By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olimpia Milano extended its EuroLeague winning streak to 5-0 by beating Crvena Zvezda 57 – 63 on the road. This was the third straight game in which Milano‘s opponents were held below 60 points, after the victories over CSKA Moscow and Zalgiris Kaunas.
Malcolm Delaney led all scorers with 18 points while draining a key jumper for the 56 – 63 with 2:07 to play. This was the last basket by any team as Milano held on to their advantage while Red Star was seeing top performer Nikola Kalinic (13 points, four assists) getting ejected with two technical fouls after protesting a turnover.
“We knew we were coming to a hostile environment,” Delaney said. “We had a good January. We just wanted to build that momentum coming into February and try to play the hardest game we could.”
Milano was up for the whole game after the first (and rather ugly) period that ended 8 – 7 for Zvezda. Ettore Messina’s players closed halftime with a 23 – 26 lead and then moved ahead 24 – 35 halfway through the third period. Every comeback effort the hosts made was pushed back, with Milano finding solutions from range by players such as Ben Bentil (12 points on 3-4 threes) or Giampaolo Rizzi (10 points). The latter hit two straight triples when his opponents approached 44 – 47 at the end of the third quarter.
While Milano got up by double figures once more, Ognjen Dobric brought Zvezda close 54 – 58 with a 3-pointer, 3:09 before the end of the match. Devon Hall delivered another triple as an answer and then Delaney made the final bucket of the match.
“Congrats to Milan for winning a very physical game,” Zvezda coach Dejan Radonjic said. “They played better than us. Defensively it was good from both sides. The third quarter maybe less. But still, 63 points for them is a good job but their defense was the difference.”
Fighting fire with fire
Apart from Delaney’s buckets, Milano used some very tough defense to beat Red Star in their own game.
“We played one of the best defenses in Europe – very physical, very aggressive, very well organized,” Milano coach Ettore Messina said. “So we knew it would be difficult to score on them. Plus this court is one of the toughest to play on in Europe. So I am very, very happy. My players kept their focus. We started the game very cold, we couldn’t make a shot. We kept playing, kept playing. When we finally started to make shots we continued to rebound. Ben and Malcolm hit some amazing shots. But Kyle Hines was also a pillar underneath the rim. He really protected our rim in a decisive way to win.”