The Sassari, without Bendzius and returning after quarantine, play it for more than half the race but give up in the long run
SENT TO PESARO. Covid could more than Olimpia. For Dinamo, the golden wedding ball at the Final Eight lasts just 40 minutes: at the Vitrifrigo Arena in Pesaro the quarter-final against Armani Milano ends 88-68 for the boys of Ettore Messina and Gianmarco Pozzecco, but Piero Bucchi’s guys still come out of the competition with their heads held high.
Without Eimantas Bendzius (who remained in Sassari because he is still positive), with the team-man Robinson slowed down by the virus and with just two team training sessions on his legs in the last two weeks, the biancoblù perform a half miracle, remaining in the game until the first minutes of the third period (45-39) despite a very cumbersome start (18-6). Then they run out of gas, they lose contact with Datome and teammates but from a mental point of view they never leave the game, avoiding a gap that could have been much wider.
The start, as mentioned, after the long stop is rather complicated: Milan scores 18 points in 3’20 ”with 7/7 shooting and the match already seems compromised. Instead Treier, sent in the quintet in place of Bendzius, responds present and despite an opaque Robinson the Banco slowly gets into rhythm. The 27-18 of the first siren is very acceptable and is the premise for a great second quarter: Bucchi gives bottom to the rotations finding good answers, the Dinamo gets closer and also leaves something too much on the bezel (29-23), then an unsportsmanlike Gentile yields 5 points to Olimpia, which flies to +13, 36-23. Sassari grits his teeth, Mekowulu takes turns and the gap is shortened (38-32), Kruslin places the triple on the siren and halfway through the race the Banco is rediscovered alive and fully in the game: 42-37.
The energy tank, however, is already almost empty and after the 45-39 scored by Mekowulu the biancoblù attack runs aground: four turnovers in a row arrive, Milan concedes just 2 points in 7 ‘and on the other side does the bare minimum: Delaney bombards, Bentil makes his muscles feel and 3’20 ”from the third siren the Messina team is at +18, 57-39. The match is virtually closed (60-40 on the referee’s gift for Olimpia), but Dinamo remains focused. After the 65-46 of the third siren Bucchi orders the area, Milan swings from the outside and Banco finds two three-point games with Gentile and Logan for -15 (67-52).
Rodriguez’s triple and Ricci’s 8 points in a row put things in place definitively for Milan, which touches +22 (78-56), lets Logan let off steam and closes in all serenity on +20. Dinamo greets Pesaro with their heads held high, after the break the umpteenth phase of their season begins.