By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Milan came to the Fernando Buesa Arena thinking of a must-needed victory, but came out from the on-the-road challenge in Vitoria with broken bones, being destroyed 88-73 by Baskonia, which stays in contention for the EuroLeague Playoffs.
Markus Howard led his team in scoring with 26 points in just 23:49 minutes of playing time. “
The biggest thing was having energy and being aggressive, that helped us on the offensive end as well”, the shooting guard commented after such a great individual performance.
He was followed by his teammate Chima Moneke, who had an amazing display of 19 points and 6 rebounds, shooting perfectly at the line on 6/6. “Defense was the key, we started it off well, and when I come out I make the difference: I’m proud of myself today”, he stated with confidence.
“Tonight my players did a really good job. Offensively we were patient in moving the ball, we had many open shots. But also on defense, we had great aggressivity. We depend only on ourselves, it’s the best we can do”, Dusko Ivanovic said after the victory.
Mirotic was great but…
Playing one of the best individual games of the season, Nikola Mirotic tried his best for Ettore Messina’s team by going close to a double-double with 21 points and 8 boards. Shavon Shields, who also played in Baskonia, had a losing effort of 17 points.
“We’re basically out, it’s a tough loss. Unfortunately, it’s been a season with all the problems we had we never clicked together”, Ettore Messina stated.
Tying at 16-13 with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 8th position, valid to get to the Play-In, Baskonia stays in perfect contention for a playoff spot. Milan, instead, looks now hopeless at 12-17.
Next week, Baskonia will travel on the road in both double-game encounters, first to Kaunas and then to Belgrade to face Partizan. Milano, instead, will start the week away in Monaco and then come back to Italy to host Fenerbahce.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague