Game 1 of the Italian league championship series was a battle. Olimpia had the courage and mental strength to re-emerge from a difficult first half, in which it suffered a double digit deficit both in the opening period and in the second, only to explode with a high quality second half and win 92-82.
Olimpia scored 56 points in the second half, finished with 13 three-pointers while shooting 69 percent from two-point range. The team was able to establish its defense despite the many foul problems tha plagued Shabazz Napier, forced to play only seven minutes in the first half, but also Nicolò Melli, Johannes Voigtmann and partly Billy Baron. Been able to raise the defensive intensity regardless was decisive. Virtus scored 11 more points from line and built a great first half over its ability to earn trips to the line, led by the more experienced veterans such as Milos Teodosic and Marco Belinelli. “We stuttered at the start, our first half was mediocre at best but it was a good sign that we managed to keep he deficit at a minimum and the second half, instead, was very good. We were good as a team, our defensive intensity was raised and offensively we put the ball in the right hands. They tried the zone and the box-and-one against Napier, but generally we built the right shots and the guys were good at making them,” Coach Ettore Messina said.
In the second half, however, Melli and Voigtmann combined for 18 points and were instrumental in getting the win. During the difficult start, apart from Napier’s individual scoring outburst, Olimpia had found the energy of Gigi Datome. He had seven points in a row that put the team into the game enough to cancel the early 10-point deficit and turn it into a two-point lead. Then Bologna restarted and again built an eight-point margin at the half. The second, however, was different. Devon Hall, especially when he played along Napier, who very good in the second half at managing his foul situation, helped a lot not only at the defensive end of the floor but also with an offensive performance of the highest level.
Olimpia leads the series 1-0, Game 2 is scheduled to be played on Sunday at the Mediolanum Forum.
