When EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv cross paths on Tuesday in a game from Round 2, a perimeter matchup between Kevin Pangos and John DiBartolomeo could be key to the final outcome.
Pangos, DiBartolomeo have another backcourt meeting
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One of the key matchups in Tuesday's lone Turkish Airlines EuroLeague fixture is the one between point guards Kevin Pangos of Milan and John DiBartolomeo of visiting Maccabi. The two are set to square off against one another for the eighth time since they were first on the opposite sides in the 2017-18 campaign.
That was the season of DiBartolomeo's EuroLeague debut, and has since made 165 appearances for Maccabi. At the time Pangos was in his second with Zalgiris Kaunas as one of team's main protagonists. He averaged 14.0 points and 8.5 assists as Zalgiris and Maccabi split home wins. DiBartolomeo played just 10 minutes combined in those two games while attempting, and missing, a single field goal try.
Pangos then went on to play with FC Barcelona and Zenit St Petersburg, and averaged 10.2 points and 5.0 assists in games against DiBartolomeo and Maccabi, helping his teams win three of those four clashes.
DiBartolomeo, on the other hand, averaged just below 14 minutes in those games with Pangos on the other side, but always found ways to be productive, having PIRs of 8 or more in three of the four.
Then last season, when Maccabi beat Milan 85-66 in Tel Aviv, DiBartolomeo proved to be one of the main protagonists, with 8 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds, accumulating a 12 PIR and a plus/minus of +13 while Pangos was held to 5 points.
Overall, in seven head-to-head games against Pangos, DiBartolomeo has made 10 triples on 20 attempts. It will be important for Maccabi that he continues the trend of shooting such good percentages against Pangos's teams, as well as playing his trademark solid defense.
That is especially true early this season, in the absence of injured Maccabi star guard Wade Baldwin, during which time DiBartolomeo has taken a big load for Maccabi. He is playing a career-high 22 minutes per night going into Tuesday's game and has been good for 1.8 triples made and 4.5 rebounds per game so far.
Pangos is averaging 8.0 points this season, but half of his production has come in one game, Milan's lone win of the season, and impressive 65-53 triumph over Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 3.
That, in a way, tells a story how important has Pangos been for Milan, just like DiBartolomeo has been for Maccabi. Which player who gets the upper hand in this head-to-head duel would certainly give his team a big edge in this make-up Round 2 game on Tuesday night.