Olimpia scrapes the bottom of its energy and wins in Desio, 94-89, a difficult match that became complicated due to the tenacity of the opponent, some moments in which tiredness prevailed especially on the defensive side. Milano led the game 40 minutes out of 40 except for one possession, at the end of the third period when Erick Green put Cantù ahead by one point. Olimpia responded and held the margin without giving it up even if they were forced to play until the siren. The monstrous performance of Josh Nebo was decisive, against a bigger player like Oumar Ballo: 22 points, 12 rebounds of which six were in attack, 10 out of 12 shooting. In the second half, the management of Marko Guduric was amazing, as an added point guard, who put his teammates in rhythm and scored when needed, among other things by constructing a flurry of free throws to score them all. It wasn’t easy, it was a derby, in a heated atmosphere, Olimpia won and it wasn’t easy.
THE FIRST HALF – Olimpia uses Shields on Sneed and LeDay on Moraschini, reversing the marking on Cantù’s two wings. He starts with notable pace in attack and aggressiveness in defense. LeDay immediately scores seven points and Milan runs away with an 11-2 lead. Then LeDay commits the second foul, while Cantù finds some inertia in attack with Sneed and Moraschini’s low post play. With three-pointers (one each from Shields, LeDay, Guduric and Ricci), Olimpia maintains the advantage, which reaches a maximum of nine points, and there are seven at the end of the first period, 29-22. The arrival of Erick Green further livens up Cantù’s attack: with five consecutive points, he brings his team back within four, but it’s only for a moment. Ricci responds with a triple and a low post play with a left hand lock that makes it 5-0, the new plus nine and Coach Brienza’s emergency time-out. Brooks scores the plus 12 with the first triple of his match. But when he can get his hands on the match, Olimpia loses itself in attack and loses some solidity in defence. Cantù finds a triple from Basile, one from De Nicolao and a three-point play from Bortolani. Coach Poeta’s 9-0 with a time-out balances the game halfway through the second quarter. From the minute of stoppage, Olimpia comes back with a dunk from Nevo on an attacking rebound and a triple from the corner from Brooks in transition. LeDay gets his third foul and the rotation gets complicated. But Ricci supports the role of power forward and Bryant Dunston the role of center behind Nebo. Despite some defensive and rebounding uncertainty, Olimpia finished ahead 54-47.
THE SECOND HALF – Cantù takes advantage of two late returns by Olimpia to score a 5-0 start from a dunk by Bortolani and strengthened by Gilyard’s first basket, a triple that convinces Coach Poeta to use the first time-out of the second half after less than two minutes. Upon returning, Brooks is freed for a triple that Bortolani eliminates with the subsequent four-point play (minus three and third foul by Ellis). Then Brooks puts in a second, Bortolani does the same. The new plus six was then signed by Nebo with a three-point play, immediately before finding himself forced onto the bench with three fouls. Cantù has much more pace and manages to run in the third quarter. Gilyard, dry in the first half, after the second triple also converted the two free throws to make it minus one. The level of physicality is noticeably higher in the second half. Ricci avoids the overtaking with a block on Basile from behind. But two exploits by Green turn the score around at the end of the third, 70-69. The counter-pass was all by Josh Nebo who converted two assists from Guduric, the second completing a three-point play. On the third offensive possession, Guduric – on the pitch with Nico Mannion – hits the triple to make it 8-0 which forces Coach Brienza to time out. Milan reaches an eight lead with Nebo’s energy and a triple from Ricci. Cantù responds with four free throws from Basile. Shields extends it to plus 10, but Cantù uses all the energy of his crowd to place a sudden 7-0 (Ballo from below, Bortolani triple in transition, Basile on a broken play) which reopens everything once again with 2:36 to play. From Coach Poeta’s time-out, Olimpia returns with an inbound basket from Guduric. At 1:10, on plus three, Olimpia goes down with Shields alongside Nebo. With 43 seconds left, Gilyard restores the score from the line. Ellis goes for the game-winning home run, but misses. On the decisive possession, Shields holds Sneed and forces a turnover that gives the ball back to Olimpia with eight seconds to play. On the tactical foul, Guduric scores the two plus-three free throws. Guduric’s tactical foul sends Green to the line, but he misses the first free throw, is forced to miss the second and so Guduric closes it from the line 94-89
