With an extra day of break, the series moves to Trento for Game 3 and Game 4. Olimpia, after the defeat in the closing seconds of Game 1, made up for it by winning the second game in a more energetic way and now needs to establish itself on the road, on a traditionally difficult atmosphere. In total, this year Olimpia has faced Trento five times with four wins and one defeat by one point. The first two games were played at a high pace and with high scores. The 104 points scored in Game 2 are a season-high and were affected by some kind of relexation in the last part of the game, after an astronomical first half with 65 points scored. In fact, Olimpia is averaging 94.0 points per game, almost 14 more than the regular season average, with Shavon Shields at 27.5 points per game with 75.0 percent shooting on threes (6-for-8) and 14-for-22 on twos. In Game 2, Nicolò Melli went 8-for-8 from the field in the first half attacking the rim at will. The downside is that Olimpia also allowed a lot, 85 points in Game 1 and 93 in Game 2. Kamar Baldwin, in addition to scoring the winning basket in Game 1, is averaging 19.5 points per game with 10-for-13 overall shooting on twos; Prentiss Hubb is contributing 16.0 points per game and hit five threes in Game 2, making heavy use of three-pointers. For this reason, a defensive step forward will be necessary to immediately regain the lead in the series. Game 3 will played on Friday in Trento with a 20:45 tip-off time; Game 4, again in Trento, will begin at 18:00.

GAME 1 – After a promising first quarter with 32 points scored, Olimpia lost its thyrhm not only offensively, but defensively too, suffering Derek Cooke, author of 21 points, verticality. After building a 13-point lead, Olimpia fell behind by seven in the third quarter. At that point it came back, but was unable to find the necessary consistency to take the lead. In the closing possessions, free throws by Nikola Mirotic (8/8) and Shavon Shields (27 points, 7-for-8 from two, 8-for-10 from the line) brought Olimpia back in the lead before the final shot with which Kamar Baldwin won the game for Trento, 85-84.

GAME 2 – Olimpia played another spectacular first quarter, with 35 points scored and produced 65 at the half, building a 17-point lead (65-48) which then reached 23 points in the second half. Trento had a very strong reaction in the fourth quarter with a series of three-pointers (Baldwin and Hubb combined for 44 points) that reduced the gap to around ten points but without ever becoming threatening. Olimpia still had a lot from Shavon Shields, 28 points with five threes, and from Nicolò Melli, 16 points out of 18 in the first half when he went 8-for-8 from the field. In the end, it was a 104-93 win.

GAME NOTES – Olimpia is now 203-138 in playoff games historically. In Game 2, Nicolò Melli reached Dino Meneghin in second place for playoff appearances with 72, but in Game 3 he will also tie him up for games actually played. Also in the playoffs with Olimpia, Melli reached 251 defensive rebounds, 13 less than Dino Meneghin who leads the all-time list. Melli also surpassed 1,000 rebounds grabbed in the Italian league. 970 of his 1,001 have been conquered while playing for Olimpia. Shavon Shields has now scored 543 points for Olimpia in playoff games. He is now just two points away from the sixth place ever which belongs to Franco Boselli. Shields also reached 57 made threes after the five hit in Game 2, tying Antonello Riva for 5th-best. Ten threes ahead, fourth all-time, sits Flavio Portaluppi. Shields again, reached 920 points scored overall in the playoffs and rose to the 21st spot all-time, nine points behind Sandro Dell’Agnello’s 20th. Roberto Brunamonti (881), Alessandro Gentile (905) and David Hawkins (915) were passed over.