By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Ettore Messina was happy with Milan’s win in Istanbul after two overtimes, but as he admitted, his team might have more injury woes to face.
Zack LeDay, who scored 25 points in 21 minutes of action after missing six games, might be hurt again.
As Messina said to EuroLeague TV after the game: “I am sorry that we lost LeDay, because he looks like he was hurt again, and that’s a huge problem for us. At the same time, the team played with great heart, and we found our leaders. We made big shots, we really need to enjoy this one”.
LeDay wanted to keep playing, but Messina had no choice: “Yes, but he was hurt. The doctor and the strength coach told me he was hurt, he was limping, and he was touching his groin. So unfortunately, we had a great lead, but we were not sharp for four to five minutes. We took quick shots, we missed a bunch of them, and we gave up a couple of threes in transition that could have cost us the game. But in overtime we were very resilient”.
Messina added: “It’s a huge win on a tough court against a very good team with a lot of scorers. I think in the second half, our defense was honestly very good, especially on their isolation, and our offense, for the most part, was good”.