, Cedevita Olimpija will try to break that winning streak of Crvena zvezda mts and they their optimism is based on pretty impressive results they had in the last couple of months. The Ljubljana crew have been one of the best team in the league since the New Year, while they gained some extra boost recently by winning the Playoffs Preliminary Round series against Igokea m:tel quite easily as they finished the job in just two games (2-0 in the series).

Still, it must be mentioned that Cedevita Olimpija haven’t yet defeated Crvena zvezda mts in the ongoing season. The two sides met twice in the 2021/22 AdmiralBet ABA League regular season and the Belgrade crew triumphed in both of those two games.

Match-up in focus: Nikola Kalinić (Crvena zvezda mts) vs. Jaka Blažič (Cedevita Olimpija).

Nikola Kalinić had a fantastic year in Crvena zvezda mts and his reward came couple of weeks ago when he was named the MVP of the 2021/22 AdmiralBet ABA League regular season. Kalinić was the top scorer of Crvena zvezda mts in the regular season, while in the following game he will have a duel against his former teammate Jaka Blažič who also had an impressive year in Cedevita Olimpija. Blažič was the top scorer of the Ljubljana crew in the 2021/22 regular season, while at the same time he was the 5^th best scorer in the entire league.

What is also interesting to mention is that both Kalinić and Blažič were selected into the 2021/22 AdmiralBet ABA League Ideal Five.

Head-to head score in the regional league: In total 5:1; In Belgrade 3:0.