Olimpia won Game 1 after scoring 56 points in the second half, winning it by 18 points of margin. Seven of these points were accumulated in the third quarter, and erased the eight-point deficit of the halftime, and the other 11 were earned during the fourth period. Olimpia needs to build over its second half to try to win Game 2 against a Virtus Bologna team that vice versa had been much more effective in the first half when it had also accumulated a ten-point lead both in the first and in the second quarter. The first deficit was erased with a 12-0 run that allowed Olimpia to go ahead at the end of the inaugural period; the second was mitigated by the five points run fabricated by Devon Hall at the end of the half (a three and one assist for Kyle Hines), however partially canceled by Marco Belinelli’s final three.

Bologna’s two most explosive offensive players scored a total of 34 points in the game, with five 3-pointers plus the four situations in which they wereable to get fouled on a three-point attempt, earning 11 more points out of 12. Keep Bologna away from the line (34 free throws attempted in Game 1, with 27 points scored). Especially the 22 free throws in the first half were crucial in determining the lead. In the second half, Olimpia managed to attack better, to score more, also earning itself some trips to the line (18 fouls shots against three in the first half), a symptom of aggressiveness and was able to defend strongly regardless of the individual foul situation. Shabazz Napier, who stayed on the court only seven minutes in the first half, didn’t commit any in the second half. He did a great job at controlling himself, and his teammates did great when Virtus used its physicality to attack him in the low post. “We started out stuttering a little bit, but we were good at staying in the game. I think the second half was a quality second half by the whole team, as demonstrated by the run that we had”, Coach Ettore Messina said in the press conference.

In the second half, Nicolò Melli and Johannes Voigtmann scored 18 points combined. They had been scoreless in the first half. The German scored eight points over the third quarter comeback, Melli scored two long jumpers and a dunk that seemed decisive when attempting to get away. However, Game 1 is behind us and now all the focus is directed toward Game 2. Olimpia had a light practice  late in the morning at the Mediolanum Forum.