A hard-fought battle was won 73-70 in Trento, so now Olimpia leads the best-of-five frst round 1-0. Game 2 is scheduled to be played on Monday in Trento again. It was a weird game. Olimpia scored on the very first possession then Trento had a 16-0 run and built a 14-point commanding lead. But Olimpia responded early, with Diego Flaccadori playing effectively at both ends of the floor. In the second quarter, after reducing the deficit to three points, Nico Mannion scored nine points basically in a row and with Nikola Mirotic allowed Olimpia to turn the deficit into a promising seven-point lead, 46-49, going into the locker room. But the second half was essentially a fistfight. Trento closed the gap very early in the third, then on countless times the teams took turns at leading or tied the score. It was that close. Late in the fourth, Zach LeDay with a three that was followed by an high-energy drive, scored five consecutive points and gave Olimpia a six-point lead entering the last four minutes of Game 1. Trento responded one more time. A 5-0 run shrank the margin to one single point with 3:27 left. The score was 67-66 Olimpia and stayed there for two and a half minutes. Defense, defense, physicality, no team gave up on a play. Trento went for the big score on a Myles Cale three. Armoni Brooks came from nowhere and blocked the attempt. It was a play that epitomized what was going on on the court. On top of it, Olimpia lost Josh Nebo to an injury. Trento lost Eigirdas Zukaukas to a shoulder injury. Entering into the last minute of the game, Shavon Shields was fouled by Anthony Lamb. He made only one foul shot, but grabbed the rebound, attempted a three to close the game off, missed and Mirotic put his hands on the ball. On the ensuing possession, Flaccadori went 1-for-2, extending the lead to three points. At that point, LeDay went 2-for-2, but Mirotic missed one himself. With Shields out with a left-hand contusion, Olimpia let the door open for a last-second three to tie the game that went far off. But the big defensive play was performed one possession earlier when Cale went to the rim, but the protective shield was opened and kept him from scoring. “It was a tough game, a physical one. We started the game badly, we started the third quarter badly, but overall, we had a very good first half. The second half was a battle, a lot of isolation plays to beat switching defenses, both sides. We had the ability to score a couple of baskets, to grab a couple of rebounds but overall, our defense was much more aggressive, allowed less room to operate to a team that during the season made us struggle,” Coach Ettore Messina said.