Zalgiris’ energy in front of their fans, it was the seventh home win over the last eight games, overcame Olimpia in the second half (87-73) after a promising first half. The third period was decisive. Zalgiris scored 24 points while Milan found no offensive alternatives to Mirotic. When Olimpia found some rhythm in the final period (four threes almost in a row by Shields, Hall and Napier) the gap was already too big. Olimpia came back to within four with ball possession. But here there was an unfavorable break. Sumner’s three was followed by Butkevicius’ one and they destroyed Olimpia’s remaining chances, because at the same time the defense proved to be unable to contain the opposing guards. Keenan Evans and Edmund Sumner combined for 37 points. Lekavicius added 10.

“The defense in the second half was not at the level required to compete on this court. The start of the third period was the perfect picture of what happened. We had three straight turnovers and we couldn’t take a defensive rebound. The approach to the second half on a do or die game was not the one required. On top of it we had too many disappointing individual games, we got just two offensive rebounds for example,” Coach Messina admitted.

Olimpia led by as many as five points in the first half ending it up by two. It was a promising first half. “Great teams impose their defense and look for favorable match-up to attack on offense. We did this enough in the first half and we didn’t at all in the second. They did and deserved to win,” Messina added.