Vitoria (Spain), 8 October 2021 – The second in Euroleague for theArmani AX Milano which, after beating CSKA last week at the Forum, has beaten Vitoria overcoming the Baskonia 78-64. Team success for an extremely solid Olimpia capable of imposing the most congenial rhythms on her opponents, throughout the 40 ‘.
Four men in double figures in the chessboard of coach Messina, dragged by Shavon Shields, able to close in double double (12 points and 10 rebounds), and by the pairing composed of Devon Hall (4/7 of three) e Malcolm Delaney, extremely effective from the bow. The shot from over 6.75 meters was the Achilles heel of Baskonia (4/26 from the bow for the Basques), still orphan of Peters and struggling with a game identity still to be built, also due to many injuries that Ivanovic had to deal with. Difficulties which, however, certainly do not make the umpteenth great evening of Olimpia less precious, which did not let itself be intimidated even under the planks and appeared very solid both in the offensive phase and above all in the defensive one. The 16 points of a were not enough for Baskonia Simone Fontecchio extremely positive and the 14 each of Gedraitis and the returning Baldwin.
The race
In the first 15 ‘Milan tried to control the rhythms, speculating on the many errors from the long distance of Baskonia (2/14 from three starting) but never managing to overcome the wall of the two possessions of advantage also due to some trivial turnover too much. Olimpia’s real change of pace came in the final half of the second quarter, with the baskets of Shields and Mitoglou and the triple of a deadly Hall for the first external +10 (26-36). On the other hand, Baskonia tried to react by clinging to the flashes of Gedraitis and Baldwin but at the interval the Basques were still 8 points behind (30-38). The harmonious score played by the red and white has not changed after the break: the Milanese have even managed to improve their understanding in transition, raising the bar of advantage with the jabs of Hall and Shields up to 14 lengths (33-47). A shoulder that the Baskonia tried to hold by returning -10 to 10 ‘from the end (47-57). However, the effort was not enough to put the sticks between the gears of Milan which closed the accounts in the fourth quarter thanks to Shields, monumental under the scoreboards, and to the baskets of the stirrup of Mitoglou and Delaney.
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