Olimpia played a superbly brilliant game in Belgrade against Maccabi Tel Aviv and won convincingly 102-88, after leading well over the 20-point barrier for most of the fourth quarter before raising the pedal a little bit. Ahead for the large majority of the game, by as many as 10 points in the first quarter, going up by six at the half, Olimpia struggled in the first half at containing Maccabi’s scorers especially Lonnie Walker IV who had a 19-point impressive outing. But the second half defense was huge with Bolmaro spending himself over Walker, Josh Nebo protecting the rim while the offense kept being superb. Olimpia finished shooting over 62 percent from two-point range, made 13 threes and 23-for-24 from the line.

Shavon Shields had a marvelous game. He started attacking the rim incessantly. He scored seven quick points and kept going inside at will throughout the game. He closed with 26 points, didn’t miss a two-pointer, made nine free throws, no misses, added seven rebounds and six assists, an all-around game to be remembered, 39 points of personal rating. Armoni Brooks added 20. So, it was another game with Olimpia players scoring at least 20 points, while five guys scored in double digits, including Nebo, Bolmaro and LeDay.

For Coach Peppe Poeta was a EuroLeague official debut to be remembered. He used a nine-man rotation and went at some time with Guduric as a nominal point guard. The offense was smooth right from the beginning, scoring on each of the first six possessions, but he needed the defense to step up in the second half. And it did. Walker scored two points in the second half, on free throws. Tamir Blatt was huge in the first period with eight points but had two the rest of the night. Jimmy Clark and Roman Sorkin were the most effective in the second half, but Olimpia had the answer to everything. When Walker led Maccabi to the lead in the second period, Pippo Ricci with two threes responded and then Olimpia finished the half better turning a three-point deficit into a six-point lead. In the third, Maccabi started with a 9-2 run, going ahead by one. Shavon Shields responded with a 7-0 personal run. Olimpia regained the lead and never looked back.