Olimpia Milano, Messina: “The defense in the fourth period was decisive”

Olimpia Milano, Messina: “The defense in the fourth period was decisive”

“It was a very important victory against a tough team as we saw tonight too, especially taking into account that we had difficulties, playing without a point guard”, Ettore Messina's analysis after the match of Olimpia Milano's 86-84 victory against Napoli (which earned them a place in Venice in third place in the standings). A thrilling success: Pullen misses the winning triple, the ball reaches Zubcic who scores, but the three-pointer is not valid because it goes beyond the siren.

Mirotic top scorer among the Italian champions (21 points) and captain shines Melli with a stellar double-double (19 points with 7/8 from 2 and 12 rebounds), Shavon Shields as always a leading man (18 points, 8 rebounds), Devon Hall decisive in the hot moments of the match (11 points and 7 assists).

Absent Napier (muscle fatigue), Lo returned for only 4 minutes and in an emergency evening in the role of point guard came a quality performance from Flaccadori (also author of 10 points in 27 minutes on the pitch): “He gave us an important hand and then the boys helped each other by doing the right things. Our defense suffered for long stretches, as if we were always a step behind, but that's normal because we were coming off a very tough week and we were playing another very complicated match – continues the Olimpia Milano coach – But in the last quarter our defense did a really important job and that's what allowed us to win the match. In attack we went a bit in spurts, but given the circumstances, imposing yourself was what mattered.”

Olimpia Milano, the next commitments on the calendar

Olimpia Milano will be in Kaunas on Thursday against Zalgiris in the Euroleague in a very important match in the sprint for the play-ins, then on the Easter weekend away to the pitch Reggiana and we will return to the Forum on Friday 5 April at 8.30pmEuro-derby against Virtus Bologna.

Olimpia Milano-GeVi Napoli: the scoreboard

Olimpia Milano: Lo, Poythress 5, Bortolani 2, Miccoli ne, Tonut, Melli 19 (12 reb), Flaccadori 10, Hall 11 (7 ast), Caruso ne, Shields 18 (8 reb), Mirotic 21, Voigtmann. Coach Messina.

GeVi Napoli: Pullen 21, Zubcic 17, Ennis 19 (7 ast), De Nicolao 2, Owens 10, Sokolowski 9, Lever 3, Bamba ne, Dut Biar 3, Ebeling, Grassi ne Coach Milicic.