Another prestigious success for Peppe Poeta’s team who are now close to the Spanish in the standings. On the cover, the Serbian player scored 22 points
Dream weeks for Ea7 Milano who continue their honeymoon with Peppe Poeta on the bench and confirm their great confidence. After Pana, after having reduced Virtus in the championship, at the PalaLido (now Allianz Cloud, where it will remain until March 15th) Olimpia scores another prestigious coup. The 89-82 victory against former Sergio Scariolo’s Real Madrid earned the Spaniards a place in the standings: the 9 victories and 7 defeats so far are worth the top part of the play-in zone, with license to dream of something more. After reaching +16 in the third quarter, Milan recovers, but without disuniting and still finds the necessary strength and confidence in the defense. Ea7 is more solid and consistent than its opponents, even when the excellent percentages of the first half drop. Guduric ends up on the cover, with the best night of the season. Not only for the 22 points (with 5 rebounds and 4/7 three-pointers) scored, but because he pushed Campazzo’s Real Madrid back several times (25 points) in the final. Still absent Bolmaro; Brown is seen again, positive in the first half. For Procida, the blue player from Real, 3’40” on the pitch, without any baskets
the match
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Lyles is inspired (9 points straight away), Tavares is consistently found in the paint and so Real gets off to a great start. If it doesn’t spread, it’s thanks to Quinn Ellis, who scored 8 points in just over 5′ with two triples on as many attempts. When Brooks and LeDay also light up, Milan, having slipped 8 points down, scores an 11-0 break which allows them to get ahead (20-17) at the end of the first quarter and gain the confidence needed to reverse the inertia, including Nebo’s block. The Spaniards stay alive thanks to attacking rebounds (10-0 in the first two quarters in this specialty), while Ea7 starts his show from the arc. Lorenzo Brown was the protagonist, returning in style with 8 points in 5 minutes including the two triples that opened up the double-digit lead (34-26) midway through the second half, with Real stuck with just 6 points scored. Milan continues to collect excellent percentages from outside (10 out of 17 in the 20th minute) and reaches +14, 48-34, in the 18th minute, proving to be much more concrete than their opponents in the first half.
Still solid
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When LeDay returns to the field he is hot, but this time his teammates don’t follow him and the roles are reversed. Olimpia’s percentages weakened, also due to the rare good moment in defense of Real Madrid, who managed to get back into contact despite a few too many turnovers. Ellis had even scored +16 (57-41), then Poeta’s team had stalled, suffering a break of 13-2 until -5 in the 28th minute. The soul of the Spaniards is Facundo Campazzo, helped by Deck and Tavares: only three free throws cleverly won by Guduric avoided the worst for Milan, who stopped at 16 points scored in the third quarter, squandering more than half of the spoils. Something remains, however, and that’s what the home team clung to in the final half, pulling off another great evening in defence. Above all, Guduric lights up and begins to systematically punish Real’s mistakes and scores the +11 baskets (79-68) after 35 minutes. It was precisely from a loss by the Spaniards that Brooks’ nailed a counterattack which was valid for +13 (84-71) with 3′ and change to go. The PalaLido fans rejoice as if the final credits had rolled, but there is still a life to play, as demonstrated by Campazzo’s basket for -4 (84-80) with just over a minute to go. But once again the Spaniards have to deal with a super Guduric: it is he who throws the triple of definitive tranquility. Milan: Guduric 22, LeDay 14, Brooks 13 Madrid: Campazzo 25, Lyles 14, Hezonja 11
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