The second half was played close to perfection so Olimpia turned a six-point deficit early in the third into a resounding 93-71 win in Belgrade against Red Star. Olimpia scored 55 points in the second half and 30 in the fourth quarter.
Maodo Lo, 32 points, a career-high, 6-for-7 from three-point territory was the hero for night but the entire team played at a very high level. Olimpia trailed by one at the half, 39-38, but it was a big lie. After leading right from the beginning by as many as seven points allowed a 8-0 run capped by a Milos Teodosic threes. Trailing was an aberration. But Olimpia didn’t blink and in the second half was amazing. “Maodo Lo was fantastic especially because he made only great decisions, took the right shots, made the correct passes – Coach Ettore Messina pointed out – shots can be missed but when you make good decisions nice things are gonna happen.” 

While Maodo Lo was great since the start and Nicolò Melli was solid at both ends of the floor, Olimpia relied a lot in the first half on some second unit players as Stefano Tonut and Giordano Bortolani. The latter scored two jumpers in the second half and helped the team take a consistent lead. Then in the second half the big horses came to play. Nikola Mirotic scored his eight points in the third including two big threes. The first started the 12-0 run that essentially turned the game around for good, the second capped it. Red Star went all out one more time early in the fourth and shrank the lead to four points. Right then Shavon Shields made back-to-back threes, establishing a double-digit margin once more. The game was in the bag. 

“They are a very good team and there were 20.000 people attending the game – Messina added – I’m happy for the players. Over the last week they worked hard and well. We lost in Bologna on the closing minutes but then we defeated Efes and Venice in our league, two very good games. Now, let’s build on it.”

Nik Melli tied up Kaleb Tarczewski and his 156 EuroLeague appearances with Olimpia. With his next game he will the solitary record holder. Meanwhile Maodo Lo set his new career-highs for points and personal rating (38, third-best ever by an Olimpia player).