By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A highly lucrative offensive output which produced a new Euroleague scoring record, paced Olimpia Milano towards a return to victories after a relatively easy 105 – 92 win against Anadolu Efes.
The hosts often looked able to make damage almost unopposed, finding wide pathways to the basket, open looks of all kinds (13/19 from downtown, a 68.4% accuracy which also made a new team record in EL) thus hitting Efes hard on every weak aspect of a painful lackluster defensive attitude that often infuriated coach Perasovic.
Their intentions starting to become clear as rain, in the mid of the second quarter where they took a double-digit lead, 41 – 30. Even though their opponents came back, Alessandro Gentile (17 points, 5 rebounds) made sure to keep at them at a distance thanks to a spectacular half-court buzzer beater for the 55 – 49 before the two teams went to the locker rooms.
Gentile kept rocking, but it was mainly Rakim Sanders (22 points, 7 rebounds) and the brilliant all-around contribution of Krunoslav Simon (14 points, 9 rebounds 8 assists) that helped Milano preserve a lead around 10 plus numbers and remain in control for the remainder of the match.
Efes couldn’t make a defensive stop to save its life and the offensive efforts of Thomas Heurtel (18 points, 7 assists), Bryant Dunston (16 points, 8 rebounds), Derrick Brown (16 points 7 rebounds) and Cedi Osman (14 points, 6 rebounds) were all for naught.