The French side looked the more likely winner before the home team made its vast EuroLeague experience count
Milan leaned on Shields, LeDay to overcome spirited challenge from Paris
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Regular Season
Round 2 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Paris Basketball came close to winning its first-ever road game in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague on Friday night, but it was ultimately forced into submission by EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, 79-74, after the home team’s dynamic duo of Shavon Shields and Zach LeDay took over in the second half of an enthralling matchup.
Shields nailed one clutch shot after another to score 19 of his game-high 21 points after the break while LeDay, back for a second stint with Milan after three seasons at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, chipped in with 13 points for the Italian outfit.
A strong start by forward Nikola Mirotic, who scored 14 of his 15 points in the first half, 10 of them in the first quarter, also made up for the absence of injured big man Josh Nebo and several other key players, while guard Neno Dimitrijevic added 9 points as he sank 3-of-7 shots from downtown.
Shields acknowledged Milan need to improve on a patchy performance which was barely enough to beat EuroLeague debutant Paris, having been brushed aside by AS Monaco, 93-80, in the opening round.
“We have a long way to go as a team and I am just happy that we could come away with a win,” Shields told EuroLeague TV in a courtside interview. “It’s a huge one and every victory is super important in the battle to reach the playoffs, so we’ve just got to keep building from here.”
Having singled out both Shields and LeDay, head coach Ettore Messina also paid tribute to a longtime friend and rival for honing the latter’s skills and turning him into a top performer.
“Zach always gives you something, whether it’s on offense or defense. He worked with Zeljko Obradovic at Partizan for a couple of years and when you have worked with such a great coach and you have something inside, you learn a lot,” Messina said. “Zach has a lot inside him. It was a good experience and it’s a good thing that you can learn after a win, because it’s always more difficult if you have to learn after a loss.”
Messina also praised his team for showing a remarkable fighting spirit to claw out victory from the jaws of defeat, having closed out the see-saw contest with a 16-3 rally.
“Our rookies didn’t have a great game, they were up and down but we found defensive cohesion in the fourth quarter and Shavon stood out of course,” he stated. “We fought hard in the fourth and rebounded better, that was the key. Hopefully our young rookies will learn from this and I am sure they will.”
Paris head coach Tiago Splitter praised his team for a valiant effort against a more fancied rival but conceded that the French side was ice cold from the floor in crunch time. “You always want to win an at the end of the day, you’ve got to make shots in the last quarter,” the former Brazil international center said. “They made tough shots down the stretch, we didn’t, and we’ve got to improve.”