Olimpia tore Game 4 apart between the second and third quarter when it held Trento to 21 points combined turning a one-point deficit into a commanding 23-point led that made the fourth period irrelevant in a 87-69 huge win. Olimpia won the game and the series (3-1) advancing to the Italian league semifinals for the 10th straight times. Game 1 is scheduled to be played on Saturday in Milan, against Brescia. “The last couple of games were very promising in terms of staying together and willing to help each other. Our defense tonight in the second and third period gave us the chance to get some clean rebounds and run the break. Essentally, we built the decisive lead,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Olimpia led by as many as 27 points after Nik Melli with a couple of back-to-back threes killed the game fr good early in the fourth, but by then Olimpia looked totally in control. Shabazz Napier hit the ground running in the first quarter. Then, Olimpia had a lot from everybody offensively, including the second unit led by Flaccadori and Ricci. Trento fought to stay in the game early, but gradually lost any rhythm offensively and Olimpia dominated. “They are good at driving in the middle while keeping many shooters on the outside. They created a lot of problems because of it. Then we started to eliminate at least the drives,” Messina pointed out.

Now the attention will turn to Brescia. “Now all the reamining teams are trying to win the chanpionship – Messina said – Brescia has led the league for a while, its is a different team because they can attack with a lot of post-ups. We will bring to the court he same togetherness and cohesion we had in Trento, knowing that the series will be different in basketball terms.”