Another defensive gem, and much more, allowed Olimpia to protect its home court again, defeat Barcelona 75-70 and reach the first place in the EuroLeague standing for the first time in history at 7-1. Olimpia exploded out of the gate in a memorable 28-point and no turnovers first period. Eventually, both offenses cool down and defenses took control of the game. Olimpia led throughout the game, by as many as 13 points late in the third. Nick Calathes responded with a 5-0 run, but Olimpia managed to close the third up by 12. The fourth quarter is when the game became one for the ages. Barcelona, pounding the ball inside for Brandon Davies especially, made a 14-0 run, tied the game and then twice took a two-point lead, when Olimpia was suddenly plagued by turnovers. “For some reasons, we stopped moving the ball and set for long-range shots and that was not a good idea. You don’t defeat Barcelona playing a 30 or 35-minute game,” Coach Ettore Messina remarked at the end.
When Barcelona looked on the verge of an explosive fourth quarter run, Olimpia kept its poise and closed the game marvelously. “The last four and half minutes, we went down low to Nicolò Melli and around him we created good shots for Shields, Datome and Rodriguez. It was a huge win in a fantastic atmosphere,” Messina said. Olimpia won the game with a sequence of defensive stops, then Shavon Shields made from the corner the first three of his game, Datome followed with a dramatic four-point play and finally Sergio Rodriguez opened up a six-point decisive lead. Barcelona found a three off a lucky play when Melli erased a Higgins’ drive with and emphatic block, but the ball went right to Calathes. He made his three and reduced the deficit to three-point and 30 seconds left. So Shields had to make his last free throws to finish the job.
“The players did an amazing thing and found again their composure, getting back to being disciplined on offense – Messina said -. Two or three times in the last few minutes we looked for Melli, we moved the ball from one side to the other against the rotation, we made two big threes and our defense was good all game long. Especially we defended well their transition offense. [Being in first place] means we are working hard and the players are putting the best effort, and nothing more than that. It’s too early.”
Gigi Datome led the scorers with 17 points, Devon Hall scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half, while Shields added 11 points to go with his six assists. Melli grabbed eight rebounds and defended like nobody else on Nikola Mirotic, containing him to a 10-point outing. Olimpia held Barcelona to a 3-for-16 three-point shooting night.
