Olimpia suffered its first playoff loss in Game 2. The good news, though, is that Olimpia returned from Brescia with home-court advantage and two games to play over a three-day span in Milan. This season, Olimpia has lost three league games at home, but only once at the Unipol Forum, in the opening game against Tortona. The other two came at the Palalido. The support of the 10,000 fans could be a key factor in a series that has quickly become tense and physical, as is typical between two teams that have already faced each other six times this season, with three wins each. All games were close, with the only exception being Game 1, and that was limited to the second half. Brescia tied the series in a game in which Olimpia suffered from horrible shooting, going 5 of 24 on three-pointers and 18 of 28 on free throws.
Against a team that clogs the middle and only exposes itself to certain shooters, accuracy is key. It would have taken very little to see a different game. Armoni Brooks’ 1-for-6 three-point shooting combined with Marko Guduric’s 0-for-5 shooting, two players typically much more effective from the arc, had an impact. Brooks, moreover, had foul trouble throughout the game, ending up playing only 22 minutes and ending the game prematurely (his career first fouled-out in Italy). Game 2 was a statistical anomaly in fact: Olimpia shot more and better from two; grabbed more rebounds; dished more assists and turned the ball over fewer times. They shot worse from three, but on a night when Brescia still shot 31.8 percent from the arc with seven threes made. The difference lies in the number of points scored from the free throw line, where Brescia players went 42 times. It was clear from the start of the series that reducing the number of trips to the line would be one of the keys: Nikola Ivanovic’s 17 free throws (his career-high was 11 until then) were another statistical anomaly. Six of them came from three-pointers in tactical foul situations, where he had the knack of throwing the ball into the air to draw a foul in the act of shooting. These are all mistakes that should not be made, starting with Game 3. It’s encouraging that despite the long list of under the standards individual performances and errors, Olimpia still led 72-71 (Shields’ three-pointer) in the fourth and potentially kept the game up for grabs until the final minute.
Game 3 is going to be played in Milano, on Wednesday, June, 3rd at the Unipol Forum.
Game 4 is going to be played in Milano, on Friday, June, 5th at the Unipol Forum.
COACH PEPPE POETA – “The first two games have shown that defensively physicality is the key to inerrupt their flow and reduce their ability to share the ball. Offensively, we’d like to be able to run a little bit more, which we weren’t able to do in Game 2, and when we’re facing their half court defense, we’ll want to move the ball efficiently from one side of the court to the other.”
DEFENSE – In terms of numbers, the defense did a good job overall in Brescia’s two games, including Sunday’s loss, in which Germani shot below 45 percent from two and below 32 percent from three, and dished out just nine assists. The offensive rebounds allowed, 10, were almost entirely concentrated in the early minutes, similar to what happened Game 1, although some were painful because they turned into easy baskets, like one grabbed by Ivanovic and another by Burnell. The difference lies in the 42 free throws Brescia attempted. Germani is the best team in the league at getting to the line, but they average about 22 per game, and Olimpia had limited them to 15 in Game 1. The 42 free throws in Game 2 represent an anomaly that was difficult to overcome. Olimpia will have to make better use of the fouls in bonus situations and be more careful when executing fouls to stop the offense, a situation in which Nikola Ivanovic, with his skills, gained six of the 17 total free throws.
THREE-POINT SHOOTING – This was the other major problem in Game 2, as Brescia chose to clog the lane with Miro Bilan and attack only certain players on the perimeter. Olimpia had shot 23 of 55 from three in the previous two games, but only made 5 of 24 attempts in Game 2, even with several shots taken by shooters and in favorable situations.
ADV AND IVANOVIC – Amedeo Della Valle is obviously playing at a stellar level. In this series, he’s increased his playing time to 33.0 minutes per game, 35 in Game 2, averaging 26.0 points per outing. He’s on a streak of four over twenty-point or more games against Olimpia. In Game 2, his three-point percentage was lower than usual (33.3 percent), he scored eight of 28 points from the line, but he was effective on four of six two-pointers. But the real difference compared to the first game was Ivanovic, who went from six to 24 points, but more importantly, from two to 11 fouls drawn, resulting in 17 free throws. Brescia is a team built around their creativity. It’s obvious that in Milan, Olimpia’ll need to limit them as a duo as much as possible.
