Euroleague working day 14
Ivanovic's Baskonia likes to play to the limit, and they don't usually do badly, but this time they came up short in the final minutes of the game, in which they lacked steam. He received the Virtus on which two old acquaintances sail, the great captain Tornike Shengelia, and Achille Polonara, the player born on the shores of the Adriatic, crooked for a couple of months like the towers of Garisenda and Asinelli in Bologna, due to cancer testicular, and whose head was still bald from chemotherapy, received the tribute of his former hobby. That's where the sentimental moment of the game ended, because afterwards everything went to hell. From the beginning, with the score almost always tight, except at the beginning. He broke few times.
It was the success of Belinelli, 22 years as a professional behind him, that managed to disconcert the Vitorians in the first quarter, adding 10 of his team's first 17 points, for a partial score of 15-24 at the end of the first quarter. after the Vitorians managed to make up a little for their terrible start. With 1.55 left in the opening ten minutes, the Bolognese team won by 14 (10-24).
It was difficult for Ivanovic's team to recover, but they did it little by little, pressing in defense, without much success in attack, with low shooting percentages. Miller-Mcintyre, as director, intended to move his teammates, who through sweat managed to turn the score around before the break (43-42), thanks, above all, to Vitoria's dominance in offensive rebounding.
The Italians continued to be an uncomfortable team in the second half. The vein of the veteran Belinelli seemed to be running out, with fewer minutes and less power, but Shengelia was not running out. Author of incredible baskets, one of them from the ground, he never allowed Baskonia to take off. The equality continued to be maximum during the last ten minutes as well, as if the two teams lacked enough energy to definitively separate themselves. With the score tied, with 5.35 left to go, Baskonia sang their particular farewell, taking the lead for the last time. A steal by Kotsar made the score 70-68, but in the following minutes the lights went out for the Vitorians on offense. Just a minute and a half later, the lack of lucidity of Ivanovic's men when it came to scoring turned the game around. With a triple from Hackett, now at 3.07, Virtus was eight points ahead. Baskonia couldn't even get free kicks, which could be fundamental, no matter how much Moneke pushed.
The home team tried in fits and starts in the final moments. A ray of hope emerged when, in a burst of genius, Miller-Mcintyre forced a foul after a basket and at 81-85, which could have put him within reach of a three-pointer with 40 seconds left, but the American missed from the shooting line free and in the next action Belinelli, who recovered his breath in the last minutes, put order with a triple to achieve his highest score in the Euroleague (27 points), and break Baskonia's magnificent streak, which did not have as much energy as in the previous attempts to tip the game in the final minutes.
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