By Cesare Milanti/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce is unstoppable and keeps on winning in the EuroLeague Regular Season, beating EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 82-72 on the road and holding on tight the first place (9-1) in the standings.
Nigel Hayes-Davis played another consistent game after his amazing performance against Monaco. The former Barcelona forward had 22 points and 5 rebounds, being an X-factor on both ends of the floor.
Marko Guduric played a big contribution to Fenerbahce‘s victory, ending the game with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
“It was another very demanding game on the road against a team that added new players. They showed their desire in a full Mediolanum Forum. We opened the game sloppy, we didn’t take care of the ball and the spacing, which was terrible in transition”, Dimitris Itoudis said in the post-game press conference.
Nazareth Mitrou-Long was feeling confident, and he ended the game with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, being Milan’s highest scorer. However, he also had 7 turnovers.
The red-and-white team’s newest addition Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot had 15 points and 3 steals in his second EuroLeague game ever, starting the game once again from the first minute.
Devon Hall added 16 points shooting 6/6 at the charity stripe.
“I have to thank Mr. Armani cause he gave us great support. Everybody is upset, but our fans were really supportive. The problem came out again: today we added too many turnovers, really childish turnovers. We had an emotional reaction, I guess. We are very concerned about Kevin Pangos’ injury: tomorrow we will do a ray”, Ettore Messina said in the post-game press conference.
Despite starting the game hot and being up 35-19 with five minutes left in the second quarter, Milan couldn’t keep the intensity high on defense and conceded a 21-4 run that gave Fenerbahce its first lead of the game in the third quarter.
From then on, Dimitris Itoudis’ team hasn’t slowed down on offense, extending the Italian team’s losing streak to six consecutive games. Milan has now a 3-7 record in the EuroLeague.
Ettore Messina didn’t have Shavon Shields, who is expected to be out of action until 2023 and has been replaced by the newcomer Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot.
Billy Baron, Stefano Tonut, and Gigi Datome were also out. The Italian head coach decided to bench Brandon Davies for the whole game.
As already known since the beginning of the season, Dimitris Itoudis didn’t have Nemanja Bjelica. DyShawn Pierre was sidelined as well due to a knee problem.
In Round 11, Milan will fly to Vitoria to face Baskonia on December 1 at 20:30 CET. Fenerbahce will host Real Madrid the following day at 18:45 CET.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague