Mike James has ice in the veins. With 3.3 seconds left in a thriller he was fouled by Jordan Mickey on a three-point attempt for the win. Then he went to the line and made all his free throws. After that to the defense sealed the win forcing Alexey Shved to take a difficult shot at the buzzer that was short. Olimpia defeated Khimki 81-80 after trailing by as many as eight points in the second quarter. In the third Olimpia exploded when converted a four-point deficit into a seven-point lead. Gudaitis made two free throws, Dairis Bertans made two threes and Mike James made one himself. From that point on it was a battle with many lead changes. Olimpia responded again after Sergei Monia made two triples in a pre for Khimki. Playing without Nemanja Nedovic, Olimpia had 25 points and 8 assists from James; Bertans who started had 16 points and Gudaitis had a double 13 in points and rebounds overcoming the 26-point night of Jordan Mickey. But Milan did a great job at the defensive end of the court with Micov as a primary defender over the EuroLeague top scorer Alexey Shved who was harassed into a 1-for-10 three-point shooting night. “I’m proud of my players because they played over the mistakes and stayed within the game plan no matter what. They did a fantastic job over Shved and when we missed a couple of open threes to seal the win they didn’t panic they kept playing according to the game plan so in the end the defense won for us”, Coach Simone Pianigiani said.