Olimpia played 16 great minutes, built a 16-point lead, was overcame in the following 10-12 minutes and finally got back on track to take the win playing really well down the stretch. 99-90 over Virtus Bologna. “We started the game on a strong note, we probably had the best defensive first quarter of the year, with steals and deflections. We tried to keep the same rhythm, ut they played very well in the third. But we stayed together, we didn’t lose our poise and the fourth quarter was good again. We had a lot of guts,” assistant coach Mario Fioretti said (he replaced Coach Ettore Messina, sidelined with an illness).
The second unit came up big. Fabien Causeur had an incredibly efficient game. He started driving on the left side and then hit some big homeruns, the last one, a dagger from the corner, closed the game off essentially. Stefano Tonut as always sacrificed himself defensively, trying to be everywhere against Belinelli, against Clyburn (Ricci was huge defending him too), even against Shengelia on mismatches, but he was also efficient at shooting the ball, finishing. He closed the game with 14 points, one shy of his EuroLeague career-high set again the same opponent last April. And finally Zach LeDay was at his best in terms of energy, put his body on the line, scored 19 points, was fouled seven times and went perfect from the line. All those guys came off the bench. In the first half, Olimpia had an oustanding appearance from Willie Caruso: he made a floater, he blocked a shot and had a huge assist for Pippo Ricci. Last but not least, Neno Dimitrijevic who sometimes struggled at finding the net but had a nine-assist game and made scoring easier for his teammates.
Olimpia led by seven in the first quarter, then opened up a commanding 17-point margin in the middle of the second period. But somehow Bologna came back, went to the intermission down by nine. The third quarter looked like a nightmare because in a matter of seconds, with Belinelli hitting a couple of threes, two three-point plays allowed and a couple of easy drives. Bologna even went up by six. Olimpia was great at keeping its composure. Tonut hit a big three, Causeur and LeDay led the team. Gradually, Olimpia found its rhythm back at least on offense. The fourth quarter was huge and Niko Mirotic was all over it. After struggling early in the game, he became a closer at the end and finished with his third straight 20-point game. Olimpia went up by ten, 90-80. Bologna responded again, and finally Causeur hit the big three from the corner and Mirotic followed path with a fade-away definitive jumper over Belinelli: 99-90.
