It was a friendly game, a serious one, and its purpose was to pay homage to a great legendary player, but Olimpia came back to Milan with a lot of good stuff to treasure, including a surprising 57-50 win after a three-period game over Olympiacos. Olimpia struggled early in the game, went behind by 15 twice, but over the last two periods the effort was really good. Shavon Shields led the team with 15 points, Devon Hall anchored the defense, Giordano Bortolani was a consistent threat offensively. He scored the go-ahead three from the corner. Olimpia never relinquished the lead after that. Kevin Pangos was the perfect closer, dictating the tempo over the final five minutes, he made his free throws and assisted Kyle Hines for two easy lay-ups that allowed the team to get away. Olimpia led by as many as ten points and finished the game up by seven.
It was another demonstration of the team ability to overcome difficulties, not just the big deficit but foul troubles too. Kevin Pangos had two early on and the rotations had to be changed accordingly. Kyle Hines and Nikola Mirotic struggled with fouls, a clear problem with a short-handed roster. Eventually, Olimpia increased its offensive efficiency, did a great job rebounding the ball and at stopping Olympiacos. Obviously, both team were afflicted by absences. Olympiacos didn’t have Milutinov, Williams-Goss and McKissic. Olimpia was without seven players, as we know.
However, it was a very good trip for Olimpia to close out its preseason and getting ready to start working with more players towards the Supercup semifinal next Saturday in Brescia.
Olympiacos Pireo-EA7 Emporio Armani Milano 50-57 (20-9; 17-20; 13-28)
Olympiacos: Walkup 7, Canaan 5, Lountzis 1, Larentzakis 5, Papas 8, Papanikolau 5, Peters 13, Sikma 6, Tanoulis.
Olimpia: Poythress 6 (1/3, 4/4 ft), Bortolani 10 (2/3 2pt, 2/5 3pt, 2 stl), Pangos 7 (1/5, 4/4 ft, 4 a), Stojanovic 2 (1/2), Kamagate (0/1), Hall 4 (1/4, 4 r, 4 a), Caruso, Shields 15 (5/7 2pt, 1/3 3pt), Mirotic 9 (2/4 2pt, 1/4 3pt, 6 r), Hines 4 (2/2, 3 r).
