The final series with Game 4 is entering its homestretch. It is not a potential “elimination game” and there are no match-points to play, because the series is only 2-1, but the importance of the Mediolanum Forum game is not questionable. So far, whoever has won the rebounding battle has also won the game, but the difference in Game 3 has narrowed. The third game was played with the same intensity as the other two, but a better offensive quality as the score witnesses. In the first two games, the two teams scored at least twenty points in a quarter just twice, once per game per team, but on Sunday evening Olimpia scored 31 points in the first quarter alone and 30 in the third period. The downside is that Bologna also scored a lot (50 points overall in the same two quarters). It is not conceivable which turn Game 4 will take, if the offensive trend will continue or if we will return to a low-scoring and bad shooting game, as happened in the Bologna segment of the series. In the third game, Milan had a lot from the second unit. Beyond the individual stats, in the nine minutes spent on the court by Paul Biligha, Olimpia prevailed by two points and in the seven spent by Tommaso Baldasso, Olimpia won by five. The other key factor was Nicolò Melli, who scored 15 points in the second half, despite playing with three fouls against him, the ones that had eliminated him from the first half. He was good at not being affected by foul troubles and to return to the game focused and effective in the second half. So far, Olimpia has always used the same starting line-up, keeping Melli off the bench; Virtus made a change in Game 3 replacing Daniel Hackett with Alessandro Pajola, but Hackett himself was the best of his team with 34 index points over 25 minutes. For Olimpia it is the 82nd battle of the season.
GAME 4 REFEREES – Boris Ryzhyk, Michele Rossi, Lorenzo Baldini.
GAME NOTES – Olimpia approached the start of this final series averaging 90.0 points per game in the playoffs but was stopped at 67.0 in the first two games. However, the 94 scored in Game 3 are also the season-high in the post-season. For the seventh time out of nine, Olimpia have hit at least 10 three-point baskets in the same game. With eight assists in Game 3, Sergio Rodriguez now has 370 in his career with Olimpia, fourth ever.
MORE NOTES – Nicolò Melli’s 22 points in Game 3 are his career high in the playoffs, the second-best scoring output of the season after the 27 that he had in Trento during the regular season and the third overall (he had scored 24 points against Roma during the 2013/14 season). Shavon Shields in the final series: 17.3 points per game and 6.0 rebounds, shooting 55.6 percent from three. Gigi Datome in the final series: 12.0 points per game, 62.5 percent from two. During the playoffs, the second-best Olimpia player for assist, after Sergio Rodriguez, is Kyle Hines with 29, more than three on average. Hines also has 16 blocks.
