Olimpia lost control of Game 3 twice, one in the second quarter, going down by 12, another early in the third, going down once more by 12. Both times, the team was able, possession after possession, to come back and get momentarily the lead. But it didn’t last much and when Virtus took away again in the fourth quarter with a 16-2 run, the energy level was too low to rally again. Bologna closed the game winning 76-58 and taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series that will resume on Friday, 11 June, in Bologna.

“I need to thank my players, their effort was monumental, they spent every ounce of sweat that they still had, but the deficit in terms of energy was huge. We are struggling and that’s a realistic feeling. Trailing 3-0, under this circumstances, obviously I don’t think this is over, but I’m a realist. We’ll rest, we’ll try to understand what we can do to extend the series, whatever we can do, we’ll do,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Without Malcolm Delaney, out with a hip iniury, Olimpia started Vlado Micov at the 4 position and Kaleb Tarczewski at 5. The moves for a while paid off, because Olimpia was effective under the boards and Micov with two three-point plays was the first to get into some rhythm. Then Shavon Shields, Kyle Hines in the paint, and Kevin Punter tried somehow to keep the boat floating. Olimpia came back from 12 points down to go up by one. In the third period, it happened again, and Gigi Datome with 12 points in the quarter led another comeback. The third ended 52-52. Unfortunately, a six-point fourth quarter when nothing worked offensively decided the game for Bologna.