Olimpia got away three times in Berlin, and was leading by 12 points with eight minutes left in the game, the margin was still at seven momentarily with three minutes remaining, but couldn’t hold on. Alba Berlin came back, furiously, took control of the boards, scored at will and won the game 85-82. “Give them credit for the way the fought and believed in their chances, but I think we threw this one away,” Coach Ettore Messina said at the end, reflecting on the 28 points allowed in the fourth quarter, the eight offensive rebounds Alba got in the final period. Olimpia screw up a great scoring night by Nikola Mirotic and Shavon Shields. They combined for 55 points and still it wasn’t enough. “We have two great players and sometimes maybe we feel like they can solve the problems on their own. That’s not the case, we need to perfrom at the other positions as well,” Messina added.
Olimpia started the game ice cold, missing the first seven shots and scoring three point in the first six minutes, a Shields’ three. Then, it found a rhythm and turned the game around with a 15-2 run. The lead reached 10 points in the second quarter. In what was a glimpse of what’s going to happen repeatedly in the game, Alba responded with a run of its own. At the intermission, Olimpia’s lead was reduced to two points.
In the third quarter, Olimpia started to shoot the ball really well. Mirotic opened up the quarter with a corner three, then he made another, Shields had one and Pangos too. With four threes in the first five minutes, Olimpia built a 12-point largest lead. Alba reponded led by Sterling Brown, his go-to scorer. He had eight points in the period and found a way to get Alba back in the game. At the end of the third the lead was four points.
Again, Olimpia regained control in the fourth quarter, building another 12-point lead that looked to be decisive. Unfortunately, the defense collapsed, there was no lucky break, free throws were missed and Alba got one offensive rebound after another. When Maodo Lo made a three with three minutes left, the lead was still seven points. But Matt Thomas made a three of his own a few seconds later. The closing minutes were not enough to get the win.
