By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
MILANO, Italy – Milano and Crvena Zvezda started this EuroLeague double-game week with complete opposite results: the Italians had a comfortable win at home against ALBA Berlin, while the Serbian team lost on the road to ASVEL. Tonight, the cards were reversed, as the guests won 76-62 in Italy, reaching their opponents at a 9-12 record in this year’s EuroLeague Regular Season.
Coming off the bench for Ioannis Sfairopoulos’ team, Rokas Giedratis went close to his season-high with 22 points and 6 rebounds, shooting perfectly at the charity stripe (5/5). Joel Bolomboy continues to impress in his first season with the Serbian team, adding 14 points and 6 rebounds to the box score. Milos Teodosic, who shone in Italy with Virtus Bologna, contributed with 9 points and 5 beautiful assists.
“I think we did everything we didn’t do in the previous game, we played very good defensively. Maybe the best defensive game of the season for us, allowing only 62 points and 14 assists. We played five games in ten days in five different countries and cities, it wasn’t easy for the players and I think we did a good job finishing these double-weeks”, Ioannis Sfairopoulos said in the post-game press conference.
For the fourth straight EuroLeague encounter, Giordano Bortolani has ended the game in double-digits: tonight, the 23-year-old shooting guard scored 14 points (career-high in the EuroLeague) on 3/6 from deep. Alex Poythress added 12 points with 6/6 from two. Leaving Crvena Zvezda after signing in Serbia during the summer, Shabazz Napier had 6 points in the first confrontation with his former team.
“We were overwhelmed physically by the pressure they put on us for the forty minutes, it was difficult to attack on offense for us. At the end of this stretch of five games in ten days, the players have to keep their head up because they are giving everything”, Ettore Messina commented after the loss.
The Italian team was once again without several pieces: Maodo Lo, Shavon Shields, Nikola Mirotic, and Billy Baron won’t return to the court for at least two weeks. The newest arrival in town, Rodney McGruder, was registered for the EuroLeague – he will wear number #1 – but didn’t make his official debut tonight. Crvena Zvezda, instead didn’t have the 2005-born Nikola Topic and Stefan Lazarevic.
Rodney McGruder in town 📍 pic.twitter.com/XfeUTyHZce
— Cesare Milanti (@cesaremilanti) January 11, 2024
It’s a kind of magic when Milos Teodosic is on the floor
Shabazz Napier scored his first three points against the Serbian team since leaving Belgrade with a step-back dagger at 5:49 minutes on the clock in the first. Crvena Zvezda suffered something unique, losing Luka Mitrovic, Nemanja Nedovic, and Mike Tobey in three straight actions, but still managed to close the first quarter up by eight points (23-15) after three consecutive shots from beyond the arc.
Surrounded by the boos of former rivals when he was playing for Virtus Bologna, Milos Teodosic shot 2/3 from the free throw line at 8:45 in the second. Later on, he delivered an amazing assist to Dejan Davidovac from the corner for the eleven-point lead (28-17), turning boos into applause.
Before Stefano Tonut at 2:04, Giordano Bortolani was the only one able to score from the field for Milano in the second quarter, as Crvena Zvezda went to the locker room at halftime up by 16 points (47-31) after Joel Bolomboy put Kyle Hines on a poster. After twenty minutes, the Italian side was shooting 2/13 (23.1%) from three-point range and grabbed only 11 rebounds.
Milano opened the second half with a 9-0 run, reducing the deficit to seven points (47-40) after 2:32 minutes of playing time. However, Crvena Zvezda rapidly replied, answering with a 5-0 run. Yago dos Santos gave his team the 15-point lead (57-42) back with a three-pointer at 2:24 minutes on the clock. From that early offensive spark in the second half, Ettore Messina’s team scored seven more points.
Giordano Bortolani inspired Milano to start the last and decisive quarter, scoring from three to bring Crvena Zvezda back within nine points (59-50). Shabazz Napier did the rest, scoring in traffic to reduce the deficit to five points (59-54), but Milos Teodosic silenced the audience with a three at 5:13 on the clock before Rokas Giedraitis could write the final words of the encounter with a 2+1 play at 1:25 left.
Milano won the first of this year’s two clashes between the two red-and-white teams back in Belgrade thanks to Maodo Lo’s career-high night of 32 points. In the EuroLeague Round 22, Ettore Messina’s team will travel on the road in Valencia on January 19 at 20:30 CET. The day before, instead, Crvena Zvezda will host former coach Dusko Ivanovic’s Baskonia at 19:00 CET at the Stark Arena.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague