Milan scored a season-high 107 points as it fights to stay in the playoff picture
Milan avoids slip-up in blowing out Maccabi 74-107
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan earned an important victory in its battle to make the playoffs by rolling past Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 74-107 in Belgrade. Milan took the third quarter 17-33 to lay the foundation for its second straight win to move to 11-9. Milan avoided a slip-up against struggling Maccabi with Shavon Shields pacing five scorers in double figures with 18 points.
Zach LeDay and Nikola Mirotic both had 17 points, Armoni Brooks scored 15 and Leandro Bolmaro chipped in 14 points. Maccabi lost for the seventh time in the last eight games and now has a 5-15 record. Roman Sorkin led the losing side with 16 points, Levi Randolph tallied 15 and Rokas Jokubaitis added 14 points in the loss. Maccabi’s leading scorer Jaylen Hoard was limited to just 2 points on two shots - 13.5 points below his average.
Maccabi suffered a nightmare from the outside, missing 20 of 21 three-pointers - the club’s worst three-point performance in history, surpassing a 1-for-16 night in 2001-02. And it tied for the sixth-poorest percentage in EuroLeague history along with Asseco Prokom Gdynia in 2012-13.
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Milan had the better start to go up 2-7 while Trevion Williams scored two baskets to go with 2 offensive rebounds to put Maccabi ahead 8-7. After Milan answered with the next 5 points to take a 4-point lead. Randolph’s 4 points moved his output to 8 points and tied the game at 12-12. Maccabi however was held scoreless for 3 minutes and LeDay scored 5 points to give Milan a 12-20 advantage, which was 14-20 after 10 minutes.
The second quarter saw a rare occurrence early on as Maccabi’s John DiBartolomeo failed to convert the three-point play to make it 18-22. The missed foul shot ended the longest consecutive free throw streak in EuroLeague history at 70. DiBartolomeo had last missed from the charity stripe in Round 11 of the 2022-23 season against FC Bayern Munich on December 2, 2022.
Maccabi kept Milan close with Mirotic scoring 7 points and Williams and Randolph both tallying 4 points to make it 28-31. Milan’s defense held Maccabi scoreless for more than 3 minutes and a 0-8 spurt pushed the gap to 11. Despite two scores from Jokubaitis, Maccabi was down 37-45 at the break.
Milan pulled away further in the third quarter as Niccolo Mannion hit a triple and converted a three-point play and Bolmaro added 5 points in a 5-14 start for a 42-59 advantage. Five points from Brooks extended the cushion to 20 and a pair of Diego Flaccadori triples made it 52-76. The visitors led 54-78 after three quarters.
The game had long been decided and Maccabi could only get as close as 60-82 in the early stages of the final frame. Milan finished any doubts with a 4-20 surge to make it 64-102, reaching the 100-point mark for the third time, topping the 101 points scored in Round 9 and Round 13.