By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Improved defense leads AX Armani Exchange Milan back to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague win column and past AS Monaco, 71-65, Friday evening.
Four-time EuroLeague champion Kyle Hines banked in 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals in the Regular Season Round 14 contest at Salle Gaston Medecin. Sergio Rodriguez tallied 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Malcolm Delaney added ten points before fouling out.
“There are no easy games in EuroLeague. We know the situation. We know it is a long season,” pointed out Hines, “Our main goal is to get better every day.”
Rodriguez, 35, kept his side in seemingly comfortable distance connecting a historic triple, early in the fourth quarter. El Chaco matched Vassilis Spanoulis in second place on the EuroLeague all-time list of players with the most three-pointers at 518. Juan Carlos Navarro is first with 623 over his own legendary career.
“That is a record that comes with a lot of time playing,” he commented downplaying his success, and went on, “I am very happy for the win. We have a lot of experience. We know it’s not easy to come to a game with four losses in a row. We have to build on this win and keep working hard.”
The team coached by Ettore Messina held the hosts to 27 points in the first half generating double-digit separation. The lead peaking at 21 points was reduced to six points with one minute left but Milan held on for the third away win of the 2021-22 season. Ending the four-game losing streak upped the overall record to 9-5.
“I think for at least three quarters and a half, we played a complete game in offense and defense. We built a 21-point lead,” noted the Italian mastermind, “We all need to understand that we were coming off four losses. So, we got nervous. We might have thought that the game was over. That was a bad moment for sure, the final five or six minutes.”
The reigning 7DAYS EuroCup champions were forced down to 5-9 with a fifth loss in a row. Paris Lee dropping a game-high 19 points plus six assists, three rebounds, and one steal was not enough.
“I think that Milan absolutely deserved to win the game,” admitted Zvezdan Mitrovic after the late comeback bid fell short, “They dominated in every part.”
Injury woes
Mike James suffered a right hamstring injury late in last week’s Round 13 loss to Fenerbahce Beko and was slated to miss about ten days. He did not take part in the shootaround but dressed for the game. However, being limited to one turnover in 2:42 late in the first quarter was followed by a heated argument on the bench and a brief exit.
James, 31, did not return to the court, but both Donta Hall and Dwayne Bacon recovered from scary falls to get back in the action. Yakuba Ouattara, Leo Westermann, and Jerry Boutsiele were all ruled out due to injury along with scratched Rob Gray.
“I think it was very difficult to play with only one point guard against the players he is facing; Sergio Rodriguez and the rest of the team,” mentioned Mitrovic regarding the effort put in by Lee, “It was very tough for us to organize and control the game. We went down by 21 points. My players showed some good energy and they wanted to do something more, but [Milan] tonight was much stronger in every situation.”
Injured Konstantinos Mitoglou and Luigi Datome were out for Olimpia Milano. Also unavailable, suspended Riccardo Moraschini.
Coming up
The Italian club is scheduled to host Germani Brescia hoping to improve to 11-0 in LBA Serie A on Sunday before the next EuroLeague double-game week. Panathinaikos OPAP and Real Madrid will be visiting Mediolanum Forum Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
On the opposite end, Monaco will move on at SIG Strasbourg looking to jump to 9-2 in France’s Betclic Elite LNB Pro A. Next week features Zalgiris Kaunas on the road and Zenit Saint Petersburg at home, Wednesday and Friday, respectively.