Olimpia won the Battle of Undefeated teams in Venice 84-81. Vlado Micov made the go-ahead basket with a drive straight to the rim, then Kaleb Tarczewski erased everything when De Nicolao tried to tie the score once more, Andrea Cinciarini made one free throw and finally the defense kept Reyer scoreless in the last possession to preserve the win after a very unusual game. Milan dominated the first quarter with a shocking 31-11 lead, produced by a defensive and offensive masterpiece. Then Venice gathered itself, found some rhytm, used Mitchell Watt inside to take adavantage of the Olimpia’s centers foul trouble, Stefano Tonut was amazing driving in the lane, and gradually was capable to eat the entire the lead and take slight leads in the fourth. Here Milan responded one more time, showed once again to be able to fight through the end and edged the opponent in spite of playing without Nedovic and Della Valle, a little short with the small guys, while being outsized in the middle esepcially when Coach Pianigiani had to play small which he did with Burns at the 5 and late in the game with Micov at the 4. “This game came at the worst possible juncture – Coach Pianigiani said at the end – because of injuries and fatigue after a very demanding first part of our season. What I wanted out of this game was a serious approach, a signal, I didn’t pur any pressure on the score. The guys responded well that’s why I’m happy. They showed how much they care and how much they want to win”.

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