Olimpia’s EuroLeague winning streak was broken in Villeurbanne, 78-69. Asvel was aggressiva, played with a lot physicality and is in great shape. Olimpia led most of the night but couldn’t get away for good. The largest margin was 10 points in the third quarter, but every time it tried to take control, Asvel responded and the fourth quarter belonged to Villeurbanne. Asvel shot over 70 percent from two and on the end complemented its inside efficiency with some huge threes by Norris Cole, David Lighty and William Howard.  “First of all, my congratulations to Coach TJ and his team. I think they played with great physicality, with great aggressiveness – Coach Ettore Messina said – They played very good defense for 40 minutes and that allowed them to come back in the fourth quarter. I think we played well for three quarters, even when it is not easy to attack their aggressive defense. Probably, we got tired in the fourth quarter and we were not so sharp”

Shavon Shields scored 10 points in the first half and eight more in the second. He made three jumpers early in the fourth to keep Olimpia ahead. But he stopped scoring, Olimpia’s offense stuttered a little and Asvel came back and immediately took control of the game. “ Of course, the post-up defense, for us, was a problem all night long Coach Messina added -. They attacked us early in the game with Yabusele in the post and then in the fourth quarter, Lighty made plays for himself and for his teammates when he had the ball close to the baseline. Unfortunately, you don’t want to lose but it happens. We put in a huge effort but it was not enough”