Olimpia takes a sharp step back in termis of quality of basektball evidenced both on offense and defense, led the game only for a moment, in the fourth quarter, after a three-pointer scored by Armoni Brooks. They had the possession to extend the lead but they didn’t land the knock-out punch. Virtus immediately regained control of the operations, rebuilt a six-point advantage that they maintained with sharpness until the end. Five times they went up by six points, five times Olimpia responded but didn’t get any closer and when Bologna made a couple of defensive stops, the game was essentially over. Virtus closed it 78-68. Now, Olimpia is with its back to the wall, down 2-1 in the series, and will play on Saturday at home to stay alive and return to Bologna.

Olimpia shot well when it entered the paint, 57.1 percent, but half ot its shots were from three-point territory and connected only 8 on 27. Virtus handled the ball better, with just six turnovers, and the rebounding battle was for the other team although slightly. Mostly, Bologna tried to force Olimpia to shoot threes off isolation plays. “We didn’t have the required patience that we showed during Game 2, not even close,” Coach Ettore Messina said. Bologna was much more sharp in Game 3. They made all of their free throw attempts, 19 for 19. Everybody helped, reversing the previous game trend when Olimpia was much more balanced in its effort. “We’ll get prepared and try to play adequately on Saturday. Unfortunately it is not the first time we destroy what we just built,” Messina said.