Armani Milano for four! Despite the problems of absences, Messina’s team showed character and achieved a great double in the home of the champion Barcelona (73-75), thanks to its impressive performance in the 4th quarter (19-28 individual score).
Thus, the -performed by the coronavirus- Italians returned to victories and went up to 11-6. Leading for the winners (who had 10/17 three-pointers) was Sergio Rodriguez (18 points, 4 assists), a decisive three-pointer from Dilleni in the 12 seconds before the end.
On the other, the Catalans suffered a 2nd consecutive defeat in the tournament (first at home and 2nd from Milan in this year’s Euroleague) and fell to 15-4.
Distinguished for the team of Yasikevitsios Kuric (22 points, 5 rebounds), Mirotic (18 points) and Jokubaitis (11 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds), fatal Laprovitola, who missed a three-pointer… victory in the final.
The match
The two teams was quite nervous and misplaced in the first 5 minutes, hence the low score (8-5). With Sergi Rodrκεguez taking the lead (10 points in the first period), Armani Milano gained momentum, but failed to close the ten-minute lead (14-14).
Davis carried on his back Barcelona at the start of the 2nd period and brought it to +4 (20-16 in 13 ‘), however somewhere there the guests “tightened” defensively and with pluralism in scoring, went ahead (24-27 in 16’). The half ended with the team of Messina at +6 (28-34).
The Italians escaped with +8 at the beginning of the 3rd period, but at that point they short-circuited the “calipers” of the players of Yasikevitsios, who ran a partial score of 19-2 and completely reversed the situation (47-38 in 26 ‘). The Catalans reached up to +10 (51-41), while they closed the tenth minute with “air” of 7 points (54-47).
In the first minutes of the 4th period, Messina’s team limited the trump cards of the opponents and with a partial score of 9-2, equalized to 56-56 (34 ‘) putting… fire in the match. Kuric and Jokoubaitis carried Barça and brought it to +4 (63-59 in 36 ‘), but the guests reacted with big shots, they won 11-2 and turned it again, entering the final straight with a small lead (65-70 at 39 ‘).
The last minute turned into a thriller, with Kuric reducing in shooting distance with three points (70-71 at 34 ”). The answer came through Dilleni, who “killed” his former team with a well-aimed shot from outside the 6.75m. (70-74 at 12 ”). Mirotic reduced again (73-74 to 5 ”), followed by 1/2 shots by Meli (4 ”), which formed the final 73-75, after Laprovitola missed a buzzer beater three-pointer.
The quarters: 14-14, 28-34, 54-47, 73-75.
See the match statistics here
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