The Italian side has a shot at making the postseason in Round 34
Fully-focused Milan can head into regular-season finale with a chance
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Regular Season
Round 33 of 34
Group Regular Season
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EA7 Emporio Armani Milan kept its play-in chances alive by downing Virtus Segafredo Bologna 90-75, breaking the game open in the second half to get a comfortable victory, its 15th of the season.
Milan looked for its go-to guys in the first half and raised its focus and effectiveness after the interval to keep a double-digit margin throughout the second half. Nikola Mirotic led a 13-0 run which allowed Milan to get its first double-digit margin, 20-9. When Virtus got closer, Shavon Shields scored 7 points in the final 70 seconds of the first half to boost Milan's margin to 46-34 at the break.
Despite getting a decent-sized big lead, Milan was struggling to score inside the arc, hitting just 7 of its 15 two-point shots in the first half (46.7% 2FG). Once Milan improved that numbers, getting fast-break layups off steals and sharing the ball at the same level as in the first half, which allowed the hosts to pull away. In the second half, Milan buried 15-of-19 two-point shots (78.9% 2FG).
An impressive night by Milan's stars
Mirotic finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Shields had nine of his 11 points before the break. Despite battling foul trouble, Nicolo Melli needed just 16 minutes to get 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Above all, like Mirotic said after the game, it was a great team effort.
"We knew the importance of this game and I think we showed a lot of character throughout the whole game," Mirotic commented afterward. "We started very physical and knew it had to be a team work. We fought for 40 minutes and it was a great team win tonight.
"We knew that this game is not just about the EuroLeague, it was about the Italian League, so this game was huge for us. There is always room to improve, individually and as a team, so we have to stay humble. We have one more game and have to prepare. Each game now is like a final."
Milan finished the game with 18 assists and just 10 turnovers. On the other hand, Virtus had fewer assists (16) and more turnovers (14), suffering its sixth consecutive loss. Virtus started the season with a 15-5 record and has gone 2-10 after that.
Milan head coach Ettore Messina shared his thoughts about his team's play-in chances. His team needs to win and get some results to go their way, but Milan will only worry about what it can control.
"It was, honestly, an encouraging game. We will see if this game is enough. Now we need to hope and try to play the best possible game in the next round," Coach Messina said.
"We still have a game. Let's see if we are good enough to win that game and more important, if we are fortunate with the results. We will see. It is very difficult but I think we have to honor the competition and play a good game in the last round."
Milan visits Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Round 34. Maccabi is locked in to seventh place and is waiting to discover its first play-in opponent, which will be the winner of the game between Virtus and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz; they will face each other next week in a do-or-die battle for eighth place.