Six men scored in double figures for Olimpia. Now, Milan leads the best-of-five semifinal series 1-0 after an anomaly of Game 1, especially the first half. 95-89 was the final score. It was a classic playoff game in terms of intensity, characterized by fouls called and even 62 total free throws (and both teams were very accurate, 25-for-28 Milan; 30-for-34 Brescia), but the first half was a unexpected shootout. Olimpia led 61-49 despite having Shavon Shields returning and under restricted playing time and Nikola Mirotic limited to just over eight minutes total because of foul troubles. But Johannes Voigtmann did his job prodigiously. He tore the game apart with 19 first half points. In the second half the game was a little bit normalized (40-36 for Brescia the partial score), but Olimpianever trailed and led with significant margin. Against a fantastic Amedeo Della Valle night (33 points, five threes, 12-for-12 from the line), Olimpia put up a collective performance of greater impact. Nicolò Melli, also limited by fouls, three in the first half, coming off the bench in the second, was devastating late in the game. He also made the long two that essentially convalidated the 1-0 lead. Melli became the all-time defensive rebounder playoff leader ahead of legendary Dino Meneghin who was sitting courtside, watching the game.
“It was an important win and a difficult one – Coach Ettore Messina pointed out at the end – We played a very good first half offensively, despite the struggles of Shields and Mirotic, but everyone else contributed and Voigtmann’s approach was of the highest level. In second half, we built important margins two or three times, then because we missed an open shot, or perhaps due to some defensive transition not done well and in general because of some late defensive mistakes, we allowed Brescia to get back into the game. We know their value, we know that we have to do well and need everyone to win the series. We will try to be better in Game 2.”
Johannes Voigtmann led the scores with 21 points and eight rebounds; Stefano Tonut was huge in the first half (12 points and eight boards); Devon Hall and Kyle Hines gave the team a lift coming off the bench to combine for 20 points (10-for-10 from line); Nik Melli emerged late in the game going 6-for-9 from the field. He also made a huge, well-timed block on Miro Bilan. “Honestly, we didn’t pick a player and said ‘ok let’s him score 30 points and shut the others down’, it doesn’t work like that. Della Valle is one of the best scorers in the league, he is no surprise, he is playing great. We’ll try to do better, matching-up better, going over the screens better. The we did a better job on some of the other Brescia players. During the regular season, for example, we struggled to contain Miro Bilan. Tonight we were better on him,” Messina said.
