By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Looking at the thousands of black-and-white fans in the stands of Forum in Assago, this surely didn’t seem an away game for Partizan Belgrade.
It looked like they gave the right energy boost to extend the game to overtime, but Shabazz Napier won it for Milan 85-83 late in the game.
Starting the season with Partizan’s eternal rivals in Crvena Zvezda, the American playmaker found revenge first with a deep three at 1:29 left, and then with a step-back long-two for the decisive lead by the Italian team, which is now 12-16 in the standings.
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He ended with 15 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals, sharing his satisfaction in the post-game flash interview. “I was able to get some shots in the second half, and that was set up because guys were shooting the ball so well”, he said. “It was stagnant and chaotic on the left side, but it went in”, he added.
Shavon Shields was another of Milano‘s protagonists on offense, scoring the red-and-white team’s first ten straight points of the game after being down 8-0. The American-Danish forward kept composure also in other crucial moments of the game and ended with 19 points and 6 assists.
With three straight three-pointers to open the fourth quarter, Nikola Mirotic gave Ettore Messina’s other hope of victory by scoring 19 points. Devon Hall, instead, had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. “They made a great effort, we attacked well on switches. All the team did tremendous work, we’re very happy and we move on. We passed very well the ball”, Ettore Messina shared.
OH MY SHABAAAAAAAZZZZ 🔥🔥🔥@OlimpiaMI1936 X @EuroLeague#SKWEEKLive #EveryGameMatters pic.twitter.com/DpTePYjBZj
— SKWEEK (@skweektv) March 8, 2024
Starting the second quarter, the black-and-white side produced an 8-0 run to try to escape for good, before being recovered once more. On that offensive stretch, Aleksa Avramovic (19 points) and Zach LeDay (12 points) were dragging the team, while Bruno Caboclo added 13 points later on.
“I’m very disappointed”, Zeljko Obradovic commented after the defeat on Italian soil. “That shot decided the game, and I don’t know how many games we lost this year that way”, the Serbian mastermind also commented.
Two former Milano players scared the Italian side late in the game. Kevin Punter created one of his shots from beyond the arc with 28.6 seconds left and missed it, but Zach LeDay grabbed the rebound and converted a 2+1 play to tie things up at 83-83. Then, Shabazz Napier happened.
In a game made of balance and short-scoring runs between the two sides, scoring from beyond the arc didn’t look like a problem for both teams: Milano shot 16/31 from deep (51.6%), while the Serbian opponents traveled home with 10/24 from three-point range.
In next week’s EuroLeague Round 29 action, Partizan Belgrade will continue its tour on the road, facing Barcelona on March 14 at 20:30 CET. On the same day and at the same hour, Milano will also travel to Spain to face Baskonia in the Fernando Buesa Arena.
PHOTO CREDIT: Olimpia Milano