The extra time punished a courageous Olimpia effort. Milan never gave up, until the final buzzer, but in Istanbul, its started its EuroLeague season with a painful defeat, 85-82, after a hard-fought game in which all the attempts made both teams to get away, first Olimpia in the opening quarter, then Fenerbahce in the second half, were always erased.

Without three guards, shooters and ball carriers, Olimpia had to rely on big and strong line-ups, was hurt by its 19 turnovers, but stayed in the game by controlling the rebounds, by creating good shots, and executing well especially with Nikola Mirotic, and with Johannes Voigtmann. In the end, more tired than with foul trouble, having exhausted the men who had led the team until the last possession (Shields, Mirotic, Voigtmann all played way more than 30 minutes, Melli was on the court for 28), Olimpia had to concede the loss, despite a Nikola Mirotic monumental game. The newcomer scored 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had 38 personal points of index rating.

Fenerbahce took advantage of the physicality of the guards, Wilbekin, Guduric, Dorsey and even Madar, and also the crucial threes made by center Georgios Papagiannis who rivaled with Voigtmann (21 points and seven rebounds). Fenerbahce built a 10-point lead a couple of times in the fourth quarter, but Olimpia never let the game go. It even had a last-ditch opportunity in regulation on a transition ill-balanced shot attempted by Shields. And again in overtime Mirotic launched a three at the end to tie the game up, but he was very far away and with no balance.

“Fenerbahce in the end won an hard-fought game by both teams. We paid turnovers and some critical mistakes down the stretch. Playing without three guards obviously had an impact on us. When you lose by a single possessione, an overtime game, a lot of things could have been different. But the effort was there and I praised it, our resiliency. We had some good ball movement from side to side, we rebounded the ball well, those are positive signs. We had 101 index rating points, we grabbed more rebounds and had more assists,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Olimpia lost Maodo Lo to a injury early in the week, then Devon Hall was fatigued before the game and was protected. Billy Baron was already out. So, Olimpia was short-handed in the guards. Meanwhile, Kyle Hines appeared in his 392nd EuroLeague game, first ever tied up with Paulius Jankunas. Next week, he will be solitary owner of the first place. “Too bad we didn’t get him a win,” Messina said.