Olimpia won its semifinal game against Brescia the ugly way, 74-69, turning the game around early in the fourth quarter not with its customary barrage of three-pointers or timely execution. No, Olimpia turned the game around with defense (one point allowed for the first five minutes of the final period), offensive rebounds (13 as a team in the end), scrappy plays including an incredible three-pointer made by Stefano Tonut from the logo. And while Shavon Shields made the big plays, including the nail in the coffin shot in the last minute, while Leadnro Bolmaro and Tonut mounted an incredible defense on Amedeo Della Valle and Nikola Ivanovic, while Zach LeDay had to overcome the baddest night of his season, Nikola Mirotic came up big with defense. Yes, the team’s leading scorer, known for his shooting and two-way scoring sprees, scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds over 20 minutes on the court, but won the game with his tremendous defense on Miro Bilan.

“In the second half we went small, moved the ball better, tried to be more aggressive defensively and Mirotic was the best at guarding Bilan,” Coach Ettore Messina said. The Croatian center was 8-for-9 and was scoring at will inside. “He hurt us not only with his scoring but with his passing too,” Messina pointed out. Then Mirotic went to work as a defensive center. He fronted him, overplayed the passing lanes, touched the ball when Bilan put it down. He was a defensive effort worthy of specialist. Mirotic put his body on the line and changed the course of the game. “The game was tough – Messina added – we never had our offensive flow and some of our main players struggled a little. So, we had a lot from Flccadori, Tonut and Ricci. We came up big with nerves, stayed cool under pressure and our defensive for the last fifteen minutes has been great.” However, Olimpia needs one more to win the Italian Cup in tomorrow championship game against Trento, tip-off time is 17:15.