By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Johnny O’Bryant put on a career-night with 32 points and led Maccabi Tel Aviv to a narrow 94-92 home win against Olimpia Milano in Round 15 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Vladimir Micov nailed a ‘two and one’ to put Milano ahead 92-91 but Alex Tyus and Kendrick Ray took back the lead for Maccabi from the free throw line (94-92). Jeff Brooks tried to win the game for Milano with a three-pointer in the final offense but didn’t make it.
“It was a really great basketball game. It was my players seventh game in 14 days. We played great basketball here with six players in double digits [in points] and leading for a lot of time. And then we had the last shot to win the game. It was a good shot, it moved around the rim. It’s our life. This is basketball.”, Milano coach Simone Pianigiani noted.
O’Bryant shot 5/7 from behind the arc while adding five rebounds, three assists and steals for 44 PIR. Tyus helped with 16 in addition to Scottie Wilbekin’s 13 points.
For Milano, Nemanja Nedovic scored 17 in addition to Mike James and Micov’s 16 points each.
Maccabi started the match better (10-4) but Milano made a 14-0 run ignited by two triples from Nedovic. Both teams found their groove from behind the arc (13/19 combined) and after the lead switching sides multiple times, the guests went on the halftime rest with a small 48-46 advantage thanks to Nedovic and Tarczewski’s 21 points.
The offensive festival continued on both sides as the squads nailed 56 points together in the third quarter. O’Bryant stole the show by banking 14 points in ten minutes including three shots from deep as Maccabi and Milano tied at 75 in front of the final period. The game stayed balanced until the very end as Maccabi just barely came out on top.
The winning team boss Ioannis Sfairopoulos was proud of his players: “I think today was one of the best EuroLeague games this season. This is one of the best basketball games that the fans love to watch between two very good teams. For our team, I think this is the biggest win from the moment I came to the team because we played against one of the most quality teams in the league. Although the game didn’t go as we wanted defensively, I think today we had great offensive scoring rhythm and today we won the game with good offense.”
Maccabi improved to a 5-10 record while Milano now stands at 7-8.
Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague