AX Armani Exchange Milan (8-1) demonstrated the rock-solid defense and crushed Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (3-6) 68-43 (22-3, 15-17, 25-9, 6-14) to get their third Turkish Airlines EuroLeague victory in a row.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
17
|
| Nicolo Melli | |
| Points | 6 |
| Accuracy | 3-4 |
| Rebounds | 6 |
| Assists | 0 |
43 points - the new Fenerbahce's anti-record in the EuroLeague. Until tonight's game, the Turkish club had scored at least 48 points per contest. This happened in January 2009, against CSKA Moscow.
Armani Exchange came out strong from the first minute and arranged an 11-1 run. Former Fenerbahce players Nicolo Melli and Luigi Datome combined all Milan's points.
That was not the end, as Armani kept pushing the gas pedal while stopping all Fenerbahce's effort to score the basket.
Shavon Shields, Sergio Rodriguez, and Devon Hall poured in their buckets and the Italian powerhouse was up by 19 points (22-3) after 10 minutes.
The Turkish squad made 1 field goal in 11 attempts (9.1%), 1 free throw from 4 (25%), and turned the ball over 5 times in the first period. It was their lowest ever quarter by scored total points.
Armani Exchange did not let their opponents think about the victory in the rest of the match. The Italians' advantage grew up to 33 points at the end of the third quarter (60-27).
Gigi Datome became the 26th player ever to appear in 250 EuroLeague games. He scored 11 points (1/3 2PT, 3/6 3PT), grabbed 2 rebounds, dished 1 assist, stole 1 ball, and collected 6 PIR.
Shavon Shields was a top scorer with 13 points (2/4 2PT, 3/6 3PT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 drawn fouls, and 17 PIR.
"Everybody did their job, we had a couple of things that we wanted to take away that they do, and we did a good job on that. They missed a couple of open shots early and that obviously helps a little bit, but I think we took them away from what they wanted to do," said Shields after the solid win.
AX Armani Exchange Milan / Schedule
Fenerbahce Istanbul
AX Armani Exchange Milan
UNIKS Kazan
Zenit Saint Petersburg"Congratulations to my players for what I think has been a great defensive game. We played very, very well in our half-court," spoke Ettore Messina.
"We controlled the rebounds, and I think that, with the exception of the second quarter, when we turned the ball a little bit too much, we shared the ball well and everybody was involved, and we found our shooters," bench boss added.
For the losing side, Pierria Henry contributed with 12 points (2/3 2PT, 2/4 3PT, 2/5 FT), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, 3 drawn fouls, and 6 PIR.
Jan Vesely was a top performer, posting 9 points (3/4 2PT, 0/1 3PT, 3/6 FT), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 6 drawn fouls, and 21 PIR.
"Our defense was solid in the end, we kept Milan under 70 points, but offensively we didn’t open the night as we wanted. The shots were not going in, the shot selection was not there, our heads were not there. We didn’t read their switches, their traps, we were ready for that, but we opened the game lousily," commented Sasa Djordjevic after the heavy blow.
Armani Exchange: Shavon Shields 13 (4 REB, 4 AST), Luigi Datome 11, Devon Hall 9 (3 AST), Konstantinos Mitoglou 9 (6 REB).
Fenerbahce: Pierria Henry 12, Jan Vesely 9 (7 REB, 3 STL), Sehmus Hazer 9.
Highlights
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