By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan prevailed over Khimki Moscow Region with a 90-88 victory in Round 24 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in Alexey Shved’s return after several months of recovery.
However, the Italian side made a huge comeback to the game in the final period, outscoring the hosts by 25-15 and sealed a crucial win that makes them move up to a 13-11 record. Mike James and Kaleb Tarczewski helped the visitors snap the victory with 16 and 15 points each.
“It is a great win because my players stayed mentally in the game. It is really a team win tonight. This is very important for what we are building, for the end of the season, so I am very happy about it. We have to stay more calm, less nervous and more focused. We have quality and can be better and better going on. Ιf we keep working like this, we can compete everywhere”, commented Simone Pianigiani after the game.
Despite Khimki’s loss, Shved made it look as if he never left the court, while in reality, his last EuroLeague game was on November 23rd against Zalgiris! Since then, many things changed for Khimki, including coach Giorgos Bartzokas’ departure and the arrival of Rimas Kurtinaitis. Nonetheless, the Russian guard returned to action with a huge performance of 23 points and 11 assists.
Khimki will have a long way to go to snap back from its 9-15 record and can use its leader’s return to hope for a place in the playoffs.