Milano dominated Venezia to get back to the Italian Cup Final

By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net

TURIN, Italy – With one of the best games of a tumultuous season so far, Milano found itself in a position to win once again a trophy, reaching the Italian Cup Final by dismantling Reyer Venezia 100-77.

Leading Milano from the very first minute, Shavon Shields had yet again another marvelous individual performance with 28 points over 6/12 from the three-point line. In one of his personal best nights since coming back to Italy, Shabazz Napier contributed to Milano’s win with 17 points, 4 boards, and 6 dimes.

Ettore Messina shared his satisfaction in the post-game press conference. “We were really aggressive on defense, moving the ball well. We relaxed too much at the beginning of the third quarter, but making it to the final we made another step ahead”, Milano’s head coach shared after such a dominant victory.

Rayjon Tucker was alone on the island for a sinking Reyer today in Turin, providing a losing effort of 15 points, followed by Mfiondu Kabengele’s 18 points and 5 rebounds. On his 25th birthday, Aamir Simms provided 10 points and 6 rebounds, but also 4 turnovers. Marco Spissu added 14 points and 4 assists.

“At this moment, Milano plays the best basketball of the season. Only a few teams can respond to them right now. A lot of things didn’t work in our gameplan, they played an extraordinary game. Losing the ball 17 times when you play against Milano is way too much”, Neven Spahija commented after the loss.

Milano ran away early in the game, getting up 23-12 at 2:15 on the clock in the first quarter; later on, Stefano Tonut closed things up in the first with a deep buzzer-beater. The gap increased even more, putting 20 points (40-20) between the two sides at 7:46 in the second: at halftime, Ettore Messina’s team had scored 60 points after Shavon Shields’ buzzer-beater, conceding 36 to Neven Spahija’s team.

Reyer Venezia opened the second half on a 10-0 scoring run, showing signs of life. From then on, however, Milano started pushing once again, moving the ball perfectly on offense and locking down on defense. After Stefano Tonut and Shavon Shields, Diego Flaccadori banked in the third straight buzzer-beater for Milano in three consecutive quarters. The red-and-white team never turned their backs.

After one season of absence from the last game of the Final Eight, having lost in last year’s Quarter-Finals to then-champions Brescia, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano is back in contention for the title in mid-February. They will now face Napoli on Sunday at 17:45 CET.

The battle of surprises put Napoli in the final

After respectively beating Virtus Bologna and Brescia in the Quarter-Finals, Reggio Emilia and Napoli clashed in the second Semi-Finals of the day, way more balanced than what happened on the court of the Inalpi Arena between Milano and Venezia. At the end of an emotional battle that went to overtime, Igor Milicic’s team advanced by winning 87-78. It’s their first Italian Cup Final in 18 years.

Reggio Emilia seemed to have control of the encounter until the very last minutes when Napoli emerged from its own ashes, dragged by Michal Sokolowski, who tied things up at 73-73 for the overtime. “We put great effort, the guys stepped in for the big rebounds. I think we played a smarter game than our opponents in the end. I know this is the best result for Milano, but after 18 years we are in the Final and we have a lot of time to rest”, Igor Milicic ironically said in the post-game press conference.

The Polish forward had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Tyler Ennis had an outstanding night of 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. Jacob Pullen added 21 points. For Dimitris Priftis’ team, the Italian duo of Michele Vitali and Matteo Chillo combined for 28 points, but they weren’t enough. “We are proud of the way we came in this tournament. Two days ago we made an impressive win [against Virtus Bologna]”, Dimitris Priftis said.