Fenerbahce survived Milan despite Nikola Mirotic’s shining debut

By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net

In what came out as a rollercoaster game between two of the most anticipated contenders to fight for the EuroLeague Playoffs, Fenerbahce managed to get the tough 85-82 win against Milan with the support of an almost sold-out yellow-and-blue crowd in the Ülker Sports Arena.

Despite missing the three-pointer in transition to win the game for the yellow-and-blue Turkish team, Scottie Wilbekin had a pretty good showing in his first appearance of the EuroLeague season with 19 points and 4 assists.

“It feels good to be back in front of these fans. We focused on not making mistakes, I’m proud of the way we fought. I’ve worked hard on my game”, Fenerbahce’s number 3 commented after the victory.

Playing his first EuroLeague minutes with Fenerbahce after leaving his long-time beloved home in Panathinaikos, Georgios Papagiannis ended the game with 15 points.

“We play really hard in practice, defensively we have to make some improvements. Milan plays really well and they have great chemistry. I’m really confident, I’m working on my shot”, the Greek big man shared post-game.

Both Marko Guduric and Tyler Dorsey contributed to Dimitris Itoudis’ team success. The Serbian shooting guard, who came back from Manila with a silver medal, scored 15 points off the bench. Starting the new season straight from the beginning, unlike what happened last year, Tyler Dorsey had a convincing three-point performance (3/5) and ended with 15 points, 3 boards, and 3 dimes.

“We had our moments, we talked at halftime after a nervous start where Milan was making all the shots. In the third quarter, we had to choose whether to switch or not to switch, because they were having a really good ball movement. We forced 19 turnovers, and eventually, we managed to make some stops. We got the win thanks to these great fans”, Dimitris Itoudis said after the win.

In his first EuroLeague game with the new Italian team, Olimpia Milano’s superstar Nikola Mirotic produced a double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds, being the best of his side despite missing the deep three to tie things up in the overtime. Johannes Voigtmann was Milano’s X Factor in the first half, keeping the Italian team afloat and then going on to finish the game with 21 points and 7 rebounds.

Playing game No.392 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Kyle Hines found the 1st position in the All-Time EuroLeague list for most games played, tied with Paulius Jankunas, former captain and current general manager of Zalgiris Kaunas. Joining the Italian team later than his teammates after coming back from the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Nicolò Melli had the 4th best PIR (10) on his squad, ending with 7 points and 5 rebounds.

“Fenerbahce won a hard-fought game from both sides. It’s really a pity because we got more rebounds and assists. I bring home the attitude we showed, and the rebounds which are very important. We will celebrate Kyle Hines next week: today he tied”, Ettore Messina said in the post-game press conference.

Ettore Messina’s team started the game convincingly going up by ten points (23-13) pretty soon, but Fenerbahce reduced the gap with Marko Guduric almost beating the buzzer at the end of the first quarter. Dragged by the former Maccabi Tel Aviv duo composed of Scottie Wilbekin and Tyler Dorsey, Fenerbahce headed to the locker room up 38-35 in front of yellow-and-blue fans.

Things didn’t change in the third quarter, which saw Dimitris Itoudis’ team going even up by ten points (55-45) with 3:32 minutes left. Banking in the three with 4:09 minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter, Nikola Mirotic gave Milano the 69-68 lead, completing the Italian team’s comeback. From then on, the game remained on the edge with both teams going ahead for short periods of time.

Nicolò Melli tied the game at 76-76 with 00:15 seconds left in the game, and both Scottie Wilbekin and Shavon Shields had three-pointers to win the game for their respective teams. However, they missed as the game went to overtime. With 1:35 left in extra time, Nikola Mirotic blocked Dyshawn Pierre to keep Milano alive, but Scottie Wilbekin put Fenerbahce up by five points (84-79) later on. The Turkish team went on to win the first one at home.

Several absences on Olimpia Milano’s roster in Istanbul

Ettore Messina was forced to put the newcomer Diego Flaccadori as the point guard of its starting five after the injuries of Maodo Lo, Billy Baron, and finally, Devon Hall were announced. Nobody was sidelined by the Greek coach on the home side.

Before the start of the game, Fenerbahce celebrated Gigi Datome, who ended his professional career at 35 years old to start a new chapter with the Italian powerhouse’s organization chart. The former Italian national team’s captain spoke in Turkish to address the audience at the Ülker Sports Arena.

In Round 2 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, Olimpia Milano will host Maccabi Tel Aviv and celebrate its own dirigent and recently retired player in the “Gigi Datome Night”, on October 12 at 20:30 CET. The following day at the same hour, Fenerbahce will visit Valencia.

PHOTO CREDIT: Olimpia Milano

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