The EuroLeague closing night was a nice one for Olimpia who defeated Baskonia 111-89 in a game essentially over by the middle of the second quarter after a barrage of three-pointers that left the opponent way behind. Olimpia approached the game with pride, determined to finish the season on a high note and it did. Nikola Mirotic had 40 points in terms of personal rating, a career-best, Zach LeDay added 32 points, one shy of his personal high, Ousmane Diop scored in double digit for the second time in EuroLeague and there was time at the end to make Achille Lonati debut in the EuroLeague. The 18-year old sniper tried desperately to score his first points but failed, though he registered his first assist.

“It was a nice way to finish a difficult EuroLeague season – Coach Ettore Messina said – 17 wins shoud have been enough to enter the play-in but unfortunately they weren’t. We had some good wins on the road cancelled by some tough home losses, but in the end, despite Josh Nebo’s absence, a very unfortunate situation, we built ourselves a good chance to make the post-season. We are still missing a couple of early season losses. I don’t mean losing by one with Olympiacos or Bayern, this is part of a season, but in Berlin and at home with Zalgiris we threw a couple of wins out of the window for no reason. And they cost us a post-season berth.”