By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net/ Twitter.com/AStroggylakis
The omens were highly positive early on. Nikola Milutinov was a starter for Olympiacos in the game against Real Madrid for the 28th round of the EuroLeague regular season and took action with an immediate impact.
He was winning nearly all skirmishes inside the paint, using his size ideally to position himself better than anyone else, finish plays and generally marking his territory in a rather dominant fashion against seasoned EuroLeague big guys like Felipe Reyes or Gustavo Ayon.
When he was substituted he carried to the bench 9 points and two offensive rebounds. He ultimately finished the match with a EuroLeague career-high 18 points, along with 4 rebounds (all on offense) and six fouls won in just 21 minutes.
But the taste this accomplishment left to young Serb’s mouth in the aftermath of yet another classic EuroLeague battle between the “Blancos” and the “Reds” was kinda sour. His team had lost and Milutinov couldn’t care less about individual feats of any kind. Actually, he was pretty much oblivious to the fact that he had set a new personal scoring record in EL.
“Honestly, when I lose the game I don’t want to think if I had a good performance,” he told Eurohoops. “All the time I put the team in the first place. The team is the most important and the team needs to win. Always. If you lose the game… it doesn’t matter how well you played. No matter how good that is.”
And Milutinov’s performance was fine enough to produce 18 points (5/6 field goals, 8/10 from the line), six more than the previous personal best he had set in a victory of Olympiacos against Olimpia Milano, back on December 2015, during his rookie year with the Greek club. But the story of his career-night isn’t limited to how he delivered on the offensive end, because there was some work done elsewhere.
On the other side of the floor, he completely shut down Gustavo Ayon, a forward/center with a versatile influence on Real Madrid‘s game who brings points (10 avg.) rebounds (4.8 avg.) assists (2.4 avg.), on the floor. During the match-up with Milutinov, he was forced to only 2 points (1/4 f.g.) two turnovers and a personal all-time EuroLeague low in PIR with -7 (!).
But yeah, also mentioning how much he bullied Ayon, left him completely unimpressed. “Like I told you: It doesn’t mean anything if I lose the game”.
The way the San Antonio Spurs “draft & stash” big guy reacts when he hears talks about his individual performance speaks volumes of his winning mentality. While 22 years old, he understands perfectly how the benefit of the whole is above anything else and it doesn’t matter how much he’ll produce if his team isn’t ahead at the sound of the final horn.
To further understand what we are talking about here, this was a really far from crucial match for Olympiacos. The Reds had already succeeded in the initial goals they set when entering the EuroLeague regular season, by checking a playoffs ticket and locking home-court advantage for the playoffs. A win over Real would just slightly increase their possibilities for finishing higher than the third spot of the standings. Nothing more.
Still, Milutinov was too occupied with the defeat itself to muse over his career-high . How he thinks and, more importantly, the way this translates to how he behaves on the floor, has granted him an increased amount of playing time in the past weeks by coach Giannis Sfairopoulos. With new duties come more responsibilities, offensive plays specifically designed to put him on the focus and a greater level of trust. One that he knows he must respond to.
“For sure the coach trusts me a lot. And I need to give him back on the court. I need to work hard. Harder perhaps, on practice and everywhere I stand. I got to show him that i can do what he trusts me to do.”
It’s safe to assume that this improvement has more likely attracted the attention of Serbian national team head coach Sasa Djordjevic. Nikola Milutinov did’t join the squad in the 2016 Olympic Games but it wouldn’t be surprising if he gets the call to potentially make the cut for the Eurobasket 2017.
“Now I only think of Olympiacos. When the summer comes I will think about the national team,” he says. “All I know for sure is that Serbia will have a great team. Every year Serbia gets better and better and brings successes. But Sasa Djordjevic knows what’s the best for the team.”
The mindset that drives him through the grind with Olympiacos brings out the humble side of him also when it comes to his country’s national team. Nikola Milutinov wants to play with the “Orlovi”. A lot. But only if he’s truly worthy of it. And if the head coach decides that others deserve it more… then so be it.
“If Djordjevic thinks other guys can give him more and invite others and not me, that’s ok. I’ll wish them the best. Of course if he thinks that I’m good enough then I will be really happy”, he said with a wide open smile. “I am proud of Serbia and its successes no matter if I’m playing or not.”