By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was previously virtually certain but not 100 percent secured. Now it’s a lock: Olimpia Milano is marching to the playoffs with a homecourt advantage for the second consecutive year.
Shavon Shields dropped 15 out of his team-high 22 points in the last six minutes and Milano beat Bayern Munich 84 – 77 at home in a makeup game to clinch a position in the Top 4 of the EuroLeague regular season. It was a fine way for the Red Shoes to return to the Forum for the first time since February.
Vladimir Lucic produced a season-high 26 points for Bayern that led in the entire first half and was even up by 10 in the second period until Milano took the advantage after the break and never trailed again. The German side is now 12-12 and eighth in the standings while having four games remaining in the regular season to check a playoff ticket.
Nicolo Melli had a diverse output of 11 points, 13 rebounds and six assists to pace Milano overall. Devon Hall added 11 points while Kyle Hines scored eight to reach the 3,000-point milestone in EuroLeague.
“It was a big win,” Melli said. “It’s a home game, so a game we have to win. And now we have two more games left to achieve something more if possible in the standings. It’s still a long way, but we have another home game in two days, so we got to be ready. I think it was a good win overall. We did not start very well, but in the second half we put together a good game.”
It was Shields who made the difference in the last minutes. With the score 69 – 67 and 3:26 remaining, he drained a key triple, and then had five points in a row to put Milano up 80 – 71 with 1:10 to play. Bayern was unable to come back from that margin.
Ognjen Jaramaz scored 14 points and Darrun Hilliard pitched in 11 points for Bayern. Despite the loss, coach Andrea Trinchieri really liked how his team performed. “We played a great game,” he said. “We were present physically and mentally. We were short of energy, but I am very proud of my players.”
A complete change after halftime
Milano tuned up a lot aspects of its game after the return of the locker room, something that coach Ettore Messina pointed out.
“They are a very good team,” Messina said. “They play, they defend, they move the ball, they have couple of shooters that can really hurt you. I think we played a good second half. We had more flow, we attacked better, we rebounded better and I think at the end we deserved a win with a good second half.”