The Super Cup ended immediately for Olimpia. Virtus prevailed in the final melee 78-73. Olimpia tried to invent the game, shuffling the cards, with unusual line-ups, partly to find a way to solve its daily problems, partly because the fouls condemned Coach Messina to improvise a little bit, to protect Shields and Mirotic, then to literally play without Shavon, obviously the best player on the court (26 points in 26 minutes). In the end, Bologna won mostly because Olimpia had two moments of blackout. At the end of the first half, after building a seven-point margin, turnovers gave the lead back to Virtus, then in the third quarter, fouls (including two technicals) generated the free throws that allowed Bologna to take a commanding 11-point lead. At that point, Olimpia responded strongly and completed the comeback in the fourth quarter. Milan even took the lead momentiarily. But when the score was tied at 70, Shields fouled out and the final stretch was favorable to Bologna.

“The key stats were turnovers and assists – Coach Ettore Messina said at the end – We had only 10 assists and 19 turnovers. It means that we never built any advantages, we put too often the ball in a few hands and rode too much individual plays. We had some momentum in the second quarter but they were good at responding with some plays. In the same situation, we weren’t as good as they were. However, we know what we need to work on. Some of the guys coming from the National teams are in difficult physical conditions and it showed. Looking back I should have played Maodo Lo, but he didn’t feel well and I didn’t want to put him in a complicated situation.”

Giordano Bortolani had another excellent outing. He scored 12 points and led the comeback late in the game. “He has been good for us for the entire preseason, including the Athens game. He is trying to be competitive at the defensive end of the floor, too. Obviously, if he can keep playing so well, he will help a lot,” Messina added. Shavon Shields scored 26 points in 26 minutes. “Yes, but we cannot rely on one or two players – Messina pointed out – He could have won the game for us, we blew up his great game. But this is why the assist number is worrisome.”