By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Over the last seven days, Olimpia Milano found themselves stuck in Madrid due to back weather after a historic win over Real, being forced to go to Valencia to return home, getting in Italy a day before beating the actual Valencia team, then traveling to Berlin to face Alba.
The whole “adventure” ended on a high note for Milano that defeated the reigning German champions 70 – 84 on the road to improve its streak to 3-0.
Zach LeDay had 16 points and five rebounds to pace the winning squad while Kevin Punter and Gigi Datome scored 13 points apiece. Kyle Hines added 13 points, five rebounds and five assists in his 300th appearance in EuroLeague.
“”That’s the reason you play basketball. That’s why this game is so beautiful,” Hines said. “When everybody is sharing the ball, and the ball is moving from side to side, Coach Messina has been preaching this to us all year. It’s great to see the results pay off for us tonight.”
For Alba, Ben Lammers finished with a EuroLeague career-high 18 points and Jayson Granger posted 16 points plus six assists for the local team that suffered its third consecutive loss. The “Albatrosses” began the match 18 – 9 but found themselves trailing by double figures in the second period which Milano dominated 16 – 29. Ettore Messina’s team kept controlling the game and never allowed their opponents to get at a threatening distance.
“Milan is a good team, they will make their runs,” Lammers said. “We are still trying to get some guys back into rhythm. We are still coming together as a team. Johannes Thiemann really is a threat in the low post, so when my opponent is helping out on him, it leaves me open for a shot. They hit a lot of threes, but that’s just a part of the game. Good teams hit tough shots.”
All the best for Aito
After the game, Messina sent his recovery wishes to Alba coach Aito Garcia Reneses, one of the “legends of our profession,” as he mentioned. Reneses has been down with the coronavirus.
Regarding the win of his team, Messina commended his players for stepping up their performance after a rough start and retaining the necessary focus to get what they wanted in the end.
“It’s a very important win for us, because ALBA plays a very high-quality basketball,” Messina said. “It’s not easy to beat them, as we experienced last year. In the EuroLeague, nothing is granted. We started poorly with problems at the free-throw line. But I have to congratulate my players because they stayed calm and slowly came back into the game. Especially our second unit changed the game. In the end, we played a good game on both ends.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball