Olimpia couldn’t finish the job in Barcelona. After an enormous early portion of the fourth quarter, when it kept Barcelona scoreless and extended the lead to seven points after a Malcolm Delaney timely three, Milan finished the energy, couldn’t keep Barcelona from pounding the ball inside, using its physicality and mostly its size. With Brandon Davies and Nikola Mirotic posting-up repeatedly, Olimpia’s defense lost its toughness and the offense finally stuttered. Barcelona won 87-71. “At one point, we had probably zero energy physically, and we could not sustain the effort. They kept pounding the ball inside and that was their advantage. I saw a lot of good things by my team, so we are not happy for the loss, of course, but we keep building, and we will get ready for the next games,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Barcelona attacked the game and went ahead 11-0, forcing Messina to spend his first time-out less than two minutes into the game, but gradually Olimpia established its game. Kyle Hines, who reached another great milestone, scoring the 1.000th 2-pointer for his career, set the tone inside. Early in the second, Olimpia tied the game and went ahead, leading until the last three minutes of the game. Barcelona’s final run was huge and the final score doesn’t tell the true story of the game. Olimpia was capable to overcome the 11-point early deficit, the first difficult game experienced by Kevin Punter, the zero-point game by Zach LeDay, let alone Sergio Rodriguez’ absence, to almost complete a terrific game, one game played by both teams with huge intensity and physicality.

Malcom Delaney scored 23 points, went 9-for-9 from the field, Shavon Shields added 12 points and Vlado Micov 11. Olimpia went 10-for-27 from three in spite of Punter ice-cold night. “We had some turnovers in the final minutes and they played more physical. We have tried to solve that problem with outside shooting, but lacked some frontcourt game, which Vlado Micov provided when he was guarded by Abrines. We managed to find some three-point shots and some plays around the rim through him. It is not an excuse, but we were without ‘Chacho’ [Sergio Rodriguez], an important, very brave player, which forced us to play Malcolm Delaney for many minutes, and while he was fresh, he played a very good game,” Coach Messina added.