By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Bayern Munich coach Andrea Trinchieri has said multiple times how proud he is for the fact that his team never gives up and how his players fight in each and every occassion this season.
Against a defensively strong, well-read and very determined Olimpia Milano, Trinchieri saw a completely different Bayern squad on the court.
Milano crushed Bayern 75 – 51 at home to register their fourth consecutive EuroLeague win while handing the German side their biggest loss of 2020-21.
Thanks to this victory, Milano swept Bayern 2-0 in the regular season and now have the upper hand in a potential tie. Sergio Rodriguez scored 14 points, Kevin Punter had 12 points (10 in the first half), Ricardo Moraschini 11 and Zach LeDay 10 points and plus eight rebounds for the “Red Shoes” that were dominant from start to finish, leading up to 29 points just before the fourth quarter.
“We just wanted to come out and get stops,” LeDay said. His team was missing guard Shavon Shields and forward Jeff Brooks. “We knew that they play hard, they’ve been winning all year. We wanted to protect our home floor, get stops, and it ended up helping us cruise to the win. It is good to be 2-0 against Bayern, but we got more work to do. There are a lot of good teams out there, and we got to keep on working every day and keep on getting better.”
Bayern fell behind by double figures early and trailed by big margins ever since. Jalen Reynolds (12 points) was the only player in double figures from the visiting squad that executed poorly (18-58 shots) and committed 20 turnovers to have the lowest-scoring game by any EuroLeague team this season.
Milano’s offense worked like a machine for 30 minutes while on the other end, Ettore Messina’s players halted their opponents’ usually efficient game. At halftime, the lead for Milano was 42 – 20 which beame 64 – 34 with seconds to play in the third period. Bayern cut some of this deficit but never tralied below 20 in the rest of the game.
Happy for the performance and attitude
After the game, Messina gave some extra praise to Kyle Hines for his impact on Milano’s offense.
“I think we played a very good game. As you know, we are very short-handed and we played against a very good team, and honestly, we played with great focus, very humble, and I think my players were extremely focused in attacking their switches. In this, Kyle Hines was the player of the game for me because he gave us that depth inside the paint, attacking the switch every time and making plays that basically helps us to get the lead. But when you allow 20 points in two quarters, and 35 in three, you have to congratulate the team and just love them a lot because they work like crazy.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball