The proud warrior had another of those nights. Gigi Datome scored a team-high 19 points in 22 minutes, led Olimpia’s rally in the second quarter and its attempt to take the game over in the fourth quarter when Milan built a 10-point lead. In the end, his effort proved to be decisive in securing a 80-75 hard-fought win over Sassari. Now, Olimpia leads its best-of-five semifinal series 2-0. Game 3 is scheduled to be played in Sassari Thursday night. Olimpia didn’t shoot the ball well as it did in Game 1, finishing with a respectable 10-for-30 from three, shot well when attacking the rim, but never took full control of the game. Sassari led by as many as nine points early in the game. “That was when Datome threw our fear out the window,” Coach Messina said. He took control, he made shots, he made his free throws, he pushed Olimpia into the game. “We missed some open shots in the first quarter, and we got nervous, and more nervous we were and the more mistakes we committed, even at the defensive end of the floor. Gradually, we improved. Datome was crucial,” Messina pointed out at the end.
Datome led the comeback; Olimpia turned a nine-point deficit into a one-point lead at the half off a three made by Johannes Voigtmann. In the second half, Olimpia tried to get away for good, but Sassari, led by a red-hot Eimantas Bendzius (20 points) kept coming back. When Olimpia had a 10-point lead in the fourth and the game looked secure, Sassari made three straight threes and came back. The lead was reduced to two a couple of times. The final minute was surreal. Shabazz Napier, one of the best foul shooters of the team, a clutch player, missed two free throws, with Milan up by two. But Sassari couldn’t control the rebound. The same happened a few seconds later. Finally, Napier absorbed another foul. He made his free throws and closed the game out when Billy Baron added two more later. 80-75 was the final score.
Olimpia started the game stuttering, had five turnovers in the first period only. Then, it had five for the rest of the night. It was a tough game because Olimpia was not as consistent as it was in Game 1 defensively and missed not just twenty threes but many free throws too. “The game was tough and as any coach does in these circumstances, I elected to shrink the rotation, using the players I felt gave us the better chance to win the game. I was sorry because Tonut had a good Game 1 and deserved to stay on the court more. Sometimes, you make shots and win the game going away, sometimes you have to rely on effort, on rebounds, free throws, whatever it takes,” Messina added.
Datome had 19 points and made four threes, Napier added 14 with three assists, Baron had 13 points and was 3-for-5 from threes. Shavon Shields was a very effective partner in crime of Datome in the second half. He had two points in the first half, but 12 in the second. He also had five assists. Johannes Voigtmann had eight points and six rebounds. Melli led the team in rebounds as he is doing consistently in the post-season with eight boards.
