Varese slowed down the tempo of the game to turn it into a streetfight but Olimpia was capable to adjust and finally won 72-67 when Mike James led the comeback, scoring 11 points during a 17-2 run that decided the game. Olimpia trailed by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter but with an 8-0 run responded in a very convincing way. The subtle message: we are not going to back down just because this is not our kind of game. Olimpia played this game less than 48 hours after the Athens sweep in the EuroLeague, had to sit both Vlado Micov and Arturas Gudaitis and Varese’s style eliminated Kaleb Tarczewski from the offensive end of the court on top of his foul troubles. Everything was against Milan. Everything but the team’s desire to win and to honor a 12.007 enthusiastic crowd. “I’m very happy because given the circumstances this is anothr proof of how good and resilient we’ve been since the beginning of the season, with an historical start in the Italian league and  a very good EuroLeague so far, with the problems that we experienced with the injuries that all occured at the same position, with Jerrells first, Della Valle and Nedovic later. We survived and advanced, today’s the game was complicated, give Varese a lot of credit for what they’re doing, and it’s a good time to say “Great Job” to my players. They deserve it”, Coach Simone Pianigiani said at the end.

The 11-win start is the best in the modern era – sice the playoffs were introduced – for Olimpia. The streak is 13-game long now including the end of the last season. Mike James scored 27 huge points, but many different players contributed including a terrific third quarter by Simone Fontecchio scoring basically eight consecutive points and Amedeo Della Valle scoring in double figure.