Without three centres, with Willie Caruso in the quintet and often minimal assets in terms of physical size against a big team like Efes, Olimpia plays the worst first half, in the sense that they don’t throw all their ardor and malice onto the field , the competitive spirit they would have served. He allows Efes to score easy baskets, he commits just five fouls in twenty minutes and is no better in attack. The gap of 21 points is merciless and exact. In the second half, there was a reaction of pride which in the third quarter even made it possible to make up for three quarters of the deficit, but Efes maintained control of the game and scored the baskets it had to in order to repel the assault and finish scoring however 50 points in the second half, winning 96-84.
THE FIRST HALF – Without three centres, Josh Nebo, Ousmane Diop and lastly also David McCormack, Olimpia starts with Willie Caruso in the starting five. However learning the challenge to Efes’ big men Poirier and Oturu or Osmani himself as a power forward, Caruso fought and went into halftime with six points, six rebounds and a lot of energy. Unfortunately it is the only positive note of Olimpia. After Mirotic’s initial basket, Efes goes 10-0 scoring in all the first four possessions before the time-out called urgently by Coach Messina. The only moment of favorable inertia is at 16-4 Efes when Brooks comes up with a triple and immediately afterwards Bolmaro steals the ball and goes to dunk. Olimpia stems the bleeding but is down 23-11 at the end of the first quarter. The second is similar. In the middle of the period Efes reaches the plus 20 at 37-17, then reaches the 21 margin four times which are also those of the break, 46-25, the result of 9/33 from the field including 1/12 from three, while Efes closes 15/18 from two.
THE SECOND HALF – Olimpia reacts emotionally with Bolmaro and Brooks in the quintet. Goes from minus 21 to minus 11 with eight points from Nikola Mirotic. The favorable moment is broken by a triple from Elijah Bryant, but the response is once again signed by Mirotic and then Shields in transition from the arc. After the second Efes time-out, Zach LeDay executes a thunderous dunk with a foul. Milan gets back to within five, then it’s seven at the end of the third, 66-59, with a triple by Armoni Brooks (nine in the period, good at using even small things to score, free throws and an attacking rebound. In the fourth period, triples from Thompson and Beaubois restore the 14-point margin for Efes with six minutes to play, at 79-65. Olimpia tries, relying on two consecutive triples from Mirotic and LeDay. But at that moment the defense doesn’t help and Efes can close by winning 96-84.
